We’ve swapped front rows at fashion shows to social distancing and wearing masks that match our outfit. Since the Covid-19 pandemic changed our lives in many ways, it’s taken a massive toll on the world of fashion. From the warehouses to the textile industry and large high street chains such as Debenhams, John Lewis and Topshop who have had to make thousands of cutbacks including staff redundancies and having to close many of their high street stores; it was predicted by I-D that we could lose 35% of independent businesses.
Image credit: Priscilla Du Preez - Unsplash
As exciting as it was for the UK to come out of lockdown on the 12th of April; reports from the UKFashionNetwork.com shows that fashion sales in the UK aren't expected to recover fully from the pandemic until 2023. If these predictions are correct, this could mean many more of our high street retailers may not survive another year.
Although Barry Laden, a fashion entrepreneur who spoke at the Covid and me: do we care what we wear? Event recently feels positive that it can, he says: “When we talk about the high-street we also talk about the experience of buying a product. That experience is the future and I think that is how the high-street will survive.”
One thing Covid has made a positive impact on is sustainable fashion. The fashion industry is one of the biggest disruptors to the planet due to it being one of the highest pollutants caused by its high water and carbon footprint but this has slowed down slightly.
Over the last year companies had restrictions in international trade and cutbacks were made due to the lack of orders coming in meaning retailers had to become more strategic. In March 2020, a human-rights organisation created a petition to make retailers pay up for cancelling orders in process due to the restrictions.
Stores like Selfridges and Harvey Nichols have been rethinking the seasonality of clothing and cutting back on heavily discounted sales when shops opened back and social distancing has meant that we spot the latest trends virtually with fashion shows either being cancelled or taking place online.
“Being at home has made me more ethically aware, some of the Netflix documentaries were highlighting global warming so it made you more aware of what is going on,” Hannah Ellis, 20, a sales assistant said.
“I cut down on online shopping and I got rid of old clothes by taking them to clothes banks or selling them on eBay.” Since the pandemic, there has been a high in people clearing out their wardrobes and a rise in traffic to sites like Depop. It has been a chance for people to reevaluate.
Covid-19 has created challenges but has also been the shift these companies and their consumers needed to become more sustainable.
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