The Fashion Industry’s slow killer?
By CYRINE ETTRIKI | March 8, 2020
Cover photo by ‘Hello I’m Nik’ via Unsplash
As the Coronavirus (COVID-19) continues its spread, it is unsurprising that the interconnected world of fashion has been greatly affected, ranging from renowned brands to singular modeling agencies. Following the cancellation of several luxury fashion shows, including that of Burberry and Chanel, as well as the cancellation of entire fashion week seasons, the 2020 fall fashion season is predicted to reap great negative economic consequences.
China, where the virus originated, represents one of the major manufacturing places for the fashion industry. Therefore, due to the current circumstances, major factories in the country have been forced to close. This has inevitably caused and continues to cause huge delays in brands receiving their inventory on time, creating even bigger threats to businesses. Therefore, as collections are being postponed, holiday sales will most likely see delays as well, which could cause major havoc.
As of March 5th, 82 cases have been confirmed in the Netherlands, with one of these being an employee at Nike’s European headquarters in Hilversum. Following the news of this case during the weekend of the 29th of February, Nike made the executive decision to close their office space on the following Monday and Tuesday in order to deeply clean the space before resuming work. With that said, even though two days of work were lost at one of Europe’s largest retail headquarters, there are no forecasted fashion show cancellations for the Netherlands, for the time being.
However, although COVID-19 resulted in the cancellation of shows in Milan, Paris maintained stability in its scheduled programming. Nevertheless, the turnout was unsurprisingly low, as many Chinese buyers, influencers, and journalists were absent. With the exemption of journalists arriving from Milan with the ruling that they wore masks, fashion week in Paris saw dismal days, even with the gracing of a 5 million euro Louis Vuitton show.
Be that as it may, COVID-19 has affected more than just the fashion industry. Most importantly, it has affected the general population all around the world. Therefore, in addition to taking necessary safety precautions, we can now only hope that this situation will be seeing brighter days, by standing in solidarity with one another.
