China’s leading bi-annual event, Shanghai Fashion Week, has partnered with e-commerce giant Alibaba Group’s online marketplace, Tmall, to showcase Autumn/Winter 2020 collections.
Over 150 participants—from internationally-renowned brands like Dior, Gucci and Versace to up-and-coming Chinese designers like Shushu/Tong and Angel Chen—are participating in the industry’s first-ever digital fashion week. The week-long showcase, that is on till March 30, is being broadcast via Tmall and Taobao Live, Alibaba’s live streaming channel. What makes this ambitious move truly successful is its See-Now-Buy-Now model that allows viewers to directly place orders for over 1,000 products from the virtual shopping rooms.
Using the newly-launched 5G technology to live stream the shows digitally has also increased the scope of more viewers tuning in, with an estimated number of 800 million active users (which makes the limited seating on front rows seem quite paltry in comparison) expected to watch. Viewers can comment, engage with other watchers and order products in real-time, which aim to be delivered within two hours.
The use of augmented reality technology by Alibaba has also been instrumental in offering an elevated experience to viewers. Sadly, Shanghai Fashion Week is only accessible to those in China, leaving out international audiences that could have potentially driven up the number of watchers.
This unprecedented move comes in an equally uncertain time with the COVID-19 pandemic affecting fashion businesses globally. Early February saw brands cancelling shows at Paris and Milan Fashion Weeks in fear of the virus outbreak, and the dates for Shanghai Fashion Week and China Fashion Week were also pushed back. However, Shanghai eventually pivoted online and launched the ongoing digital showcase which could inspire a whole new wave of ‘cloud’ fashion weeks in the future.
What does this mean for the future of fashion weeks?
Traditionally, fashion weeks were akin to trade shows held in physical spaces where buyers got together to preview the upcoming season’s leading trends. This old approach was given a major think-over with the introduction of the See-Now-Buy-Now model wherein brands relied heavily on technology to offer instantly shoppable runway collections. Burberry, Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger and Moschino are some names that incorporated this style in their 2017 spring shows. Needless to say, the transition to digital is inevitable, and in the future, it’s likely that we’ll see advanced technologies like augmented reality and artificial intelligence coming together to portray a new world of fashion.
Yet another aspect that has been slowly eating away at the glamour exuded by a fashion week is the massive carbon footprint it leaves in its wake. These meticulously-planned, high-cost extravagant shows (planned months in advance for a run-time of 15 minutes) provide instant gratification to the buyers, editors and celebrities, but eventually lead to the environment being the collateral damage.
Add to that the number of professionals who travel from all over the world to attend these shows, and we have ourselves a hefty ton of carbon emissions. According to a recent report by Zero to Market, the international air travel undertaken by buyers, designers and brands in 2018 resulted in 241,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions that year. That’s enough energy to light up New York’s Times Square for 58 years!
Even though brands like Burberry and Gucci are creating awareness about the growing problem by staging ‘carbon-neutral’ fashion shows, it’s evident that the current fashion week system is growing weary and is heading towards a natural death.
With the advent of digital fashion weeks where shows are live streamed and made immediately shoppable, it’s possible that we witness the birth of a new fashion system that is more creative and technologically advanced, potentially has a greater global reach and is ultimately less detrimental for the environment. This online makeover can be thought of as a chance for international fashion councils, brands, designers and buyers to re-imagine their current style of operation. Shanghai Fashion Week has the first-mover’s advantage—who’s next?
