What Does Shanghai Fashion Week Decide To Postpone And What Does It Mean For The Industry?

Following a series of industries that bear the brunt of manufacturing, logistics and physical retailing, the impact of the new coronavirus epidemic is inevitable to the fashion week of Shanghai.

At present, more than 40 thousand people worldwide have been infected with the new coronavirus, more than 910 deaths, mainly concentrated in the mainland of China, and exceeded the number of deaths during the SARS epidemic in 2003.

In view of the current uncontrolled epidemic situation and the urgent need to protect people's health and safety, the 2020 autumn winter Shanghai fashion week, scheduled to be held in March 26th this year, has been postponed. A series of cooperative exhibitions including its emerging designer platform Labelhood, time Showroom, Ontimeshow and Tube will also be postponed. The specific time and form of the exhibition are still in a pending state and need further notice. It is reported that China International Fashion Week, scheduled to be held in Beijing in from March 25th to 31st, will also announce the adjustment plan. As of press release, the Organizing Committee of China Fashion Week has not yet made an official response.

Earlier, BoF has reported that many Chinese designer brands including Angel Chen, Ricostru and Calvin Luo have announced the cancellation of the overseas fashion show this season, and the activities such as China International Apparel fair and the 2020 Spring Festival joint exhibition of China Textile Association are not scheduled to be held as scheduled.

In the past years, the major brands and designers were preparing for the new season series. Fashion editors, buyers and bloggers and other industries also arranged the fashion week early to welcome this year's two industry events. The sudden outbreak of the new coronavirus has made Shanghai fashion week and all its related work involved in a thorny dilemma. How to quickly find alternative plans to reduce the loss has become the most important task for all sectors of the industry.

　　 Numerous challenges come from various sources.

The impact of extended holidays and postponed resumption on production is obvious. The failure of products to deliver in time will lead designers to have no "design" to develop. Chen Xuzhi, founder of Xu Zhi brand, said in an interview with BBC, "we have no clothes to sell now."

Some designers also told BoF that they did not have confidence in the factory's clothing rush to work after the holidays. One of the Shushu/Tong designers, ray Liu Shu, told BoF that although it had some plans for ordering, "we encountered a lot of trouble at the end of production. The factory has been postponed several times, and there is no specific plan to return to work, which has led to a constant change in plans and accessories and printing products. At present, apart from studio workers, sample workers and some garment factories, there are many garment factories in order to alleviate the current shortage of medical supplies, and temporarily transform clothing masks, protective clothing and other products. The production and supply of designers and brands become secondary production targets.

The delay in sample delivery is bound to affect the external display of the season fashion series. At the same time, the indispensable key factor of "human" has also become the biggest obstacle for the fashion show to be held on schedule.

Whether from international or domestic cities, models, media and buyers are subject to different policy restrictions. Taking personal safety as the first consideration, it is obviously not a wise choice to hold large events at this moment. A series of works that require lots of manpower to participate in the work, including site construction, exhibition layout, offline publicity and traffic arrangements, can not be carried out as usual. Moreover, at present, "gathering activities" is a very dangerous move. A more closed show and side-by-side spectators will be very harmful to the protection and control of infectious viruses.

2020 the postponement of the Shanghai fashion week and the cooperative exhibition in autumn and winter is the result of the combined influence of various objective factors and realities. Most designers and brands have expressed their understanding and support for this decision. This is responsible for the society and responsible for everyone, "said Huang Wanbing, designer of At-One-Ment. "On the one hand, reducing staffing is also a necessary decision for controlling the epidemic situation. On the other hand, many designers' factories have not started yet, and many of the editions are still segregated, so the delay also allows them to have more time buffers in the new series preparation," said Xu Yingjia, founder of Tube Showroom and Dia Communication.

"At present, we hope that everyone will respond positively to the call of the party and government, pay attention to the protection of epidemic situation and safeguard public health safety. Shanghai fashion week will take advantage of years of accumulation to work hard to communicate with all parties in the direction of ensuring the circulation of Commerce and actively seek solutions for a very long period. There will be further news to communicate with you, "Lv Xiaolei, Deputy Secretary General of Shanghai Fashion Week Organizing Committee, told BoF.

At the critical juncture, more efforts are needed.

In the face of unexpected emergencies, it is not just fashion week organizers who need to solve the problem. The industry must unite and work together to solve the urgent problem more effectively.

