2021 has been a year of few peaks and many pits, as the international fallout from COVID-19 continues to be revealed. As retail has scrambled to get back on its feet, many Brands have seen sudden increases in demand after months of operating as e-commerce only. With industry experts now making their predictions for the new year, what can Fashion brands expect 2022 to look like for them?

What are brands initially facing

According to reports from Business of Fashion and McKinsey and Co, the current backlog of problems from the previous year have already increased fashion garment prices by roughly 3%. Even on top of this, polled brand leaders aren’t ruling out further increases on product prices by more than 10%. Thanks to ongoing supply chain and transportation issues, these measures seem to be necessary. Additional material shortages, and shipping costs could also prove to affect the running of fashion businesses in 2022.

After two years of disruption, there was a decline of -20% in 2020 over 2019. For 2020 onwards, holiday selling could look to make the immediate future somewhat unpredictable, as late product arrivals that merge into post-holiday discounting could level-out overall product pricing. The popularity of social commerce fashion and recycled clothing could also add to industry unpredictability, while it currently makes up less than 10% of the global fashion market.

What else could we see happen in 2022?

As we delve deeper into full year predictions, the uneven recovery of business looks to dominate whatever may follow. Much of the post-COVID shock we’ve seen over the last year looks to continue, varying across consumer markets. The same can be said for logistics gridlocks, which are likely to mirror disruptions seen across 2021.

Business opportunities are likely to remain domestic, with international tourism not likely to bounce back until late 2023 at the earlier. Don’t panic though—national consumers will be wanting an entire wardrobe reboot, transitional from loungewear to other product purchases. This links to the surge of social shopping, though those customers that spend increasing amounts of time online will be looking for communities that reflect social interest in the rising metaverse. 

Circular textiles is set to be rolled out on a larger scale, with some brands opting to use product ‘passports’ to share information and authenticate sales. As these plans are set in place, cyber resilience will need to be stepped up, as the number of cyber-attacks occurring since the beginning of the pandemic has sharply increased. There’s also a new need for the right brands to appeal to the right talent, in an effort to attract the new employment market.

Regardless of what the issue may be, Fashion Brands need to act fast in 2022. With new potential hostility from the Omicron variant, new fashion has the potential to create and maintain consumer excitement.

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