Attended by over 44 global denim companies, the first virtual edition of Denimsandjeans, exhibited A/W21 collections from exhibitors of over 10 countries. The show allotted a virtual booth to exhibitors where buyers and suppliers could interact individually. Other activities like denim talks, seminars, and trend presentations also happened with users attending talks or networking with exhibitors. Exhibitors decorated their booths well inside their own offices and these were visible to visiting customers.

The Trend Zone was divided into five different categories and collections were displayed in those categories. Denimsandjeans team created separate trend zones and they were running throughout the show .The trend zone categories included Super Sustainable, On Demand , Super Technology/Washing/Chemical, Super Comforts, and Super others.

The platform got a very good response from all the stakeholder of Denim Community and most of them found this a helpful tool to connect with their buyers

In a major setback to online fashion shows, none of the luxury brands that launched their collections at the Men’s Fashion Week in Milan or Paris last year, could elicit a similar response on Instagram. Tracking firm Tribe Dynamics observes, digital shows, videos and presentations generated less than one-third of online engagement. The all-digital London Fashion Week saw a 55 per cent drop in social media engagement than in January, says Launchmetrics, another tracker of online activity.

Online engagement by brands was relatively subdued compared to the same period the year prior. For instance, Hermes earned only 28 per cent of its media value during the weeks surrounding its latest menswear show compared to a year earlier, reveals Tribe Dyanamics. According to EMV, Valentino’s couture collection could reach roughly 57 per cent of its online engagement to EMV in July this year compared to its Autumn/Winter 2019 Couture collection. Critically acclaimed collections also failed to make an impression. Prada, who organized a digital fashion show on July 14, recorded a 60 per cent decline in earned media value from July 6 to July 19.

Low attendance by influencer marketers

A reason for this decline was the low attendance of influencer marketing agencies to live shows, possibly due to budgetary constraints or an easy front row access to a digital collection. Influencers, who partnered brands during digital fashion week, met with relative success. For example, Caroline Daur, an Instagrammer with 2.4 million followers, who partnered Dior, earned a 2.28 per cent engagement rate, compared to her average 1 per cent engagement rate and Dior’s 0.2 percent average engagement rate, notes Obviously data.

Brands that held in-person, intimate runway shows with influencers too earned only a fraction of their earned media value compared to last year, though this was above average compared to other brands that opted for strictly digital events. Etro’s, live runway show earned the brand just over 40 percent of what the same show last year earned.

Creating impactful moments

For the upcoming Spring/Summer 2021 ready-to-wear shows, brands need to reconsider their approach to online format. They need to focus on merging the two concepts to create impactful, share-worthy moments both on and offline, says Micheal Jais, Chief Executive Officer, Launchmetrics. He advises brands to repackage and redistribute their digital assets, to provide consumers the right content at the right moment.

A McKinsey study states, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Cambodia may soon lose their competitive edge in the global garment industry as manufacturing and marketing advances may make it easier for US and European garment importers to produce garments closer to home. The study says that by 2025, around 25 per cent of global sourcing executives would source 50 per cent of their imported ready-made garments near Europe and the US. Forty-two per cent of the respondents believe that over 30 per cent of these imported garments would come from sources near Europe and America by 2025.

However, this may also cause a significant loss of business and employment for many Asian countries.

Shift in fashion influencers and trends

Earlier, when designers created new designs, brands would wait for 30-60 days before launching the final product. This would help them to evolve their consumers’ demands. Now, this demand is influenced by celebrities and social media personalities. The fast-paced fashion trends launched by these celebrities benefit small-sized, and internet-based fashion brands who are able to quickly transform a concept to a finished final product.

Earlier, cost-consciousness amongst fashion leaders helped Asian garment manufacturers to win many new orders. However, since the last two decades labor costs in Asia too have been increasing. It is already higher in China than in Mexico. Hence, it makes sense for manufacturers to bring manufacturing closer to destination markets.

Reduction in production costs

In future, automation, robotics, and artificial intelligence will dramatically reduce manufacturing costs and time lead times. New sewing technologies will help brands automate sewing for complicated clothing items like a collared shirt or a pair of fancy-dress pants. Automation of warehousing, fabric handling during sewing, shipping, and storing of readymade garments will also reduce their production costs.

Near-shoring will benefit countries like Turkey, Mexico, Morocco, and several South American nations and islands. However, it may harm labor intensive Asian garments powerhouses like China, Bangladesh, and Vietnam. The concept can be beneficial only if it reduces the cost of garments sourcing by 70 per cent. However, this scenario is around 10 to 15 years away, view experts.

Garment automation does not indicate an export collapse for Asian manufacturers like Bangladesh or Vietnam. These countries can start exporting their clothes within the Asian markets of Bangladesh and Vietnam. However, automation may create major challenges for the employment sector of countries like Bangladesh. Hence, these countries would have to find alternative modes of employment for the displaced laborers; else they may lead to huge geopolitical and economic consequences.

The Italian textile machinery association ACIMIT has reported a decline in orders in the first quarter of 2020 for the sector.

The index of orders intake for textile machines drawn up by ACIMIT for the period from January to March 2020 fell by 31 per cent compared to the same period of 2019. The index value stood at 72.2 basis points (2015 = 100).

Orders intake was negative both on foreign markets and in Italy. In the foreign markets orders declined by 26 per cent, while in the domestic market they declined by 57 per cent compared to the first quarter of 2019.”

ACIMIT represents an industrial sector that comprises roughly 300 manufacturers (employing around 12,000 people), which produce machinery for an overall worth of around 2.3 billion euros, of which 82% are exported. Creativity, sustainable technology, reliability and quality are the hallmarks that have made Italian textile machinery worldwide leaders.