The fashion industry is under pressure. The crisis started in the second half of 2008 had shrunk the spending on clothing and shoes to consumers. The emergence of particularly online sales and the growth of multinational fast fashion chains has shaken the playing field. Fashionable clothes and rapidly changing collections at ever lower prices can count on the favor of consumers. Scale, cost and speed are decisive in a fight that is increasingly happening at global level. Many independent shops, but also larger existing chains do not seem to follow the game and quit.
The downside of the importance of scale, speed and cost lead to increasing pressure on the supply chain, especially in manufacturing. The balance between sustainability, ethics and efficiency is not always present and threatens to further derail the race to provide people with clothing in the future.
Two opposite scenarios show how certain trends shaping the future of the fashion industry mold. In the price-based scenario fast fashion is expanding its domination. The world is provided with affordable fashion, but in the area of sustainability and ethics there is a price to be paid for.
In the quality-oriented scenario, the market is changing its way of thinking; quality before quantity. Durability is an integral part therein. Solutions are more and more sought after in new technology. Vertical integration, initiated by fast fashion chains, is developed and ultimately leading to an advanced “smart” chain between production and demand are highly coordinated. Sustainability, ethics and efficiency benefits. Affordability, the dress of an expanding world population and developing economies in underdeveloped countries, however, are less into their own.
The actual future is likely to be a mix of elements from these two scenarios. The dominance of one of the two scenarios may include a market or even by product differences. For the balance between sustainability, ethics and efficiency it is hoped that the market is not completely bogged down thinking in price-oriented, but also provides space for an out-of-the-box thinking. The deployed vertical integration can lead to a more high-technology sector, which is actually a trendsetter. Industry and society benefit when the temptation of the state, in the short term, low-cost alternative.
A critical view of industry and consumers to shift the emphasis towards quality and value and thus the fashion industry in the long term help to a healthy future.
The digital dilemma of luxury brands