In her recent webinar, ‘Driving Growth In A Changing Wholesale Market,’ preeminent fashion business consultant Lisa Metcalfe advised brands how to strategize smart post-COVID. Her central message? Thoughtful and measured scaling of operations, based on careful cost-benefit analysis, will carry companies forward in this volatile environment--safely, steadily, and while minimizing risk.

A sustainable fashion industry. Consumers want it, and our planet needs it. But how do brands balance the environmental and ethical demands of a movement so often referred to as ‘slow fashion,’ with consumers’ ever-increasing expectations for speed, personalization, and convenience? Not to mention the intense financial pressures of recovery from the health crisis? Although it might seem counterintuitive, a mainstream sustainable business model can happen. It just requires digital transformation.

The post-pandemic market has become fashion’s new frontier: rife with possibility, but also full of changing business dynamics. Coming off a challenging year, how can brands best minimize their risk and set themselves up for success?  

People often say that art will find a way. But even the most talented and determined independent designers have spent the past year navigating some pretty intense terrain.  Thankfully, increased digitization has revealed promising new directions--creating opportunities for emerging talent to reach audiences and for buyers to discover them. 

Bringing your wholesale business online is an essential part of success in this new digital era. Based on industry trends, 9 out of 10 B2B decision-makers believe online buying will be a fixture throughout 2021 and beyond. We predict this trend will only continue. Industry professionals continue to rely on technology, from creating virtual showrooms and hosting digital trade shows to finding a platform for order management and data insights.

Historically, Payments processing has comprised one of the greatest points of friction across the wholesale lifecycle. Inefficiencies, high costs, lost revenue, and the potential for fraud characterized the pre-pandemic version of this fraught but necessary step.

For most ‘non-essential’ retailers, 2020 was not the best year. But many quarantined consumers re-channeled their entertainment spending into improving their household environments and home offices. As a result, multi-brand home specialty retailers saw profits actually increase during the health crisis--and general merchandisers with robust home offerings experienced significant boosts as well.

It's safe to say that the global pandemic outbreak has fueled a dramatic shift towards digital solutions within the home textile industry. Brands and retailers worldwide have been engaging and experimenting with a range of immersive virtual showroom technologies.

2020 was an opportunity for the retail industry to change and evolve. Brands found themselves having to make sudden decisions on what digital channels to pursue and partners to work with. 

Across sectors, significant obstacles still make it harder for Black creatives and entrepreneurs to achieve mainstream success. And in fashion and luxury, they have additional issues to navigate, including an established networking culture. This has stacked up to a history of Black underrepresentation in our industry--both in terms of the designers creating the collections, and the models and stylists bringing them to life.