Fashion Essentials
By its very nature, modern fashion is not essential. It’s built on a model of planned obsolescence, wherein customers are expected to buy and replace as often as possible. And yet, this hasn’t stopped the fashion industry from marketing goods as essential, whether it’s the proclamation: “must have warm coat for the winter” or “the only shoes that give you the support you need while running.” Whole categories of clothes, including activewear, are built on this mostly false premise. It’s not to say that these products don’t have utility, but rather, that they will be replaced within a few short months with newer, cooler models. This is especially true with swimwear, a category of clothing that has no utility at all, beyond social constructs around modesty, unless you’re in a search of a garment that makes you feel clammy and ensures beach sand comes home with you.
So, it should come as no surprise that fashion is completely enamored with an all-together new essential product category, personal protective equipment, or PPE for short. And while it’s true that masks and perhaps shields, to a lesser degree, are essential during the Covid-19 pandemic, fashion will certainly find a way to ensure we buy more than we need, so that we don’t get caught wearing the same mask twice! Already, luxury brands such as Burberry and Louis Vuitton have gotten in on the game, with hyper-expensive masks and shields, a new entry-level price point that puts their logo front and center—right on the customer’s face.
But irony aside, behind all of this, is a very real business decision that brands are making. Because, if a brand makes and sells PPE in their stores, they can be classified by many local governments as essential retailers. Said differently, this means that with new lockdowns now happening due to the second wave, these retailers will not have to close down a second time, because they are selling PPE. It’s a workaround that alleviates the need for mass furloughs of store line employees and mitigates issues around store leases. In reality, fashion brands see PPE whether its face masks, shields, gloves, or even scrubs, as essential to the viability of their business.