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| Image from Business of Fashion |
It is no secret that the fashion industry is getting wrecked by this national pandemic. An industry built on the foundation of human interaction and consumer engagement, now forced to adapt or shut-down. Fashion's most exclusive event of the year, Met Gala, postponed from its original date in May. With the lack of a clear end-date for the corona-virus pandemic, there is fear that season predicting systems will be out of date, leading to a pill up of items in landfills and waste. However, with all of this fear and uncertainty, certain leaders and and innovative solutions have allowed the fashion industry to stick out the fight to keep in business and help support the efforts of health care professionals during this time.
Corporate Donations
It is no lie that there people and organizations that are really hurting at this point in time and there have been a lot of major retailers donating to help the greater community. The Kate Spade New York Foundation is planning on donating $100,000 to their partner Crisis Text Line. This is a program that provides mental health counseling and emotional support to doctors and nurses as they work to fight the effects of this disease. Mental health has been a very important priority of the Kate Spade New York, since their founder passed from suicide in 2018. UGG has launched a new initiative called "Better Together", where the brand is expecting to donate more than $1 million to the COVID-19 relief efforts in both monetary and product-related ways. UGG has also donated products such as robes and slippers to hotels housing front-line workers and first responders. Tiffany & Co is donating $1 million to COVID-19 through their philanthropic foundation, The Tiffany & Co. Foundation. They have split the money, giving $750,000 to the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for the World Health Organization and $250,000 to The New York Community Trust's NYC COVID-19 Response & Impact Fund. New York is one of the states that is being hit the hardest and also is where Tiffany & Co.'s headquarters are. The PVH Corp which owns Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger is planning to donate $1 million toward COVID-19 relief, as well as another $100,000 donation to the Solidarity Response Fund's COVID relief efforts. This is just a short list of examples, but it is so beautiful seeing these companies contributing to something bigger than themselves even though they don't know what will come of their own business because of this virus.Making Mask
Right now we are all trying to find ways to control what we cannot control and do things we know we are good at. The fashion industry is doing this through manufacturing masks to give hospitals and sell for donations. Burberry has announced that they will be re-purposing their trench coat factory to produce non-surgical gowns and masks for patients in the U.K. Designer Christian Siriano, winner of Project Runway, has tasked his team to produce masks for New York hospitals. Gucci also has pledged to donate 1.1 million masks and overalls to Italian hospital workers. The Neiman Marcus Group has partnered with JOANN Fabrics to make masks, gowns, and scrubs for health care workers who are serving front line. Alice + Olivia, a New York-based clothing company, launched a #MaskTogether initiative where they plan to provide the public and medical professionals protective masks. I love this initiative taken by these retailers because this is the one thing that they can confidently be apart. The fashion industry creates things all the time, might as well create something to help the fighting efforts of this pandemic.
Digital Runways
With the social distancing projections now up 2 to 6 more months and vaccines probably not available until next year, the future is more uncertain than ever. This pandemic is forcing creators to experiment with technology in new, innovative ways. In a Forbes article, Matthew Drinkwater, the Head of Fashion Innovation Agency, says "This is an opportunity to redefine business models and build a more sustainable, progressive future". The Fabricant is a fashion house that exclusively produces produces digital clothing and have been working with some brands to create online samples and content which, in return, decreases textile waste and maintains the buying and scouting process. With the brick and mortar stores closing, the emphasis on E-commerce has taken over the fashion and retail world. With the need for new trends and new creations, the runway might turn into a e-vite event.
We all are trying to adapt to the circumstance set before us and, at this point, are forced to create new practices to maintain our ability to keep moving. The fashion industry is being hit really hard by this pandemic and is facing a very uncertain and unprecedented reality. However, they are not letting this stop them from giving back and maintaining their customer loyalty through their various initiatives. Obviously, as someone who is hoping to enter into the fashion world, I am nervous for my personal and professional future, but I am very interested to see where we go from here.
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