Temperature Taking: Responsibility and Recovery
The coronavirus has impacted all corners of the globe, with rising death tolls, lockdowns and climbing unemployment. But there is hope that the pandemic will move the fashion industry—from consumers and up the supply chain—in a more mindful direction.
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.
The second webinar in the Taking the Temperature series, filmed May 19, gathered panelists from around the world, including Los Angeles, New York, Pakistan and Italy, to discuss fashion’s path forward.
Here is some of what they had to say.
On reopening stores after lockdowns:
“You can open the stores, because we have to get rid of this glut of excess inventory. But even if the stores are open, the consumer has to feel safe to go into it…That is going to take in my opinion messaging. It’s about the brands and retailers talking directly to the consumer, telling them what they’re doing in very simple, clear terms, being able to back it up,” said Michelle Branch from Markt and Twigs.
On how to manage excess inventory and deadstock:
“Brands I feel should be more forthcoming in finding ways to reengineer their inventory, be it by redesigning or recycling the deadstock for the next season…We can launch a recycling program where we can retrieve the cotton from the built up stock, from the deadstock, blend it with other fibers and create new denims for the next season,” said Farah Iqbal from Artistic Fabric Mills.
On companies that aren’t paying for orders:
“They either are struggling so much that they probably should just face bankruptcy, or they are being greedy…I think a lot of these big corporations have just gotten too big and too greedy, and if it’s over, then it’s over for them. And I think there needs to be a bit more honesty about where they’re at rather than impacting the entire supply chain and people who are a lot worse off than you,” said Amy Leverton from Denim Dudes.
On calling out companies for cancellations:
“I think it’s better to not name or shame anybody because we’re all in the same boat. I’m thinking of the whole scenario like a tripod—there’s the consumer, there’s the supply chain and also the retail…The thing is, we have to support each other,” said Ebru Ozaydin from Artistic Milliners.
Stay tuned for more discussions in this series. And message us if you’d like to be part of a future panel.