The COVID-19 pandemic has hit the world roughly and thoroughly, leaving no industry spared. The severe outbreak of the virus throughout the world has affected the various fashion events greatly. While few events are being merged with one another, other events are facing stepping-down of big names, while one thing that remains the same for all is, organisation via digital means.
Therefore, the designers in the fashion industry are demanding the industry to change in terms of sustainability alongside a few changes in the calendar.
Big names from the industry including Mary Katrantzou, Tory Burch, Gabriela Hearst, Erdem, Mytheresa, Liberty and Gucci in an open letter to the fashion industry wrote, ‘Recently a group of us from across the global fashion industry, from CEOs to buyers and creative directors, came together in a series of conversations with a shared vision; to discuss ways in which our business needs to transform.
‘We agreed that the current environment although challenging, presents an opportunity for a fundamental and welcome change that will simplify our businesses, making them more environmentally and socially sustainable and ultimately align them more closely with customers’ needs,’ the letter further mentioned.
The requested the fashion industry leaders to shift their focus on making it more environment friendly and sustainable while requesting them to reschedule the major fashion events back to their original slots beginning with the shifting of AW20 season.
While putting forward their demand of delivering the Autumn collection in August or January season while for Spring collection they demanded the July season. The letter mentioned to ‘create a more balanced flow of deliveries through the season to provide newness but also time for products to create desire. Discount at the end of the season in order to allow for more full-price selling – January for Autumn/Winter and July for Spring/Summer.’
Thereafter, they put forth certain measures to make the industry more sustainable, which included the likes of organising fashion events through digital means in order to reduce waste, costs and efforts. Digital events shall mean lesser travelling and even better productivity while cutting-down the costs for designers.
‘Working together, we hope these steps will allow our industry to become more responsible for our impact on our customers, on the planet and on the fashion community, and bring back the magic and creativity that has made fashion such an important part of our world,’ the letter stated in the last.