Is the fashion industry really facing an existential crisis?

By Selena Wu

In our unusual times, very little breaks through the news cycle except for items relating to the Covid-19 pandemic. As the pandemic has brought huge economic disruption to the whole globe, naturally much of the fashion business press talk is focused on how the fashion industry is facing an existential crisis. 

However, read deeper into the articles and you’ll find that many of the problems that are being highlighted are a magnification of the issues that we have talked about for years: reducing footfall for brick and mortar retail, the relevance of fashion week, the snail’s pace acceptance of digitisation and technology are amongst the gripes we’ve been battling with for a long time now. Covid-19 hasn’t created a new existential crisis, but it has highlighted the one we were working through at our leisure. Now we have been forced to confront the parts that weren’t working, weren’t efficient and weren’t creating value at speed. As fashion companies now adapt their businesses to circumstances which were unimaginable just mere months ago, the industry is rapidly adopting technologies, new ways of working and moving online, overcoming long-established problems which previously languished unaddressed. In this effort to move quickly however, it’s important that we do not neglect other issues which the fashion industry had started to make progress in addressing.

Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, conversations were starting to be had about the lack of diversity in fashion, with more voices being raised and important key appointments being granted to more women and people of BAME backgrounds. Now, more than ever, it is time to make sure that inclusion and diversity is shown at all business levels, as consumers are now consuming more content, looking more carefully at the brands they support and asking the question, ‘Does this brand represent me and my values?’.

Sustainability is another area where brands have been making improvements and there have already been calls from many areas of the industry, including from buyers, consumers and brands themselves, to ensure that we do not undo the steps that have been made. After all, when the Covid-19 pandemic has been managed, we will still have to tackle the climate crisis. All those in the fashion industry should consider the changes they can make to improve their own business sustainability – we aren’t far away from the time where business partners, clients and consumers will start asking you, ‘Is your business being socially responsible?’.

In addition, as much as the pandemic has thrown our business lives into turmoil, it also provides us with opportunities for our industry to create better product and reduce waste. It is giving us the space to work out how to have a productive dialog with our consumers and integrate their feedback, values and wants into the products we create. It provides brands the opportunity to work on really understanding their customer through direct-to-consumer channels, providing insights which they would not gain through wholesale. It allows retailers the space to consolidate the information they have learned over the years about consumer habits and work out how brick-and-mortar retail needs to evolve to meet what people now desire out of a physical experience. Manufacturers can work out how they can become more nimble— by refocusing on sustainability and support services that help their clients to move away from the old fashion business model, and adopt a more socially conscious way of working. It is important for all of us in the fashion industry to use the time we have now to really assess whether our business is ready for the new normal that will come after Covid-19 and adapt our business practices appropriately.

The Covid-19 pandemic hasn’t in itself created the existential crisis that many people are worried about, we’ve been trying to find our way out of it for years now. However the resultant slowdown in the fashion industry does afford us an important opportunity to tackle many of the issues that have now been bought to the fore. We can come out into the new normal as a stronger, more efficient, more diverse and socially conscious industry.

Selena Wu is a consultant working with fashion brands, helping them to elevate their image, develop their sales and marketing and refine their direct-to-consumer strategies. She is passionate about sustainable business models and enjoys working closely with management to realise the full commercial potential of brands at all stages of growth. To get in touch with her, you can drop her a line at selena@mise-en-seine.com or find her on Instagram @wu.selena