Fashion in 2022: how China’s ‘common prosperity’ goal, cancel culture and continuing Covid-19 travel curbs will affect luxury brands

China’s zero-Covid policy will continue to have an impact on fashion, but its push for fairer wealth distribution is seen as a positive for luxury brands

The risks of brands suffering a consumer backlash for apparent insults will grow; smaller labels that know how to connect with customers will prosper

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A luxury fashion store in Beijing. China’s importance to and influence on the fashion industry will continue to grow in 2022, as will the risk of brands being affected by cancel culture. Photo: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg

Published: 7:15am, 23 Dec 2021Updated: 7:34am, 23 Dec 2021

This time last year, when we looked ahead at what was to come for the fashion industry in 2021, we thought that by December the coronavirus pandemic would be in the rear- view mirror.

Not so fast. A new variant of the virus, Omicron, is disrupting the global economy, while the stock market boom that progressed unabated even at the height of the pandemic is showing signs of slowing down.

According to a report released by trade publication Business of Fashion and consultancy McKinsey, however, the global fashion industry is set for recovery in 2022, with fashion sales to surpass 2019 levels by 3 per cent to 8 per cent.

The rebound, however, is far from even, with large brands reaping the lion’s share of the benefits and many small ones still struggling.

Larger fashion brands including Louis Vuitton have been enjoying a rebound, while smaller labels are struggling. Photo: Feature China/Barcroft Media via Getty Images

With the help of trusted experts, we take a look at some of the key issues that have affected the industry this year and are likely to be some of the most talked-about topics well into 2022 and beyond.

Homebound

China’s approach to dealing with the pandemic versus that of Europe, the United States and the Middle East has created two worlds: one in which people travel freely and are trying to coexist with the virus, and one in which draconian zero-Covid policies are keeping people unable to travel unless they’re willing to put up with strict and costly quarantine measures.