Fashion industry and Covid-19

Read the key messages from the study and download the PDF for all the insights.

• The fashion supply chain is extensive and complex, characterised by a production phase in which small and medium sized companies are predominant and a final post-production phase operated mainly by large brands.
• In Italy, with a turnover of over €80 billion, it represents 8.2% of manufacturing industry.
• Keeping a large part of the production process and quality skills within the nation’s boundaries has guaranteed an indisputable competitive advantage to the Italian fashion system.
• About a third of the European Union’s fashion system can be associated with Italy; almost 70% of Italian exports in this sector are in the high end of the product range.
• The system is also characterised by the high level of innovative capacity which has always characterised it and which helps to make it particularly resilient in the face of crises.
• Due to the pandemic crisis of 2020 the luxury industry could suffer a worldwide decline of more than 30%.
• In Italy the effects of the lockdown are already evident with a collapse of the fashion supply chain production which in March alone recorded a reduction of 51.2%.
• In the current scenario, the speed of the industry’s reaction will depend on the companies’ ability to innovate business models adapting to the changing needs of the reference context and the clientele.
• In particular, they should speed up the digitalisation process already underway, find new production methods that allow for greater alignment between supply and demand (time to market), enhance the quality and craftsmanship of its products and, finally, strengthen the sustainability of the sector.