The Digitation & Virtualization Era of Fashion after Coronavirus (COVID-19) Lockdown
Mahima Nand
Editor, Textile Merchandising
Assistant Professor, Amity University
Research Scholar in Sustainable fashion
National Institute of Fashion Technology
New Delhi – 110 016, India
Email: mahima.nand@nift.ac.in
Lockdown Effect on Fashion Industry:
In last few days, our fashion industry has drastically taken unplanned turns and falls by global impact of Corona Virus. As the phases are passing by now the industry must plan to reset and reshape the parameter to level up technologies, procedures, and customers shopping experience.
By the end of first phase some things were clear-
- Fashion Industry has faced a downfall and that it will recover by its own pace slowly as every industry will have its own strategies to recover the loss they have faced.
- There are at least 20% of entities that once closed will not reopen again.
- A percentage of total population has become unemployed and will take time to reshape their purchasing behavior in the same pace after the lockdown.
- There was a powerful lesson to learn that do need to survive in customer fulfillment scenarios in similar situations in future if required.
Digitation & Virtualization Era of Fashion:
Matthew Drinkwater, Head of the Fashion Innovation Agency (FIA) at the London College of Fashion, says that his team’s workload has escalated sharply during the crisis. The agency develops immersive consumer experiences that bring technology giants including Microsoft MSFT and Lucas Film together with leading fashion brands.
Now, for fashion industry it is important to understand how the impacts of corona virus will changes future prospects as even after uncertainties fashion will enter the global market with newer concepts like digitalizing fashion world. Well-known brands are likely to introduce concepts like Digital denim collection creating digital clothing samples rather than physical samples eliminating textile waste by creating stunning online collection.
The crises forced the industry to focus more on technologies like virtual clothing, virtual catwalks and virtual showrooms. This is an opportunity to reshape and reset the business models being more sustainably sound for a progressive future.
Founder & Editor of Textile Merchandising. He is an Assistant Professor and Chairman of the Textile Engineering Department of a Reputed University in Bangladesh. He has performed numerous Research Regarding Textile Engineering. He has also received two times “Research & Development Fellowship” from the Ministry of Science & Technology in Bangladesh. For any further queries, please contact email at raju.uttara105@gmail.com or WhatsApp at +8801673758271.