'The fun of getting dressed is gone.' As consumers
adjust to the pandemic, retailers feel the strain
Yes. Your shoes miss you, too.
July 28,
2020, 1:16 AM CEST / Updated July 28, 2020, 1:18 AM CEST
By Ahiza
García-Hodges
"I
loved doing my hair and getting ready, picking out a nice pair of pants and a
dressy blouse or a dress and heels," said Ashley Krasnoff, who used to go
to her Los Angeles-area office every weekday. "With that came jewelry and
a watch and picking out a purse."
Now,
"I wake up about five minutes before I have to log on," she said.
"I usually throw on yoga leggings, a sports bra and a sports tank top. I
think once I might have put on jeans."
Krasnoff
isn't alone.
Sequestered
at home since mid-March, many workers have adopted a new "work
uniform" that better suits their new environment. The look involves fewer
high-heeled shoes, handbags, suits, ties and coats — and more loungewear and
athleisure.
The dress
code shift has naturally also led to a change in what consumers are buying.
Brands that
sell comfortable and athletic clothing have seen major boosts in sales, but
workwear and formal wear companies are bearing the weight of this shift. Sales
in those segments dropped dramatically during the pandemic, according to Neil
Saunders, managing director of GlobalData Retail.
Retailers
such as Ann Taylor, Men's Wearhouse and Brooks Brothers are feeling this
acutely. Ann Taylor filed for bankruptcy protection last week, and Brooks
Brothers did so in early July. On Tuesday, Tailored Brands, which owns Men's
Wearhouse, announced it would be closing 500 of its store locations.
"No
one is shopping them," Saunders said of formal wear brands. "They
depend on people going into an office — and no one wears full suits on Zoom
meetings."
Ann Taylor
and Tailored Brands did not respond to a request for comment. Arthur Wayne, a
spokesperson for Brooks Brothers, said that while the company is known for
suits, many of its other popular items such as "khakis, polo shirts,
sweaters and other sportswear" are "perfect for a more relaxed
working environment.”
Most of
these types of stores already had issues before the pandemic started because
they were a "bit tired" and were struggling to grow and appeal to
younger consumers, Saunders said.
But he said
even stores such as M.M.LaFleur and Suitsupply, which are popular with that
demographic, are taking a big hit during this time.
“Demand is
obviously impacted," said Fokke de Jong, CEO and founder of Suitsupply.
"There’s uncertainty about how long this pandemic is going to last in the
U.S., but luckily we’re not just based there.”
Sarah
LaFleur, founder and CEO of M.M.LaFleur, told NBC News, “We’ve had to get
creative with the way we market and talk about our clothes throughout the past
few months. We’ve needed to reframe our marketing a bit so customers understand
our clothing works well for this moment.”
The
underlying business model for these brands is "much more robust,"
said Saunders. "They're suffering from the same issues, but for them it’s
a matter of trying to buy their time and wait for things to normalize."
Work style
in many industries had already become much more casual, from hoodie-wearing
executives at Twitter and Facebook, to suit-and-tie stalwarts such as Goldman
Sachs, which last year announced it would allow a less formal dress code.
The
pandemic's new level of casual dress could bolster that movement, making
buttoned-up formal wear in the office seem as out of date as the typing pool or
the switchboard.
"Generally,
I think the trend has been a relaxing of business attire — and this probably
just expedites that a bit more, within reason," said Andy Shalbrack, who
works in finance. When he started in the industry, he used to wear a full suit
and tie. Now, such formal wear is mostly only necessary when seeing clients, as
a way to show respect.
Now, his
new "uniform" involves a lot more shorts — and facial hair.
"It's
the one time you can kind of grow out your beard or mustache, since it's all
conference calls," Shalbrack said, adding that Zoom video calls are rare
in his field.
However,
the new casual likely won't hold up once his team returns to the office, he
said.
Already
there are signs of people buying more formal clothes in countries that are
opening back up as coronavirus cases begin to settle at lower levels.
LVMH, the
biggest luxury goods company in the world and the owner of brands such as Louis
Vuitton, Christian Dior and Givenchy, has also noticed a turnaround in sales.
For the period between April and June, it reported a 37 percent drop in sales
within its fashion and leather goods segment and a 52 percent decrease in its
watch and jewelry division. But since June there have been “strong signs” of a
recovery, the conglomerate said on Monday.
Another
area Saunders sees taking a hit from the pandemic is the subscription services
segment. He said companies such as Rent the Runway, which rely on consumers
renting clothing for work or special occasions, aren't doing well right now.
"There
have been a lot of issues there because people are just canceling their
subscriptions," Saunders said. "They’re tailored around occasions and
working and people needing to look nice, so it’s hard to see how they could
come back any time soon."
