How the coronavirus affects the fashion industry

The latest series of fashion weeks, women's clothing parades in New York, London, Milan and Paris, was overshadowed by the spread of COVID-19, which spread to Italy around the time the parades began. As a number of journalists in the field have explained, precaution and paranoia about the virus persisted during the season, as several publishers left early and the shows were canceledand the virus began to appear in the United States.

And just like COVID-19 had a seismic effect on pop culture, its weight also weighs on the fashion industry. A number of changes in the reaction to the spread of the virus will change the next round of fashion shows, the lucrative cruise season, and how Americans buy and what will be available to them. Here are some ways that will happen.

The cruise season is over

The resort or cruise season is one of the most lucrative fashions: held in the spring, it is a sort of amorphous calendar of ambitious but commercial collections that brings publishers, influencers and, perhaps more importantly, major customers in locations around the world. A number of brands have already canceled their cruises: Gucci, which had planned to show in San Francisco in May; Burberry, who had planned a show in April in Shanghai; and Prada, who has scheduled a resort show in Tokyo, Japan in late May. Even though cruise parades are less directional than traditional seasonal parades, they are nonetheless moments of major brand creation for fashion houses and a chance to bring their clothes to an audience outside the four major fashion capitals. They are also a major resource for stores to boost their inventory between seasons.

The future of the fashion show is under discussion

Outside of the traveling circus that is cruise season, fashion designers are canceling and rethinking their shows, which can lead to questions about the format itself in the long run. In times of crisis, you have to think about a radical reset, Vogue editor Anna Wintour said Time. Ralph Lauren has canceled his April fashion show, originally intended to present his fall 2020 collection, and Giorgio Armani, on the last day of Milan Fashion Week, has chosen to broadcast his fashion show live, in an empty room, at public. A number of small events, from a Michael Kors event in Milan to the presentation of Rosie Assoulins in Paris, have also been canceled. The virus could force designers to ask themselves if they really need to do a fashion show to sell their products and build their brand. Without a doubt, there will always be brands that will insist on showing this past season, the powerful apocalyptic submersion of Balenciagas and the joyful spectacle of Marc Jacobss with Karole Armitage, demonstrate that there is still something to be gained by seeing a vision of designers expressed in a runway setting. But designers can finally discover that paying models for hour-long presentations or staging the big show that I belong here is not necessary by nature, the kind of existential questioning that the The sustainability movement has been begging the industry to take it seriously over the past year.

The way stores buy is changing

The designers are not just in Europe to show clothes, but to sell them. (Contrary to popular mythology, this is the real reason why most American designers choose to show there: it's hard to build a brand without lucrative wholesale European accounts.) But a number of designers discovered this season that they could still make sales without the person-meeting in person, use digital platforms like Joor to sell their products instead. Others would have used almost picturesque PDFs to make sales. Undoubtedly, a number of very sharp visionary merchants will find it difficult to place orders for clothing that they cannot feel, but wholesalers are undoubtedly already thinking about how they might solve this problem during next season.

Online shopping is also affected

Contrary to popular belief, most luxury purchases are not made online: only 9% of luxury goods transactions took place on the Internet, a 2019 report found. In the midst of government-mandated quarantines in China, Bain consultants found that buyers were significantly increasing their online purchases through Tmall, an ecommerce site, but their purchases of branded products have declined. This also corresponds to what happened during the SARS epidemic, reported the consulting firm. Surprisingly, luxury sales increased after SARS was brought under control, luxury brands may have a storm, but they may have back-up purchases to look forward to.

The crazy year of the watchmaking world strikes a blow

It was to be a record year for the luxury watch industry. For the first time in 2020, the two largest watch fairs, Baselworld and Watches & Wonders (formerly Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie, or SIHH), were scheduled consecutively, rather than with their typical two-month separation. Trade fairs are an opportunity for brands to preview their new releases for the entire calendar year to the press, customers and retailers; the new dates were intended to make it easier for those who previously had to go back and forth to Switzerland for the two watch fairs. It was thought that this would increase participation in both events. Last week, however, Baselworld and W&W announced that this year's events would not take place due to fears of spreading the Coronavirus even more during such a global gathering. Do not call canceled events, however. Baselworld wrote (a statement) (https://www.baselworld.com/en/news/news/2020-02-baselworld-communication) that the event is postponed … until January 2021. In response, many brands are individually trying to put together their own presentations to replace the two shows. Cam Wolf