The Fashion World is shifting and changing drastically before our eyes. Covid-19 has had a dramatic effect upon retail, reducing foot traffic significantly, and sending several brick & mortar stores into a tailspin. #StayHome requirements have caused many designers, including Hanifa, to offer 3D live streamed fashion shows. Now Michael Kors has announced that he will not be showing during Fashion Week in September.
In a press release, Kors writes, “We are designing and will produce a Spring/Summer collection, which we will unveil at a later date. I have for a long time thought that the fashion calendar needs to change.”
He continues, “It’s exciting for me to see the open dialogue within the fashion community about the calendar—from Giorgio Armani to Dries Van Noten to Gucci to YSL to major retailers around the globe—about ways in which we can slow down the process and improve the way we work. We’ve all had time to reflect and analyze things, and I think many agree that it’s time for a new approach for a new era.”
The Press Release goes on to state:
Michael Kors Collection will now present and produce two collections per year, one for spring/summer and one for fall/winter. According to the designer, the move is an effort to create a more streamlined approach on the sales floor.
Deliveries of Michael Kors Collection product will be scheduled to arrive in store incrementally over the spring/summer and fall/winter seasons, more closely reflecting how customers in today’s world actually live and shop. “It is imperative that we give the consumer time to absorb the fall deliveries, which will just be arriving in September, and not confuse them with an overabundance of additional ideas, new seasons, products and images,” says Kors.
“Prior to the late 1990s, the New York Spring collections were shown from late October to the beginning of November, after the Paris collections,” adds Kors. “That calendar was in place for many decades and worked quite smoothly, and particularly in this age with the speed of social media, showing the collection closer to when it will be delivered makes logical sense to me.”
“I think it is also important to return to the idea that September and March are key months in launching the beginning of seasonal selling for the consumer,” Kors says. “This is when key editorial and media content hit, when the weather is starting to change, and when people are ready to absorb new collections and product—that they can wear and shop immediately. Keeping all of this in mind, we will also be reassessing when the Fall/Winter collection is released to the press and the public—most likely sometime between mid-March and mid-April.”
Additionally, the company will sell the collection to retailers prior to when they reveal it publicly and to the press, allowing for the supply chains and factories to have the appropriate time to produce and ship new clothing and accessories. The goal is to create a healthier pace, Kors explains, adding, “I feel that these changes are long overdue and will be a huge win-win, most importantly for the consumer.”
This shift certainly feels inevitable and makes sense for the ‘see now, buy now’ culture we are now in.
We wonder what other designers will follow suit?
What do you think?
Images: Image Collect