Krasnoff
said she has already noticed changes in her own habits — and to her bottom
line.
"The
only online shopping I did at the beginning was just to buy more athleisure and
comfy clothes to sit around in," she said.
And while
she's adjusted to this new lifestyle, she's grateful it's only temporary.
"The
fun of getting dressed is gone," Krasnoff said. "But I’m saving a ton
on dry cleaning."
When you work from home, every day is (very) casual
Friday
By Kelly
Murray, CNN
Updated
1350 GMT (2150 HKT) March 23, 2020
(CNN)There
is no dress code in the home office.
How
disheveled do you look when you're working from home? Do you stay in your
pajamas all day? Do you even shower? Or are you one of those people who insists
on looking your office-best even while pecking away at your keyboard at home?
As
officials try to control the Covid-19 pandemic, millions of white collar
workers — normally bound by dress codes and expectations in the office — are
trading business trousers for sweat pants, and stiff blazers for that hoodie
they would only ever allow their family, roommates or dog to see.
For some
work-from-homers, comfort-first attire is a source of shame — a symptom of
broken routines and under-motivation. For others, it's ultimate liberation.
After all,
fashion in general has become increasingly casual over the past few decades.
These days, activewear or "athleisure" is customary weekend wear,
even outside the gym.
Plus,
formal work environments have become the exception, not the rule — a trend
often blamed on millennials in tech startups. Even notoriously buttoned-up
Goldman Sachs is adopting a more 'flexible' dress code.
But even in
a casual work environment, there's a limit. When going to a job interview, 65%
of Americans feel it's important to wear a suit, regardless of how formal the
company's dress code is, according to a 2019 survey by Ranstad US.
In the same
survey, 50% of respondents say they wear business attire from the waist up and
casual clothing from the waist down when they have a video interview.
So, given
the uncertainty of the coronavirus pandemic, is it unhealthy for people working
from home to just wake up and stumble over to the computer screen in their
pajamas?
"If
that works for us and we can be in that place to put our energy into work the
way it needs to be — to do the job — there's nothing wrong with that at
all," Atlanta-based psychologist Erik Fisher told CNN.
On the
other hand, the CDC has told people it's important to keep up their routines to
ease anxiety during the pandemic.
"It's
all about mental preparation," Fisher said. "If this helps somebody
to mentally prepare and to go through that habit (of getting dressed), and
that's the habit and the structure they've created for themselves, don't change
that."
Researchers
have long been fascinated with the meaning behind clothing, not only as a way
for people to communicate with others, but as a way to shape one's own perception
of oneself. One 2015 study found that people who dress up tend to think more
creatively.
But that
just depends on the individual.
"If
you pay attention to staying disciplined, showering as soon as you get up,
eating a good breakfast, putting on clothes that make you feel good, you're
going to have a good day," said Joey Schweitzer, the founder of the
successful motivational YouTube channel Better Ideas and who works from his
home near Vancouver, Canada. "You're going to pay more attention to the
work that you're doing, and you're going to feel like a functioning member of
society."
Some
employees fortunate enough to work remotely are even trading casual Fridays for
fancy Fridays, donning cocktail or black tie.
"It's
nice to build a sense of community and create a reason to make a work day
special during such uncertainty," said Laura Anne Cotney, who works with a
real estate software company in Athens, Georgia.
Fisher
recommended that if a person is working from home in his or her pajamas and
feels like they "should" be dressing up, they need to look at where
that inner voice is coming from.
"When
people feel judged, they often go back to a place of shame and guilt and
inadequacy, and that's why I think we have to be able to be our own
self-observers," Fisher told CNN.
"All
the looks are exact outfits I've worn," said professional
illustrator Tyler Feder. "It was so surprising for me to see how many
people commented saying they related! I
assumed I was alone in wearing schlubby PJ combos all the time."
"All
the looks are exact outfits I've worn," said professional illustrator
Tyler Feder. "It was so surprising for me to see how many people commented
saying they related! I assumed I was alone in wearing schlubby PJ combos all
the time."
"In
other words, we're looking for the "right" way to do things,"
Fisher said. "And if it's not the right way, then it must be wrong, and if
it's not the good way, it must be bad. And if it's not the strong way, it must
be weak. So, ask yourself, where does that voice come from? And then be able to
stop and tell yourself, it's my own internal place of comfort and peace that
will find my ability to succeed, not how I look on the outside."
1 comment:
When you work on the computer at home eg zoom, you need a smart shirt, elegant earrings, carefully done hair and slightly more makeup than normal.
From the waist down, you can be totally naked.
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