Most of Italy’s larger brands – the likes of Gucci, Prada, Fendi and Armani – will likely weather the storm, but for small, independent labels this pandemic could prove fatal. Marco De Vincenzo, Stella Jean, Carolina Castiglioni from Plan C, JJ Martin from La DoubleJ, and Luca Lin and Galib Gassanoff from Act n°1 are just a few of the designers whose labels have garnered international attention. Here’s how they are coping with the current lockdown.

Marco De Vincenzo recently celebrated the launch of his menswear collection and the 10th anniversary of his eponymous brand. A designer usually full of passion and enthusiasm, he had dark words regarding the future.

“The coronavirus emergency in Milan started during the autumn/winter 2020-21 fashion week. Buyers from all over the world were obviously concerned, so they left as quick as they could, never to return,” said De Vincenzo. “We booked just a few orders for next season, which means we might not be able to afford to produce them, since our suppliers request minimum quantities for fabrics and such.”

He also has trouble working on ideas for spring/summer 2021 because he cannot develop any samples with the factories closed. “If they reopen soon, I might get the chance to work on a capsule collection, with a limited number of pieces. If not, I doubt we can survive skipping two seasons. Big shops do not wait for a small brand to get back, they just fill the gap with something else.”

Stella Jean never chose the easy way to grow her namesake brand. She believes in fashion as a tool to connect different cultures and to create a virtuous circle where fairly paid workers from the poorest areas of the world become part of her productive process.

“We are a very small company,” she said. “And that helps in a situation like this. So far, we haven’t received requests to cancel the autumn/winter 2020-21 orders. As for production, I believe this is the perfect time to try a different, more sustainable approach to it.

“In Italy there are many skilled female workers stuck at home willing to do something to support themselves and their families. I started to create a local network with those artisans and we will send them some of our models to be assembled and completed. I hope by next month I will be able to expand it outside Italy.”

The Haitian-Italian designer admits that this will mean fewer pieces to be sold and less profit, but she is ready to accept that.

“Don’t take me the wrong way when I say I hope things will not be the same as before the lockdown. I’ve been asking myself where was I running to all the time and how many of the things I did were really important, in my pre-Covid-19 emergency life. I think fashion can learn to be more useful and to remember that elegance comes from within.”

JJ Martin, the American-born and Italy-based founder of La DoubleJ, doesn’t yield to despair. “The motto of our company is 'Raise Your Vibration' and we're taking this more seriously than ever,” she said. Her brand, a modern take on Milanese ladies’ sophisticated style, is known for its use of the precious silk produced in the Lake Como area.

“In any crisis – whether it be personal, professional or global – you have got to realise that it's temporary. It's important to understand this in the short term to best confront with it. But also to help you think about, how do we want to come out from this? We have to keep our eyes on the prize,” she said.

She explained that “most major American department stores are now refusing ordered deliveries on goods they have already confirmed – which means we won’t be paid for these items. This is a huge disruption to our budget.

“That being said, La DoubleJ has a very advanced global e-commerce business that we run ourselves online and that remains 100 per cent open. Once the crisis is over I want to see the international press coming to support the fashion communities around the world. Support will be more important than ever.”

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“Right from the start we agreed to release fewer collections per year and to work with just a few stores,” Carolina said. “This enabled us to deliver by the end of February, before the virus spread in Italy, and because of the tight relationship we have with each boutique, the number of cancelled orders for next season is quite low.”

Castiglioni is worried about her suppliers not being able to ship their goods on time to start the production for autumn/winter 2020-21, yet she is not giving up.

“My brother and I speak alternatively with all the members of the staff to make sure they don’t feel neglected. We ask them to advise on what we can do to improve the situation and we try to convey a strong message: we will do anything in our power to fulfil the orders. We will start again. Maybe we will be delayed, but we will never give up.”

Now they work and live in their atelier not far from the Fondazione Prada museum in Milan. “Our team is safely at home, while we are trying to gather all the due certifications to start producing medical face masks for the hospitals,” they said. “We will probably skip the resort collection, usually presented in June, but we are confident that we will somehow make it for the spring/summer 2021 collection in September.

“Our biggest concern is how to produce the autumn/winter 2020-21 season, which is currently blocked, but we also know how hard we can work and how determined we are to keep going.

“We invested four year of our lives in this project. We started with a very small budget and we did everything just the two of us: we will never stop.”