With COVID-19 and lockdown, the fashion industry lost its temporality. It was no longer necessary to have an outfit ready for summer or fall when most of the population opted for comfortable clothes to work at home. With the closure of shopping centers and other points of sale, companies kept their clothes in warehouses and this has led to avoiding the arrival of seasonal collections on the market.
Brands fast fashion They also put a brake on the collections they launch in a year, which numbered at least 20 different ones, and this has led the market to think of a contrary strategy: the slow fashion or slow fashion, which urges timeless garments that are also more environmentally friendly.
The fashion industry posted a 20% decline in revenue in 2019 and 2020, while its operating cash flow decreased by 3.4 percentage points to 6.8%, according to figures from the McKnsey Global Fashion Index (MGFI). The analysis details that around 7% of the companies left the market completely, due to economic problems or because they were bought by rivals.
Sara García, associate director at the Business School of the Tec de Monterrey Campus Toluca, doctor in Economics and Business Management, comments that this trend tries to reverse the pollution that is generated by the clothing maquila, from CO2 emissions, with a more artisan manufacturing, which also considers textiles and inks,
“With the slow fashion it is about privileging a circular economy, of encouraging clothing made by hand, with more organic fabrics and companies have to stick with it because somehow they have to remove all the inventory that has remained and that they have not sold due to the pandemic ”, declares.
And in the midst of these changes, for the specialist the winners of the industry in Mexico, may be the Mexican designers, whose concepts from their conception integrate many of these sustainability characteristics that will now be more requested by buyers. “Many of the Mexican designers have an opportunity to encourage the sale of their bags, shoes, clothing, which can empathize with the consumer and which are very oriented to the circular economy, to protect the environment and also contribute to inclusion by wearing handcrafted fabrics made in indigenous communities ”, he adds.