Novel coronavirus took entry on 21st February as a villain for Milan Fashion Week which ran from 18th-24th February.
The Fashion Industry is a $400 billion-plus industry. The exponential growth of COVID-19 has affected it badly. For the Fashion Industry, February went on with some hesitation. Many US-based fashion editors, models, influencers and others who travelled to Milan for Fashion week have gone back and self-quarantined.
Many Fashion houses, like Giorgio Armani, Versace, Gucci, Parade, Chanel, Hermes, Burberry etc. have cancelled or postponed their upcoming shows as WHO has declared it as a pandemic. Not only fashion houses, numerous fashion weeks including Tokyo, Melbourne, Shanghai, Seoul, and Beijing have been cancelled.
Attendees cancelled their trips, as some designers including, Giorgio Armani, cancelled their runway shows. People went back and more face masks were worn-including one that was custom designed for the Fall’20 Chanel show. Fashion models posted selfies on Instagram.
One of the most famous Paris market week- the week when designers and buyers meet at tradeshows and showrooms to buy and sell their upcoming collections, the outbreak will likely leave a hefty dent on this year’s sales.
China accounted for nearly 38% of world’s textile exports in 2018, according to Statista. It also produces other elements also that go into clothes- from buttons to zippers to thread. But because of novel coronavirus, physical stores are getting closed, workers are not allowed to work. People are becoming more conscious about their health and prefer to stay at home.
According to Kaelyn Davis, the VP of luxury hat brand Eric Javits, overall traffic at Premiere class was down by over 75%.
The stock market is also not in favour of the industry. Publicly traded fashion brands like Burberry, Herme’s etc. saw a dramatic dip in stock price. Revolve and Lululemon Athletica each saw a negative growth of 4.4%. This pandemic not only has a negative impact this year but also continues till June 2021.
But the Pandemic situation made people more creative and fast in their selling approach. Fashion epicenter of America- New York City is in a declared state of emergency. Many of them ended up going digital, either sending PDF’s or using online ordering platforms like JOOR. This is a critical situation for every industry. But remember one thing, “If you are in a bad situation, don’t worry it’ll change. If you’re in a good situation, don’t worry it’ll change.”
