What If Fashion Brands Did… Less? A Conversation.

This pandemic forced many businesses to their knees, but the fashion and retail sector fell particularly hard. For an industry constructed out of floss and glitter, that quite literally sells a fantasy, the repercussions of so much global uncertainty — a terrified consumer base, reluctant to spend money or leave home; factories that couldn’t operate without endangering workers; a glut of products that were suddenly only appropriate for a lifestyle that had ceased to exist — swept away whatever smoke and mirrors were left. However, the rarely spoken reality is that the fashion industry had been in decline for a long time prior to COVID-19. Success stories were dwarfed by horror stories: Once-ubiquitous retail institutions forced to declare bankruptcy, past indie darlings attempting their third (fourth? fifth?) comeback, innovators and “disruptors” whose big-picture dreams were ultimately betrayed by their inadequate management. Read more at Refinery 29.