Digital Fashion: A New Essential
Earlier this year we published an opinion piece — State of Digital Fashion — intending to spotlight the growing popularity of virtual worlds and the role of digital-only fashion as a redemptive solution for the industry to steer into a phygital future.
Little did we know that the world was on the fast-track to a digital future, where virtual worlds were soon to become an everyday reality. Yet here we are in an unprecedented time, where everything we thought we knew needs to be rethought — and digital, in particular, can no longer be an afterthought.
Fashion at a Halt
As the whole world battles the pandemic, no one has been spared from the impact of COVID-19. Not even the fashion industry.
Billions of dollars have been lost from cancelled orders and losses in sales as the pandemic forces the closure of fashion stores, bringing many brands to the brink of bankruptcy.
Termination in production and the challenges of “socially-distant” supply chains have not only had a knee-jerk reaction to business models but also cost a lot of people their jobs and livelihood.
The “temporary” shutdown has threatened a permanent end of many physical stores, forcing brands to take a good look at the presence and endurance (or lack of) of their online infrastructure.
