IT’S TIME TO BAG A BARGAIN AS FASHION RETAILERS FACE HUGE
Sunday Mail
The fashion industry, put on hold by lockdown, has mountains of stock that nobody needs. While people are still buying tops and T-shirts, and will want to go shopping when it is finally allowed, no one is going on a foreign holiday. Weddings and days at the races are also out of the question.
That means tons of swimwear, beach cover-ups, smart frocks, strappy sandals and fascinators are heading for massive markdowns – and then landfill.
Industry estimates are that fashion sales are down by a third, which Sarah Murray, of the Jane Davidson boutique in Edinburgh, thinks is an “underestimate”.
She is still selling jeans, shirts and smart tops to wear for Zoom calls. But the occasionwear that her upmarket customers would buy for weddings, garden parties and their children’s graduation remains unsold.
Brand and marketing specialist Lou Ellerton explained that online shopping can’t replace the experience of bricks-and-mortar retail. She said:
DEBENHAMS
The company is in administration. Seven stores are definitely closed with more expected to follow. About 400 jobs have been lost so far.
“So much of fashion is about seeing things in the shops and being exposed to them. Online doesn’t give people a sense of a new season coming, the clothes changing, that fast and instant visual reference to the new trends.”
The mass cancellation of foreign holidays and big events is particularly damaging. She added: “Holidays are a massive buying opportunity. People start planning and thinking and wanting to buy for them. You might go in looking for a bikini but come out having spent £ 150 on a whole variety of stuff. If you’re not entering in that mindset, you’re not buying anything.
“Every year, there are a few major occasions when everybody has a meltdown because they don’t know what to wear. So they hit the shops.”
And when shops reopen, will we want to buy the stock that has been in magazines and on websites and worn by influencers on Instagram for the past few months? Will the big trends that were predicted for summer at the start of the year – statement sleeves, snake print, macrame, wicker, handkerchief hems – be hot properties or lukewarm leftovers? Sarah
CATH KIDSTON
The quirky retro brand is in administration. It has closed all 60 of its UK stores, losing 900 jobs.