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The U.S. and U.K. fashion councils meet to discuss change

The Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) and the British Fashion Council (BFC) had a meeting to discuss the needed changes in the fashion industry in regards to the changes surrounding the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Men’s fashion week was postponed for a virtual men’s fashion week in July and the BFC announced they will be hosting a brand-new event for gender-neutral digital fashion week on June 12-14.

The fashion councils also released a letter addressing what is to change as a majority of fashion events are being cancelled or opting for a digital experience to promote social distancing. The first issue addressed for fashion brands to slow down inventory and are encouraged to be more considerate about the products they offer and how they intend to sell them to prevent an excessive backlog of products.

Fashion seasons are going to be more limited in collections with brands encouraged to close the seasonality gap and only offering two season collections. One of the biggest issues with seasons is that it takes a long time to buy a style in-store after seeing it on the runway, closing the seasonality gap could provide customers with more options that customers can buy at the time.

The letter also addresses the need to have designers feature only two collections per year that will help slow the pace of production while relieving stress for designers and their teams. With designers focusing on fewer seasons, this can also help to reduce the need for runway shows and fashion event.

Women’s 2021 fashion month has cancelled all events but is planning on hosting a digital event instead with virtual presentations. Another recommendation is to cut fashion shows for pre-collections and can present the pre-collections in showrooms once in-person events are possible again.

The councils also address that these changes can also help the fashion industry become more sustainable with brands scaling down production and reducing the carbon footprint of fashion shows.