BoF and McKinsey Co report

The Business of Fashion (BoF) and McKinsey & Company: The State of Fashion 2017

Well worth checking out as it examines the trends that shaped the global fashion industry in 2016. The big challenges reported by the industry included:

• the uncertainties in the global economy
  
• competition from online players
• decreasing foot traffic
• the speed of changing consumer preferences
• increased speed to market and
• changes in the fashion cycle

 It also noted that some fashion categories had big positive spikes in 2016, such as athletic wear, modest wear (highlighting the growing importance of religious consumers) plus-size fashion, and genderless fashion collections. A big uptake in the use of e-commerce and digital tools such as virtual reality, has provided consumers which wider choice and improved pricing transparency.

Finally, if you have a spare 20 minutes (!) check out will.i.am’s fascinating video discussion with LVMH CDO Ian Rogers about experiments at the intersection of music, fashion and technology – hugely inspiring when you listen to someone who is such a creative thinker.