Globally, the abolition of fashion week is not the first case. Prior to the terrorist attack on Petronas Twin Towers in September 11, 2001, the 2002 spring summer New York fashion week just lasted fourth days. The show's tents were evacuated, and the remaining 73 fashion releases were cancelled. Ralph Lauren and Michael Kors and other funds and more abundant brand transformation venues successfully completed the fashion distribution. But for young designers who have no money to rearrange fashion shows, the situation is much more serious. To help these brands display their works to buyers and media, the US version of Vogue has hosted a group fashion show for 11 brands in Carolina Herrera Showroom. After that, the magazine also held a campaign called "Fashion Night Out" to restore consumer confidence. This is a symbolic time for the US fashion industry to collectively support new design talents, and let people see the unity force within the industry from now on.

Vogue is a group show for 11 brands: Vogue

These spirits have been advocated and practiced since the founding of the fashion week in Shanghai in 2003. However, Shanghai fashion week, which is still growing and developing, is facing more difficulties. Unlike the New York fashion week of the 911 attacks, today's situation has made it difficult for Shanghai fashion week to push ahead with offline fashion releases. "Isolation", while ensuring public health safety, also makes planning and deployment of alternatives more difficult. As the "largest order season in Asia", there will be more than 100 fashion shows on average and more than 1700 brands under the line.

In order to help designers and brands to reduce losses and to continue to play the role of integration of Shanghai fashion week as far as possible, partners and platforms have demonstrated positive attitudes, adjusted the scheduling, and are thinking about the corresponding compensation plan after the epidemic has been controlled.

Ye Qizheng, chief marketing officer of DFO, said: "we will organize the 2020 autumn winter order meeting with Shanghai fashion week as soon as possible, hoping to help the upstream and downstream brands and buyers to tide over the difficulties together," Bedi Ye said. Labelhood founder Liu Xinxia (Tasha Liu) is also working with the team to find more effective solutions, and strive to avoid the "empty window" of the quarter. Ontimeshow's management team also told BoF: the exhibition will take two steps to display and order, increase the frequency of the exhibition below the layout line, so as to ease the designer's brand demand.

　 Designer's moment of reflection

For designers, this season's crackdown on display and sales may also affect its next quarter's design and release. In particular, some of the new brands that are relatively tight and are still in the initial stage, and the brand that originally planned to complete the first fashion show in Shanghai fashion week, will be hit by a series of plans and developments.

Some designers and brands are taking measures as soon as possible. Shushu/Tong two designers began to work overtime in January 30th to make samples. "The current train of thought is that the soldiers will maintain a steady state of mind and create a series of ideas creatively," said Lei Liu Shu, who is optimistic about the market after the outbreak. Yirantian designer Guo Yiran said that the brand has been directly communicating with consumers directly through the form of WeChat group, and has also adjusted the new price system and product structure of the new series.

"At present, we have begun a creative plan for the next season's exhibition plan, and we will adjust our work in the controllable scope of work this year. Another important point is to maintain the relationship between the previous customers and buyers, and hope that we can work together to tide over the difficulties. "Huang Wanbing told BoF that she had postponed the new project which was originally co operated with Paris artists." this epidemic situation also let me begin to reflect. Our designers are constantly exporting too fast. Now this very moment enlightens us how to think and create more deeply. "

Li Yu Shan, one of the Pronounce designers, said that in addition to the order rhythm and production, the anticipated cooperation between the brand and Diesel will probably be adjusted. At the same time, he also admitted that in addition to the impact of production and operation, the negative impact of the epidemic itself on the society is also torturing the designers' psychological and mental state.

Unforeseen emergency social events interrupt the pace of rapid development of the fashion industry, and influence the whole social level and individuals, causing designers to think more deeply. "The occasional stoppage may be for further progress. Moreover, no one has ever said that the pace of fashion must be kept at a very fast pace. Walking in front and walking fast is two different things, "Li Yushan said." sometimes, in front of a thing, it is a challenge and also a good opportunity to train yourself to deal with change. We hope that we can take this opportunity to complete the team's self growth and brainstorm the brainstorming mode together.

From the perspective of Shanghai fashion week industry, the key to major crisis is the multi platform, multi organization cooperation tacit understanding and emergency response capability. The new coronal epidemic situation requires them to think ahead in advance - how to continue to play the role of platform organization in different forms, and coordinate the operation of fashion brands, designers, buyers and so on. At the same time, many designers and brands also realize that the coming of crisis is also an opportunity to break through and grow, and to accumulate more experience to cope with the unknown future.