Rewiring fashion, a historical change

If the crisis caused by this pandemic has left us something positive, it is the fact of reflecting, of thinking about what aspects of our life to change. Similarly, the fashion industry has paused to reflect on the frenzy of its current system.

Without realizing it, we are all immersed in a hectic pace of life, where immediacy is what guides us. The rush prevents us from enjoying what is important, and we have needed a forced break to realize it.

The direction the fashion industry had taken was unsustainable too: continuous collections, daily novelties, a crowded market, oversupply and consumerism based on promotions. How could this be maintained? It is true that with digitization it could not be otherwise, but a large part of the blame is also on fast fashion chains. How do we improve and change this current dynamic?

From this common reasoning within the fashion industry, the proposal #rewiringfashion. A proposition for the global fashion industry, the product of ongoing conversations between a growing group of independent designers, CEOs and retail executives from around the world who have come together at this challenging time to rethink how the fashion industry could, and it should work after this global crisis. Part of the proposal includes reflections on how current parade formats should change and which audience to convene; change the calendar of the catwalks; change the number of collections, and other series of procedures that have been done in the same way for more than 50 years in the fashion industry. Procedures that no longer fit our reality or provide a solution to the current needs of the industry.

Last Thursday, February 25, I attended a virtual meeting organized by Fashion Law Institute Spain where different fashion professionals talked about this proposal and shared our opinion on this subject. A proposal that every day is seen more necessary and that has a greater number of followers who believe the need for a change is real.

There is no doubt that in the current situation that we live in the world of fashion, it has come to saturate the creative processes of brands and also designers, giving rise to an unsustainable industry with lower quality products, but what has generated the need to remove 6 collections a year? Without a doubt the need to compete with the fast fashion industry. The historical moment that we are living and the forced need that in March 2020 we had to stop, has made the fashion think that this must change now; that less and better quality should be produced, communicating concepts, investing in technology and betting on a solid brand image that connects with your target audience in a commercial and affective way.

It is truth that fast fashion is not going to disappear, but signature fashion firms must re-educate the consumer to create a more sustainable industry. Or even, why not, get to collaborate with each other to row together in the same direction.

What is clear is that it must change and this change is already taking place. For this reason, brands must bet on being more selective with their clientele and with the press that communicates their designs, because right now, not everything goes, and to eradicate intrusion in fashion; hence the importance of training and educating good professionals to renew the industry. The brands of each country have to bet on looking within, towards what identifies them and makes them unique, allowing generational change and facilitating the incorporation of future generations into the labor market.

If you want to know more about this meeting, click on the following links:

https://www.rewiringfashion.org/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyfRzMmRpnk&list=PL3NWPtc5RlJuzhmlT-acl7XUzWt3qj-rd&index=5