Report 005, fashion - magazines - general - sustainable
New time concepts is one of the big changes resulting from Corona.
The system overran itself. Ultimately, Before Corona, it was out of touch with the real world. Time will move to a slower beat. As an industry, and as a world.
Report from The Greenhouse New Time Concept
Note This is one of the first video's made in the quarantine studio The Greenhouse. The quality and format were all "a 'improviste" - typical Corona lockdown.
New time concepts is one of the big changes resulting from Corona.
It is a movement I saw coming before Corona (2016) - everybody in the fashion industry recognized the problem of the unstoppable high-speed train we were in.
The fashion industry is a good mirror, an example, for other industries. What was the state of the fashion industry?
One
We used to have two collections annually - Winter and Summer. In the last couple of years, however, the number increased. Next to the traditional Winter and Summer, there were cruise collections, in between collections, and many more. Some fast fashion companies, like H&M, had a new collection every 6 to 8 weeks. The speed was too high, almost unbearable for the industry as a whole, let alone for the designers expected to deliver collection after collection.
Two
The Winter and Summer collections were also being launched in an increasingly international world – a Winter collection in Europe, for example, was being looked at in other parts of the world while it was summer. The reality of seasons was lost to the fashion industry – it looked at the world only from its own point of view.
Three
The third thing was that collections were launched so early that they pushed out the old collection too soon. The winter collection being pushed into stores, meant that buying a bikini in late August or early September was no longer possible. And the same vice versa. In the winter, looking to buy warm winter clothes, we could only buy summer outfits.
The system overran itself. Ultimately, it was out of touch with the real world
And it seemed unstoppable, for economic reasons. But with Corona came a shift: fashion shows are cancelled and new collections are left unfinished. We can see the system is broken - and we have to reset, and start over with a new system. It is a time for a new time concept.
Conclusion
We can leave our old ways behind and create new, more reasonable ones. Some voices are being heard, talking about just one show for men and women, once a year. There is also a possibility to launch collections in an entirely own, new rhythm - launching whenever feels right, or whenever works best for the collection. Let’s change the system. Move to a slower beat. As an industry, and as a world.
"Move to a slower beat. As an industry, and as a world."
Report from The Greenhouse New Time Concept Review
Note This is one of the first video's made in the quarantine studio The Greenhouse. The quality and format were all "a 'improviste" - typical Corona lockdown.
New Time Concept Review
Let’s review what happened to time – because, in a way, it has stopped. People are locked down in their houses, companies have shut their doors, we can’t fly, and there is no more business as usual. So for all of us – BANG – the clock stopped ticking.
It has given us time to relax.Time to rethink.
And as we start slowly picking up our lives again, we have to see how we are going to deal with the new rhythm of time, one with a much slower beat.
Contradiction-contrast
There is also a contrast at play. Whilst time has slowed down, it is also beating very fast as Corona is forcing us to be very adaptive, agile, flexible. Our reaction speed has to be quick, as conditions change day by day. How will your company respond to the changes? And how will you as a person respond?
Personal Note
I struggle with this contrast myself as well. Even in developing this platform, “The World After”, I began at a calm pace, and then felt rushed as I saw more initiatives popping up.