Between 2002 and 2015, clothing sales almost doubled to $1.8 trillion. Fast fashion alone is expected to reach $2.1 trillion by 2025. On average, we’re buying 60% more and keeping it for half as long as we did 15 years ago. Australians in particular, are the second-largest consumers of new textiles, yet our local retailers are struggling and there is a seemingly endless procession of stalwart brands announcing they’re going into administration every other week. 

Our March panel showed us that the future might not be so grim though, with an emerging convergence between the survival Australian retail and the survival of the planet, driven by digital.  

We explored:

• What is digital transformation in fashion

• How values are driving a new retail landscape

• The re-emergence of bricks-and-mortar

• Digital as an enabler for ethics (supply chain transparency and sustainability)

• Advances in manufacturing

• The role of data

WITH PANELISTS

• Damian Madden, General Manager, Digital, The Woolmark Company

• Andrew Apostola, Chief Operating Officer, Arnsdorf

• Meray Azar, Founder, Epic Catch

THE TAKEOUTS

1. Successful digital transformations are accountable to a need and the customer, rather than driven by trend or hype.

2. Consumers are seeking to bond with brands that mirror their values, and are open and transparent about their purpose and supply chain.

3. Whilst transparency and artistry generally mean a higher price point, consumers are willing to pay provided you engage them in the experience.

4. Find ways to engage through shared values at every touchpoint by telling your brand story and combining the tangible with the intellectual and emotional.

5. In the new age of values-driven, personalised, experiential retail, data remains Queen.  No transformation can occur without it.

6. Identify your touch points and paths to conversion. All of them.

7. Pick your platforms, set them up well, and stick with them.

8. Playing it safe is playing to fail.

9. Make innovation business-as-usual. Find a way to make R&D a regular event.

10. The most powerful thing you can do is understand and articulate your value proposition, build a business model that reflects it, and tools that help you execute it.

Photo by bruce mars from Pexels