The conversation around the future of retail is not a new one. Evolution from old brick-and-mortar models to the digital world have dominated the retail sphere for the last decade. Since then, many advancements have been made, but they all seem ready for an overhaul, yet again. Here we are on the cusp of a new era. The fashion system will undergo a necessary and sweeping overhaul as we look beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. Retail, in particular, is going to see an apocalyptic reset like never before. It will be hard and disruptive, but the eventual outlook is very bright.

Utopian Vision

For me, this pause has been a time to dream. Creating highly-curated experiential retail has been my career focus and passion for the last 12 years. I still believe in good retail. The new world will require more from all of us. My vision for what fashion retail can be in the future is not all that unrealistic, given the seismic industry and consumer shift.

Let’s imagine a landscape of small footprint, highly-curated spaces that have a real purpose for enhancing community, education, point-of-view, and exposure. I see an appetite for real beauty, real inspiration after this. As we effort towards more sustainable fashion, customers will hopefully be guided by authenticity, quality, and a buy better, buy less ethos. This requires sharp edits from both designers and retailers. The vision is the same, regardless of whether we are speaking about a designer brand flagship or multi-label retailer. Omni-channel retail will be the buzzword, and the only way forward. Brands should introduce high-touch brick-and-mortar environments as a piece of their world; real life experiences are still ‘sticky,’ and more emotionally memorable. We know this to be true now more than ever. Brands who develop meaningful retail expressions will reap benefits beyond sales in the form of customer acquisition and building a community – but only if they have authentic vision, quality product and a strong edit.

Post-COVID-19, we will all benefit from a revival of our collective appreciation for real human connection and socialization. Brands will reach new audiences and grow into many new markets with the seamless integration of multiple touchpoints from online and via social, digital live sales, and virtual customer service. The world will still want to shop fashion, they will just do so with more discretion. The cream will rise to the top, the rest can go.

The Winners and Losers

The verdict is basically already in on which brands are winning this survival game, during this difficult time. The designers who quickly pivoted during this pandemic to a focus on online and direct-to-consumer sales have in many cases barely been impacted on their bottom-line. Profits are even up for some players as they recapture their margins outside of the wholesale structure, as retailers close and cancel orders.

The designers and retailers who effectively engaged private clients during this time are doing even better. Retailers who have acted responsibly with their staff and pivoted to online only and delivery service via personal shoppers will likely survive. Those retailers who added philanthropy and effective messaging, have only strengthened their customer loyalty and ties with their communities.

Overall, the most responsive, consistent, values-led brands with strong relationships to their customers will be the survivors. The old model — out-of-touch corporate-led retailers who are burdened with large footprints, long leases, massive overhead and who put profits over people — will not survive on the other side in a meaningful way. The retail landscape was already thinning but after Barneys’ bankruptcy, Opening Ceremony closures, and now J.Crew and Neiman Marcus filing for bankruptcy, many others are in jeopardy. It will be interesting to see how they respond to the changed landscape.

I think we should prepare for an even more sparse retail environment after the dust settles. The way I see it, less can be more. We had too much anyways.

The New Guard

Pent-up demand and a thirst for new experiences and models will create ample market opportunity in the coming years for newness. The innovation that will come from this time will be necessary and cultivated. New services will emerge that will fill the void left by large retailer absences. AI, Social Apps and Live Selling events will certainly be essential additions to retailers’ online and brick-and-mortar revenue streams. Highly-curated, creative-led retail will maintain relevance because its intrinsically tied to real fashion. Authenticity, new ideas and real creativity will always matter. Strong brand identity and inspiring spaces will continue to be relevant to the integral luxury experience of touching, feeling and trying-on with an expert. Customers will be more discerning in the future.

As the world pauses, we’ve seen many people becoming reacquainted with their values. People will support the brands they align closest with. When retailers learn there can be more to their business than margin, a fresh new crop of creative concepts will arise. Sustainability, responsibility, inclusion, transparency, and quality should become the cornerstone attributes to brands who will win long-term.

Whatever retail I create next will surely aim to check those boxes and will work against the broken framework of fast fashion and volume-driven department stores. Let us as consumers all buy better, buy less. Let us celebrate vision, quality and a directional edit.

We should all be excited for this brave new world.