The Avalanche Of Covid Bankruptcies In Fashion & Retail ~ With More On The Horizon
Some of the most longstanding and iconic companies have filed for bankruptcy. It is enough to change the retail landscape for the rest of time. Even Amazon is becoming increasingly unstable. After the initial covid surge in online sales, the stocks have plummeted, with much speculation surrounding the future of the behemoth company. But Amazon is not really iconic or historically enduring compared to some of these companies. In some ways it is more of an anomaly, than anything else.
Notable stores that have filed for bankruptcy recently include J.C. Penney, Neiman Marcus Group, Aldo, True Religion, Barneys New York, Sonia Rykiel, Roberto Cavalli, Diesel, Nine West, J. Crew, Claire’s, Lord & Taylor, Revlon, Escada, Ralph & Russo, Francesca’s, Furla, Brooks Bothers, G Star Raw, Lucky Dungarees, Alfred Angelo, Jaeger, BCBG Max Mara, and many more.
This list does not include the influx of pending bankruptcies for 2021 and 2022. It is truly staggering. For example Brooks Brothers was in business for more than 200 years. The company Jaeger was founded in 1884.
The crash in retail fashion sales is truly apocalyptic, which means it is never going to be the same. Companies with product in all price ranges seem to be affected. For instance, the jewelry company Claire’s sold a mass produced cheaper line of jewelry. I am not surprised to see Claire’s go under.
Whereas Roberto Cavalli is an upscale designer founded in 1970, known for bold prints, and exotic animal prints on leather and textiles. Sonia Rykiel founded her company in 1968 and became known as the “queen of knits”.
Alfred Angelo was founded in Florida in the mid 1930’s. The company specialized in wedding, bridesmaid, mother of the bride, and party dresses. They filed for bankruptcy just before the covid crisis.
Escada was founded in Germany by Margaretha Ley, and has been a leading luxury apparel brand since 1978. The company had retail stores in twenty-four countries. They could not withstand the covid crisis, and ran into problems renewing their leases.
It also appears the publicly traded luxury brand consignment company the RealReal is at risk of bankruptcy. A recent article in Forbes magazine describes its business model as not being designed for the long haul. Personally, I believe consignment carries a fair bit of risk for those who contribute product.
However, the luxury brand second hand market is now a thirty-two billion dollar industry, and has seen growth five times faster than the primary retail market has shown between 2017-2021. For those who are poised for the long haul, and do not have massive expenses, debt, or red tape to deal with, the circular economy is a carousal we can keep on riding.
After all, the UCLG (United Cities and Local Governments) added a policy to support culture as one of the key pillars of economic development. Therefore, sustaining and supporting culture is well established, and recognized for its relevance and importance in the economy. The definition of culture is fairly broad, but it most certainly includes fashion and art.
“Culture can be defined as all the ways of life including arts, beliefs and institutions of a population that are passed down from generation to generation. Culture has been called “the way of life for an entire society.” As such, it includes codes of manners, dress, language, religion, rituals, art.”
It seems the recent surge of bankruptcies is just the tip of the iceberg, with another long list of potential bankruptcies pending.
For all of my adult life, I have believed 20th century design represents the final hurrah for quality and luxury in the fashion world. It was the century of modern day magnificence, and boundless creativity in fashion design. It did not rely upon fast fashion mass produced in China, but showcased designer talents from many countries. Italy, France, USA, India, Germany, Canada, UK, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Mexico, Japan, and 1960’s Hong Kong, all contributed a cultural splendour among certain designers of fashion and jewelry. Many of the textiles, are now obsolete, and the quality of workmanship is labour intensive and cost prohibitive.
The questions we might ask ourselves now: How far will it tumble? How many more will go down? How much of it will recover? And what will the recovery look like? It almost seems certain, many of the most beautiful things, will never be made again.
At present there are many unknowns. The stock market predictions are not very reliable because a company like Amazon can hang on for awhile, and then suddenly the shares could devalue to next to nothing. One aspect of Amazon I could never understand is how they could afford such a liberal shipping and return policy.
When it comes to online sales, in my own limited experience, shipping is a significant expense. If a company has many returns, which requires repackaging and re-listing, in addition to the cost of shipping, I can see why they might go broke.
All throughout history, the artisans and contributors to the fashion industry have thrived. People have been wearing fine textiles and jewelry since the dawn of mankind.
Now it seems quite possible many of these things, especially the higher end textiles, gemstones and finery – will no longer be made.
It is beginning to look like the end.
We can read about this in the Book of Revelation Chapter 18 KJV:
11 And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more:
Thankfully we do not all have to weep and mourn over these bankruptcies, or the prophecies we read about in the Bible. However it is truly astounding to live in a time where so many prophecies are being fulfilled, right before our eyes.
I hope it serves to strengthen our faith, in spite of it all. We are not supposed to give up, but to be steadfast, keep working, and do good.
The best advice is to avoid worshipping things, no matter how opulent they may be. We can admire them, show them, wear them, or sell them – but we do not worship them.
They are products. Many of the products are well made and beautiful. The most talented designers, and resellers simply look for the best quality, and most long lasting products.
We do not stop living, even though we are in the midst of these developments, because we do not know how long the downturn will last, or how exactly things will unfold.
It could be an hour, a day, or another hundred years or more. Throughout history people have always set dates, and predicted the end of the world as we know it. We are to keep working toward the good, and have faith.
If all else fails, believers in the Gospel will not cease to exist, and eventually we will see a new beginning. Truthfully, the future holds more beauty than anything we could ever imagine, or anything we have ever seen before.
Therefore in times of trouble – we keep the faith. And remember – wisdom is more precious than gold.