Platforms and Fashion
Platforms and Fashion
Would you wear borrowed clothes ?
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,
But not expressed in fancy—rich, not gaudy,
For the apparel oft proclaims the man !William Shakespeare- Hamlet Act 1 Scene 3
Not necessarily you may argue but then “may be waist up in the new normal of WFH” !
Covid-19 has fastened the pace of change in fashion and fashion retailing business. Few retailers including Walmart in USA reported are seeing “increased sales in tops, but not bottoms” indicating evolved fashion style for the video conferencing based WFH.
Platforms have made a comeback and also the realisation whether we need what we were buying earlier. Some of the adverse effects including falling sales may eventually recover but the move towards consolidation of distribution and customer engagement in cyclical economy including growth in fashion rental platforms is here to stay.
DTW
During the Week, one more fashion retailer filed for bankruptcy in US, Fashion Influencer entertained their fans with their musical abilities and video of workers leaving the textile town of Tiruppur surfaced. In short three months, we have seen production, marketing and distribution of fashion products loosing its way.
We have also seen an increasing trend towards anti-globalisation or rather localisation of production like “Vocal for Local” announced by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Fashion industry might suffer a setback as it currently works on global supply chains to source raw material from across the world , produce merchandise in Asia and distribute in European and North American markets. Except for China, world seems to be closed for fashion business at various levels including customer buying. The differential rates at the which the Covid-19 is spreading and simultaneously flattening across the world is making it difficult for the industry to set a schedule for getting back to work.
Positive news about Covid -19 from Fashion perspective is the increasing demand of masks and the new normal of wearing a mask while in public. It has simply introduced a new product category in matter of a quarter but is it worthwhile to include it in long term business plan. Can mask be the new fashion statement ? What about the 5000 USD face masks by the luxury brands ? It has become an embarrassment of riches for luxury brands and some of them have been called out for promoting the “non-essential” when the humanity has been challenged by a pandemic. Some of the luxury brands may get into a hibernation mode to survive the recession winter. This would help them to maintain the essential function while loosing fat and get into a leaner shape. We also know if the current rumours of Amazon Prime Day being postponed are true then that is another indication of fashion retailing industry to be in real distress. But it is also a fact that Amazon with its customer obsession driven processes can bring fresh breath of life for countless smaller fashion designer and production houses.
Initiatives like FolkLores , a Social Enterprise run by Gargi Kucheria which deals in Story Based Handmade Textiles and Accessories for Women show how the young people are engaging with fashion. It may show the path for reviving traditional Indian handicrafts and provide economic empowerment to rural artisans.
Young buyers across the world are facing reduced income and increasing debts with an uncertain future post Covid-19. This coupled with quarantine measures have forced new fashion habits. One of the side effects of this situation could be push for Cloth Rental Platform like Rent The Runway and Flyrobe in India. It remains to be seen if their customers would get over their apprehension of Corono virus spreading through sharing clothes. Similar fate awaits the fashion retailers when they open up and people would be finicky about trying clothes !
Speaking of borrowed clothes, what about the clothes we are borrowing from future generations ! Sustainable Fashion may also on a back burner if the fashion industry goes back to its water guzzling, environmental degrading and unfair labour renumeration practices in order to cut costs and recoup some losses.
It would be unfortunate to roll back the progress that has been made to attain sustainability in fashion. Amongst one of many enterprises which have reimagined new future of sustainable stakeholder driven craftsmanship is Jaipur Rugs led by visionary NK Chaudhary fondly called Bhai Saheb. JRC through its Social Impact arm Jaipur Rugs Foundation , creates opportunities of becoming skilled artisans in carpet value chain and get sustainable livelihoods as well as social development facilitation. Yash Raj Ranga , my former student and now Stakeholder Engagement Partner at Jaipur Rugs Foundation, has started some interesting and pioneering work in creating empathetic communication and leadership in craft and fashion industry.
And if you look at the marketing and communication blunders during Covid-19 by fashion designers as well as corporate leaders, you would realise how much we need to have the honest conversations that Yash is talking about.
OTW
Over the Weekend, we witnessed history when President Obama spoke at “Graduate Together: High School Class of 2020 Commencement,” an event organized by XQ Institute, a think tank that works with schools, in partnership with LeBron James’s foundation and the Entertainment Industry Foundation.
And in such difficult times, he has provided the distilled advise which might be useful not only for the young graduates but all of us.
And finally, build a community. No one does big things by themselves. Right now, when people are scared, it’s easy to be cynical and say let me just look out for myself, or my family, or people who look or think or pray like me. But if we’re going to get through these difficult times; if we’re going to create a world where everybody has the opportunity to find a job, and afford college; if we’re going to save the environment and defeat future pandemics, then we’re going to have to do it together. So be alive to one another’s struggles. Stand up for one another’s rights. Leave behind all the old ways of thinking that divide us — sexism, racial prejudice, status, greed — and set the world on a different path.
And talking about clothes, I recollected a passage in anusual- Memoir of a Girl Who Came Back from the Dead by Anu Aggarwal, where she talks about the choice she had to make between her dreamy modelling career in Paris and design sense for costumes in Bollywood. And of course, she chose Bollywood and then left Bollywood to take up Sanyaasin’s wardrobe.
Something that my favourite author Khalil Gibran wrote on clothes summarises her story- “Your clothes conceal much of your beauty, yet they hide not the unbeautiful ”
I Love You (Even when you wear cannot-join-video-conference-clothes)
Shailendra
PS- And once in a while please keep trying those trousers to avoid shock and regret later on when they would not fit ! Elastic bands in pyjamas usually adjust well to the expansion.
Interesting piece Sir, yet again. I personally feel apparel rental platforms will take a deep hit in their rather modest customer base as not only most of their target customers are ones seeking a special occasion dress never to be worn again. Since these special occasions are going to decrease for sure atleast for the rest of the year and along with the ever rising sanitation fear, sustainability is a sure impasse for these platforms.
Your newsletters are so revitalising! brings new dimensions, new perspectives all the time. This was such an unconventional topic. I never really thought about fashion industry while considering the consequences of COVID-19. I guess, this is one day of the week when my neurons fire in multiple directions :) Thank you for this insight Sir !