How the Coronavirus Threat is Affecting the Fashion Industry
By Selena Wu
We are nearing the end of fashion month and the Coronavirus outbreak has reached Europe, bringing with it further disruption to the fashion world. Right from the start of the outbreak in China, we have faced the effects on our supply chains and now on our commercial activities. Here we take a look at what has happened so far.
As the outbreak took hold in China, factories started to shut down, with no idea of when they would be allowed to open again. As China is now the place of production for many brands both big and small, this has put planning into disarray. For the big brands who plan their workflows months in advance, they have been forced to switch production to alternative factories at short notice or to deal with the delays. This will have resulted in backlogs, delays and reduced production, which will be most apparent on shop floors in the next few months.
For smaller brands who are unlikely to have alternative factories, they have had to grit their teeth. This outbreak has come at the most troubling time as for all brands the wholesale selling season is now. In some cases, this has resulted in samples just not being available— such as ASAI, who had to cancel his London Fashion Week show due to his factory being affected by the closures. It is likely that many brands are showing and selling smaller collections than anticipated as they have had little choice but to accept the delays.
Further on the commercial side, even from the start of the outbreak, buyers from Asia have been reducing budgets and days in Europe as they had little visibility on how long the effects of the outbreak would last. As factories closed down, so did major retail brands and consumers themselves opted to stay away from public places, resulting in many brands reporting losses over this period for their stores in China. In addition, this outbreak has exposed many countries’ reliance on Chinese tourists, with many department stores reporting lower sales, as Chinese tourists are either choosing to stay away, or unable to get visas for their shopping trips.
All this was troubling in the lead up to fashion month, but as Milan started to report increasing cases at the same time as Milan Fashion Week the effects started to snowball. Many buyers in this period ended up cancelling their trips to Milan, as they were worried about the situation— with many hearing that it was difficult to get in or out of Milan. In fact a number of showrooms ended up closing with little notice, leaving buyers extremely frustrated. Armani even cancelled all invitations to its show and eventually held it without an audience, just streaming online. Faced with all the short notice changes and cancellations, many buyers either chose to cancel their trips to Paris, or were told by management that they would not be allowed to travel, due to the risk that they would not be able to either get in or out, or worse, fall ill abroad.
Over the weekend Paris itself announced that all gatherings of over 5000 people were banned. Though this does not affect the individual shows of fashion week, and the French government itself has given its support, this has not helped to allay fears. There are many less people in Paris at the moment and many brands have cut their showroom days as they are unable to fill out their calendars. Agents are scrambling to keep up with developments and provide alternative methods of appointments, however we are likely to see budgets being even more reduced if the outbreak takes further root in Europe, the Middle East and North America.
As we come to the end of Paris Fashion Week, we will certainly see further developments as buyers start to consider their selections. The situation is changing constantly at the moment and the full effect of the outbreak on the industry remains to be seen.