Alessandro Baricco, in his very enjoyable “Palladium Lectures”, claims that following the evolution of human taste and culture is like following the movement of an animal that moves sinuously. The way in which the “human family” changes tastes and desires is varied; the Enlightenment arrived with a beautiful and slow gesture, the French Revolution was quicker, the fall of the Wall: one day.
We have noticed it and there is no point in denying it: the last two and a half years have drastically changed the world around us, consequently corporate landscapes and concepts with which to start a fabric collection have changed. Our work procedures must be rethought not only on the basis of the habits that are forming around us, but also on the basis of new factors that we will discover as this "new world" matures. In the meantime, we are starting to highlight some trends that are already quite obvious and which must necessarily be taken into consideration by those who think globally about a collection.
The revival of “The cluetrain manifesto”.
It was 1999 when "The cluetrain manifesto" was published, an analysis organized into 95 theses aimed at predicting what would soon become the dynamic web, a huge agora of information, social networks and the market optimized and rationalized according to algorithms . Technology has received a vigorous push resulting from pandemic needs and materialized in the ever-increasing implementation of 4.0 technologies as a whole. The consequence of this is the acceleration with which companies that do not keep pace risk obsolescence phenomena, becoming irrelevant and non-competitive. As regards the role of the designer, the collections will have to be very fluid from this point of view, combining Italian tradition with new technological ideas which I see projected in the use of experimental materials such as graphene, new inkjet printing techniques and Hybrid use of various weaving techniques on jacquard looms.
Scarcity.
Post-pandemic demand is sustained, but supplies are unable to guarantee the satisfaction of orders because raw materials are difficult to find on all markets. In addition to this, supply difficulties for energy-intensive companies create economic phenomena that aggravate the relationship between supply and demand, establishing an inflationary process. This situation, although affecting the entire market, is more sensitive for high volume/low price positions. The scarcity, which will probably not only be a transitory phenomenon, will force us to change strategies, to create very manageable "capsule" collections focused on a few elements of certain supply.
Transparency and traceability.
The scarcity of raw materials and semi-finished products forces us to look beyond the pool of usual suppliers. The growing need for companies to assume ethical and social responsibility will force collection designers to acquire new guarantees on the origin of purchases and even more so to transparently certify the entire logistics chain through a full traceability system. This need, which combines with the ongoing ecological transition, will be the great objective to be achieved in the coming years and to be highlighted in the drafting of corporate sustainability reports.
Human capital.
As far as work procedures are concerned, the pandemic has bequeathed us two rather evident phenomena: the habit of smart working but also the much more worrying phenomenon defined as "Great resignation" which, generated in the United States, seems to be starting to be reflected also in Europe. These two phenomena come during a period in which many of the most experienced workers have taken advantage of recent early retirement opportunities. Many companies have clearly experienced a clear skills deficit. From a Coaching perspective, the preparation and design of a collection can contribute to improving the corporate climate by allowing each of the collaborators to participate through their own passions, transforming the project into a network of personal achievements seen from an organizational perspective overall.
To start “SUMMER 24”.
There is talk of "islands" in the ferment of next summer's trends, seen as a laboratory of ideas, explorations and mixtures expressed in a continuous dialogue formed by key words such as: "experiment, amplify, diversify". On this island the designer appears like a new Prospero, the Shakespearean magician of the "Tempest", intent on restoring balance to the disorder of the elements. A prerequisite for starting the new collection is to have a deep understanding of the customers you want to approach. The idea of having an omnibus collection that could suit everyone is long gone; at most it may be sufficient to start thinking about the development of exclusives, with a selected group of potential customers. “Singularity in transversality” should be a must to always keep in mind, because the time for mass-produced and seasonal fashion really seems to be over. “Milano Unica” starts from an innovative “Seasonless” concept in which the proposal should be able to offer targeted solutions to customers from different continents, where wools can be very light and cottons very heavy. The company and therefore the designer must find their specific niche by digging into everyone's experiential past and synthesizing it into very focused "capsule" collections. It is imperative to convey an idea with a precise address, through high product customization in a relationship that has become "horizontal" between supplier and customer. Being aware of these new contextual parameters and these new entrepreneurial and planning behaviors seems essential to me to continue preparing collections aimed at growing and exporting.
Rossano Bisio
Copyright © 2022 - 2032 "Rossano Bisio" by Rossano Bisio. All rights reserved
Commentaires