International Fashion News: Will Coronavirus -Covid-19 affect Fashion industry as much as it has affected other industries?

Designers started their journey for showcasing their latest collections for the upcoming season as always in January from New York, went to London but then things took an interesting turn upon reaching Milan -Italy-.

Upon arrival from London at Milan airport, people were greeted by uniformed men with the electronic thermometer in result of the news that at least 2 people died in the nearby cities. Everything in the city was shut but not the shows. Then things changed when Giorgio Armani announced that he would unveil the collection “behind closed doors. The decision was taken to safeguard the well being of all his invited guests by not having them attend crowded spaces.” Though the event was streamed live and critics could see it sitting behind the screens.

This didn’t stop in Milan but traveled to Paris with the designers and their trendy collections for the upcoming season. The final leg of month-long fashion shows arrived at Paris on 24^th February. Till then number of reported cases in Paris were 14 but on the last day the number raised to more than 200 even though the design houses were handing out masks to the attendees. Many high-profile buyers, editors and reporters didn’t even come at all or left early so much so that the communication teams for Louis Vuitton and Chanel didn’t come at all. Highest number of attendees was 1000 who greeted each other with fist bumps rather than the handshakes or the double-cheek kiss, the fashion industry standard. People had pocket sized bottles of hand-sanitizers with them and kept using every now and then.

Due to the COVID-19 outbreak many upcoming events are either cancelled or postponed such as Tokyo fashion week scheduled in March is cancelled, Shanghai and Beijing shows postponed, Ralph Lauren cancelled runway show in New York scheduled for April, Gucci cancelled its show in San Francisco along with Versace which cancelled its cruise fashion show so did many other brands which cancelled their shows. According to the fashion giants such as François-Henri Pinault the chief executive of the luxury conglomerate Kering -owner of Gucci, Saint Laurent and Balenciaga pondered that fashion industry should start digitizing their showrooms.

Anna Wintour, the artistic director of Conde Nast and editor of Vogue, said she has been thinking about the future. She said, “At a time of crisis, we have to think about a radical reset.”  According to her designers and the fashion brands will be facing low cashflows due to the low traffic, supply chain issues and people avoiding the gatherings. She has self-quarantined herself after her return.

Designers not only showcase their collection for the approaching season and set trends but also sell them. Less audience was not the only problem but the glitches in supply chain would also contribute in worsening the situation. All this situation affected the fashion industry on a large scale. Giant brands would be able to absorb the impact but the small independent designers would not be able to survive this mass scaled problem especially those whose production houses are in China as to stop the virus from spreading thousand of factories have been closed and no one knows how and when would things come back to normal. Additional costs and logistic delays are expected. Some of the Italian production hubs are also under same threat. A huge number of buyers from China and Hong Kong has declined. The orders are cut back, and the buyers have cut down the buying budget due to uncertainty of the condition.

At the end of this month-long fashion tour people go to Milan for making further appointments with the Italian designers but this time around those were cancelled and Milan is now a ghost town. Many American employers were worried what would they do with the employees on their return from Paris should they work from home, self-quarantined if so, then for how long? And how would that affect their productivity?

Like all other industries COVID-19 has affected the Fashion Industry and the situation is quite uncertain at the moment. Let’s hope things get better and God saves us all.