As most of us start to come to terms with the idea of our temporary new normal and practice social distancing, slowly but surely our tastes and what we now want to prioritize are changing. At least this is the reality for me in Germany where I have been mostly indoors for the past two weeks. My only exposure to the outer world is limited to supermarket visits and a run in the park. The only items of clothing I have been wearing for the past two weeks are pyjamas, lounge wear and gym clothing. While I know most approach quarantine with disgust and frustration an imposed vacation is an ease for me, in addition to which, I have less clothes to sort on laundry day.
But even as these days call for fewer material requirements to get through them, I am still bombarded with endless flash and self-care sale emails from my favourite stores. While they are without a doubt tempting, they seem highly unethical at this time, considering the number of hands the order has to go through before it gets to your door.
I am constantly asking myself what will become of fashion and beauty after this pandemic. Can brands survive this given the nature of the industry? Will the consumer be the same person after this is over or will they be left with lasting effects that will further influence their behaviour?
The following are my assumptions:
1. Inevitable nature
On one hand, due the complex supply chain of the fashion industry and the heavy reliance on poor countries to produce cheap clothes, if is evident that even if Western and North American countries recover financially and socially from the virus, the industry will experience a block. Poorer countries don’t have the healthcare infrastructure to easily bounce back from this and it will in turn have a knock-on effect on retail jobs. On the other hand, this time offers us an ideal opportunity to closely examine our behaviour, look at the human cost of our clothes and perhaps change the way we operate.
2. The rise of the healthy and conscious consumer
Apart from toilet paper and pasta shortage, I was incredibly surprised to see ginger being purchased by many, at least here. According to 2015 article in USA Today by reporter Bruce Horowitz, a survey of more than 30,000 consumers in more than 60 nations revealed that younger consumers are far more concerned with food ingredients, genetically modified food and organic foods than previous generations. The polls from the research showed that 41 percent of Generation Z stated that they would be willing to pay more for healthier products while 26 percent of Generation Xers (1965-1979) stated they would pay more for healthy food. Given the current pandemic, this behaviour pattern could only be accelerated. The beauty industry has already been neatly packaging supplements and tablets with the names ‘immune booster’, ‘anti-pollution’ and so on. We can be sure that after this people would be more interested in reading labels to shop better to further protect their immunity. Turmeric capsules anyone?
3. Our sartorial choices and shopping habits
I am quite enjoying being in comfortable clothes, so without a doubt when things return to normal (hopefully soon) it will be difficult to put that extra effort into dressing. Over the years, we have seen a rise in street and athleisure wear and while they haven’t been my personal taste, one has to ask how anyone can go back to wearing heels every day after being this comfortable. It feels as if we are now living in our rightful comfort. While online sales may have probably spiked, I also miss the social hedonistic appeal of brick and mortar shopping. Perhaps after this crisis we may feel a big desire to do things that involve people instead of a click of the button since we have been locked up
I suppose we will just have to wait and see, but one thing is for sure, change will happen. It is inevitable.
