After Covid-19, will luxury fashion be the same? As Versace, Michael Kors and Ralph Lauren see profits plunge, the industry will have to remodel in the new reality
With no celebrity-filled fashion shows, no profits and, for brands like Diane von Furstenberg, almost no stores, many are predicting the fashion ecosystem will be unrecognisable once the pandemic is over
Industry leaders are declaring the death of fashion as we know it.
With shows postponed or moving online, customer orders and manufacturing delayed and reliable sales channels disappearing, many are predicting that the fashion ecosystem will be unrecognisable once the coronavirus pandemic is over.
Ralph Lauren and Capri – owner of Versace, Michael Kors and Jimmy Choo – have both this month reported massive drops in sales in the most recent quarter. Ralph Lauren reported a 57 per cent drop in comparable sales and said it would be re-evaluating its brand portfolio, real estate and corporate structure. Meanwhile, revenues at Capri fell 66.5 per cent year on year.
Store closures and a lack of tourism are important driving factors for these declines. But many experts also note that the pandemic has forced a hard reset, leaving the fashion industry wondering what’s next.
“What I do, the clothes that I make and the way we present a show,” Marc Jacobs said during Vogue’s Global Conversations event in April. “It feels like that probably will never exist as we knew it.”
In a feature for The New York Times, Irina Aleksander outlined how the rise of social media, the need for novelty and a sped-up fashion cycle created a perfect storm for the industry’s demise, even before the pandemic hit.
“I think in general, we’ve created a system that is unrealistic and a strain for even the largest of brands,” Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of Vogue and creative director at Condé Nast, told Aleksander.