The State of Fashion 2021
How will COVID-19 shape the Fashion Business in 2021?
It has been a whole year since the global COVID-19 pandemic hit the world in March 2020. Who would have thought that the whole crisis would last more than a year? At that time many of us were hoping to gain some normality by this year.
However, this is not the case at all. With the rise of even more infectious mutations of the Coronavirus and delayed vaccination programmes, 2021 might be even more challenging than the year before.
Germany’s Current Situation with COVID-19
Germany, for example, has been under lockdown for several months since November 2020. All kinds of businesses, including restaurants, cinemas, fitness studios, stores (the list goes on) have remained closed due to the country’s high incidence rate. Nevertheless, it is evident that “the fashion (industry) has been one of the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
A Changing Fashion Industry
With the lockdown continuing beyond Easter, until (probably) April the 18th, there is no positive outlook for Europe’s fashion retail. In fact, the impact of this lockdown “could be enough to leave fashion retail (...) worse off than last year.” There will most likely be moderate consumption of fashion in summer 2021, due to remaining restrictions and public health measures. The World Health Organization expects the COVID-19 pandemic to last well into 2022.
On top of that, there is a shift in consumer behaviour with a majority of consumers claiming that they most likely won’t browse in high street stores when re-opened, since their priority is to get a vaccination first. Many of them have also become more mindful about their shopping habits, taking into consideration, how and what they spend their money on. If you’re interested in learning more about buying habits, feel free to read this article: The 4 Types of Buying Behaviour.
In comparison to 2019, sales of the European fashion industry went down by an estimated 20%. As a consequence, the stores were filled with clothes that weren’t bought - leading to textile waste - with clothes ending up in landfill. In 2021, it is expected that sales might drop up to 24% compared with 2019. However, leaders in the e-commerce industry, like Zalando, have seen a massive growth over the past year. Zalando gained 3 million new online customers in autumn 2020. Moreover, countries with a high e-commerce consumption rate, such as the United States and the United Kingdom, have seen an increase of 50% in e-commerce, in the year before.
In which ways has the pandemic affected physical retail?
With this in mind, “the COVID-19 pandemic will accelerate industry trends, with shopping shifting to digital channels, (in 2021) (...).” As a result of extending lockdowns and the closure of physical retail, many fashion brands have been under pressure. For instance, fast fashion brand Zara, is planning to cut 1,200 stores over the next two years in order to invest €2.7 billion in digital stores.
This shows that as we recover from the pandemic, there will be certain themes, which will define the fashion industry in 2021. It is unlikely that demand for fashion will return to pre-pandemic levels due to loss of jobs and low purchasing power. Furthermore, permanent store closures will continue to rise during and after the pandemic. Hence, there will be increasing traffic in virtual shopping, resulting in a revolution in the business of fashion.
How does Kleiderly contribute?
At Kleiderly, we made it our mission to reduce word's fashion footprint by recycling unwanted clothes or overproduction, which would otherwise end up in landfill or incinerators. Especially in times of the COVID-19 crisis, we see innovative solutions as vital to deal with inventory and the overload of clothes.
Sources
https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/retail/our-insights/state-of-fashion#
Related Blog Posts
Did COVID-19 change the fast fashion industry?
https://www.kleiderly.com/our-blog/did-covid-19-change-the-fast-fashion-industry
Digital Fashion Explained
https://www.kleiderly.com/our-blog/digital-fashion-explained
The 4 Types of Buying Behaviour
https://www.kleiderly.com/our-blog/the-4-types-of-buying-behaviour
