The discussions about the needed changes in the fashion industry have started a long time ago. Sustainability goals, eco-fashion, slow fashion, conscious shopping, greenwashing – customers seem to be aware of those terms by 2020.
Another thing is how reality meets the challenge. The industry shift towards conscious consumerism is a way too slow and the transparency of the fashion companies is not as clear as it is expected to be under sustainability compliance.
The global business crises reasoned by Covid-19 pushed forward the minds of global industry players to rethink the whole process. And here is a group of the independent designers, executives and retailers from around the world came up with the issues to be changed urgently:
- a fashion calendar that is out of sync with the end customer, unsustainable for industry professionals and damaging for sales;
- a fashion show format that is outmoded;
- an addiction to discounts that train shoppers to expect perennial markdowns, eroding profitability and brand equity for everyone along the value chain.
According to these problems, the solution is:
– to reduce the number of shows and events per season;
– to expand the full-price sales and to stop in-season discounting;
– to synchronize next season buying periods with current season presentations to cut back on travel;
-the format of shows should not be restricted by any expectations that every brand should expose every season.
Does the proposal of the reset of current fashion calendar mean that we will never witness the fashion shows, Black Fridays, Cyber Mondays and other discount events? Will it shift the industry towards long-term profitability and sustainability? Will it stop overproduction and the problem of stocking?
The list of protagonists who joined this proposal is imposing. Thou, there is no brand from any conglomerate like LVMH or Kering, what, probably, means that the huge players will try to cover up the crises losses first. But let’s see and hope for the best.
The full proposal is available here: https://www.rewiringfashion.org/
