For some time now, industry insiders have (finally) started to ask whether the key role in fashion design today still belongs to creatives – or whether it’s now the managers of commercial departments who reign supreme. The answer is more obvious than it might seem.
Generations Z and Alpha, please forgive me if the musical reference in this article’s title seems cryptic to you; you can probably ask a parent for clarification. I couldn’t think of a better way to express the mood of disillusionment surrounding the decline of fashion over the past twenty years.
The insight that brand CEOs had is actually quite simple: minimum effort, maximum (economic) return. So why invest capital in training expert tailors, pattern makers, and high-end ready-to-wear technicians to renew collections through creativity, genius, and quality – when, with far less effort, you can sell endless quantities of mass-produced handbags with profit margins that clothing could never offer?