How Will The Coronavirus Impact The Future Of Fashion?

With the global health and economic catastrophe putting the brakes on the pace luxury fashion orbits at today, creating time and space for the industry to reassess its modus operandi, it’s possible that fashion can now tweak its systems for the better — shaping a brave new world, post-pandemic

- Andrea Sim

Just going by the drastically reduced amount of news in one’s email inbox, it’s evident that the coronavirus has thrown a spanner in the works of the fashion animal. The endless collections, capsules, collaborative mini collections, single-product drops, events and parties have come to a screeching halt. Certainly not by choice, given lockdown measures of varying degrees the world over and a disrupted economy. Not to mention, a whole other set of more pressing priorities other than owning a new bag: health — physical, mental and emotional.

According to The Business of Fashion which has been driving industry-wide discourse with regards to the pandemic’s impact on the fashion eco-system, 2020 could possibly see a 27 to 30 per cent decrease in revenue, with the first quarter already reporting a sizeable hit. While such economic repercussions aren’t fashion’s own doing, it draws attention to other fundamental problems that reared their heads before the virus went viral, and now seem all the more urgent.