Temperature Taking: Furloughs and Fashion’s Future
COVID-19 has significantly changed how individuals and companies are operating. It has also ushered in a new normal, with lockdown measures, record unemployment and falling consumer confidence.
During this challenging time, we’ve seen women leaders in both business and government rising to the occasion with particularly effective strategies for handling the crisis.
Women are also disproportionately represented in the apparel business, comprising 80 percent of the 75 million-strong workforce.
In light of this, Carved in Blue is presenting a series of talks with women holding creative and business roles in denim to hear how they are navigating the pandemic.
During the first edition of Taking the Temperature on May 12, panelists from the United Kingdom and Belgium shared their thoughts on topics ranging from the retailer-supplier relationship to the impact of easing lockdowns.
Here is some of what they had to say.
On retailer-supplier relationships:
“The brands and retailers really need to look at themselves, and they need to look at their ethical strategies at the moment and their current behavior. It seems like…everybody’s going every man for himself, and that’s not the future of business,” said denim consultant Salli Deighton.
On brands furloughing sustainability staff:
“It just kind of shows how the brands are acting in their own interest, and that’s a pretty hard behavior to kick. So they’re programmed to grow, and not necessarily to care, and that’s a fundamental behavior habit that we’ve got to change if we want to truly have sustainable businesses in the future,” said Janelle Hanna from White Weft.
On fast fashion’s future:
“We’ve been stuck in this kind of catch 22 for the last few years with retailers producing a lot of product because they’re saying the customer demand is there, but customers are demanding that product because they’re very used to being able to spend a couple of euros to buy a T-shirt. So it’s a vicious circle that’s been going round and round and round for years with everybody blaming the other side, and at some point that system needs to change,” said Laura Dixon from Three by One Europe.
On the fashion calendar:
“We’ve all been in a bubble set by this industry that we have so many seasons set out by luxury brands, we feel the need to keep up and continue with that pace…If luxury changes that calendar, and we all start reducing the seasonality that we have within a year, consumers will feel less pressure, as will the rest of us,” said Leanne Jae, denim specialist.
On retail stores reopening post-lockdown:
“There’s so much possibility to create something way, way, way better than we’ve ever experienced, and I’m much more excited about what we can create that’s new and that will be a breath of fresh air than actually just sort of rushing back into what actually wasn’t our ideal normal anyway,” said Sue Barrett from Denim Forum.
Stay tuned for more discussions in this series. And message us if you’d like to be part of a future panel.