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Fashion leaders have expressed pessimism across all geographies and price points for 2020, according to the fourth annual State of Fashion report released by The Business of Fashion (BoF) and McKinsey. The year ahead will open with the industry in a state of uncertainty, with most fashion executives (55 per cent) foreseeing a slowdown in global economic growth.

The prevailing mood of fashion leaders is one of anxiety and concern. The pockets of optimism seen last year in North America and the luxury segment have steadily evaporated, says the report.

The coming year will be tough, as the digital shakeout gathers pace, customers demand more on sustainability and slower growth puts pressure on margins.

Only 9 per cent of respondents think conditions for the industry will improve next year, compared to 49 percent who thought the same last year.

The McKinsey Global Fashion Index (MGFI) forecasts that fashion industry revenue growth will slow further in 2020—down to 3-4 per cent—slightly below the predicted growth for 2019. The most optimistic region is Asia, although, even here only 14 per cent of executives expect an improvement in conditions, McKinsey said in a press release.

Concerns are mounting amid broader macroeconomic uncertainty, political upheaval across the globe and the continued threat of trade wars, disappointing retail sales in emerging Asia-Pacific growth markets, a general economic malaise in mature Europe aggravated by Brexit uncertainty and muted consumer sentiment in North America.

Growth in emerging Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa is expected to remain stable overall with some brighter spots.

When it comes to sustainability, the industry’s track record remains a source of concern. The textile sector still represents 6 per cent of global greenhouse-gas emissions and 10-20 per cent of pesticide use. Washing, solvents and dyes used in manufacturing are responsible for one-fifth of industrial water pollution, and fashion accounts for 20-35 per cent of microplastic flows into the ocean.

Consumers are increasingly waking up to this reality and demanding change. According to McKinsey’s 2019 Apparel Chief Purchasing Officer Survey, while the absolute number of sustainable fashion products remains low, there has been a five-fold increase over the past two years.

The study report identifies ten themes that will be crucial for the fashion industry in 2020:

• Turmoil could disrupt emerging and developed market economies, and indicators of recession risk are spurring companies to build resilience.

• Although China provides exciting opportunities, the market can be hard to crack; companies should consider other high-growth geographies as well.

• To maximise return on marketing spend, fashion players need to hone their social media strategy.

• Convenience and immediacy are key and companies must reduce friction in the customer journey via in-store experience and localised assortments.

• Fashion players need to swap platitudes and promotional noise for action on sustainability measures like energy consumption, pollution and waste.

• Alternative materials, including sustainable substitutes, may be on their way to adoption at scale.

• Consumer and employee pressure the push for fashion players to focus on diversity and inclusion.

• Established players will face competition from Asian challengers, including small and medium enterprises selling directly to global consumers.

• As direct-to-consumer activity rises, traditional trade flows must adapt.

• Although some fashion tech and digital fashion players have reached unicorn status, concern over their ability to turn a profit is growing.

Fashion brand Tiger of Sweden has appointed Linda Dauriz as its new chief executive. Dauriz, who will take over starting December 1, was previously director of customer experience and corporate development at Hugo Boss, where she was responsible for global strategy, customer relationship management, customer data and experience, and digital marketing.

She was a partner at McKinsey & Company before that.

Dauriz will replace Moa Strand, who has been carrying out the chief executive role on an interim basis since February, according to European fashion media reports.

Strand will continue to be part of the management team at the company as the chief marketing officer.

Tommy Hilfiger has announced that 3D design technology is being incorporated into all apparel design teams at its headquarters in Amsterdam. Its spring 2022 apparel collections will be the first to be fully designed using the company’s innovative 3D design platform. This commitment builds upon the company’s target to digitise its end-to-end value chain.

In order to realise their 3D design goal, Tommy has founded a tech incubator called STITCH, dedicated to digitising the company’s design practices. Since Tommy’s 3D design journey began in 2017, teams of software engineers, 3D design experts, and transformation specialists have developed an ecosystem of proprietary tools that enable a fully digital design workflow. This includes a digital fabric, pattern, and colour asset library; digital 3D presentation tools and rendering technology, the company said in a press release.

Transforming traditional design and sample production steps into virtual processes allows for faster timelines and seamless integration into Digital Showrooms. Scaling 3D design technology across Tommy apparel collections follows two years of targeted pilots that have successfully connected the 3D design platform to Tommy’s state-of-the-art Digital Showroom. While the Digital Showroom technology revolutionised the company’s sell-in methods, the bottom-up approach of its ongoing 3D design transformation will further expand the digitalisation of Tommy’s end-to-end value chain.

In Fall 2020, Tommy will launch a capsule collection designed, developed and sold digitally, including products modelled on virtual avatars. The initiative is the next step in uncovering the full potential of sample reduction, time savings, cost savings, and sustainability by leveraging 3D design.

Associates in more than 50 per cent of the apparel divisions located at Tommy’s global headquarters have been trained and educated in 3D design through the STITCH Academy, with the technology active in 20 product groups and counting. Moving forward, all Tommy product teams will receive 3D design training and upskilling as standard, including designers, patternmakers, fit technicians, product developers, and merchandisers.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (GK)