Development of project idea

I have chosen to develop and work on the idea of how Covid-19 has impacted the fashion industry of Italian luxury brands. The pandemic has impacted different aspects of the fashion industry such as manufacturing, promoting & showcasing and consequently sales. I will consider and discuss these aspects in my piece of writing.

Milan is well known for being the Italian fashion capital, home to most of luxury brand headquarters such as Prada, Versace and Armani. Milan is located in the Lombardy region and this very region has been the most affected area of the country.  I researched various sources and these are some impacts I found:

Manufacturing:

According to Giocomotti (2020) manufacturing has never been halted even during lockdown, however factories were required immediately adhere to safety rules rules and protocols which seemed unfamiliar and unexpected. Leading to a disruption of planning and market strategies, slowing the usual production pace. 

Promoting and showcasing:

Stores closed and canceled shows surely affected the sales. With stores being closed the only alternative was online shopping, although some customers prefer seeing the item and trying it before purchasing, especially considering the sales prices of luxury brands. Some shows were canceled such as the Prada scheduled for may, resort show in Tokyo (Davis, 2020). While the Armani  Autumn-Winter 2020 show has taken place with an empty theater and was made available livestream (Holland, 2020)

Sales:

As estimated, the sales have experienced a downfall. Biondi (2020) has reported that the luxury sale in 2020 have dropped to 20-25% (70-87 billion euro on a value of 349 billion euro). This has an impact on the whole supply chain- from companies to workers. 

I could also consider tourism, being a native of Milan I know very well that frequent consumers of Italian fashion are Asians and Arabs, specifically Japanese, Chinese, and UAE citizens. This lack of tourism due to traveling restrictions can perhaps also have a negative impact on sales?


Article composition:

The majority of newspaper and magazine articles include an interview to make the information more reliable and relevant as seen below. I intend to perform an interview and select the information that would best fit the article, however it can be challenging to find a person that is related to luxury fashion and willing to accept the interview. I shall think this through and come up with the best alternative- maybe interview person involved in a less famous and smaller brand but with expensive sale prices?

Vogue Article (2020)

During my researched I have noticed that more than 1 source have used an image of Milan, especially  of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, named after the first king that brought the unification of Italy. The construction on galleria started in 1865 by Giuseppe Mengoni. The galleria was built with iron and wired glass, as Italy was approaching its industrial revolution. The octagon shaped glass has a height of 47,08 m. On the pavement there is a mosaic with the coat-of-arms of the Savoia household in addition to the coat-of arms of the cities that have been capitals in the kingdom of Italy- Milan, Turin, Florence and Rome (Ribaudo, 2017). The Galleria offers a number of restaurants and stores such as Gucci, Versace and Prada. 

Vogue Business Article (2020)

Unfortunately, not being in Milan at the moment I won't be able to shoot a recent photograph of the galleria, but luckily I have taken a few photographs of it last Christmas and will be able to work with them using Photoshop software. I also thought of shooting an image of a model (friend) wearing Gucci and other brands Made in Italy to add within the article.



Sources:

GIACOMOTTI, F (2020) How the Italian luxury fashion industry is responding to the coronavirus pandemic. Vogue. [Online]13th Mar. Available from: https://www.vogue.in/fashion/content/covid-19-coronavirus-italy-how-the-luxury-fashion-world-is-responding-to-the-outbreak-crisis [Accessed 09/07/20].

DAVIS, D. M. (2020) Italy's nationwide coronavirus lockdown is set to rock the luxury retail industry, with brands bracing for what could be a billion-dollar setback. [Online] Business Insider. Available from: https://www.businessinsider.com/how-italy-coronavirus-lockdown-is-impacting-luxury-industry-2020-3 [Accessed 09/07/20].

BIONDI, A. (2020) Covid 19's long wave hits Italian luxury manufacturing. Vogue business. [Online] 18th Mar. Available from: https://www.voguebusiness.com/companies/coronavirus-covid-19-impact-italian-manufacturers-luxury [Accessed 09/07/20].

HOLLAND, O. (2020) Armani hold Milan Fashion Week show in an empty theater because of coronavirus. CNN. [Online] 24th Feb. Available from: https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/armani-fashion-week-coronavirus-trnd/index.html [Accessed 09/07/20].

RIBAUDO, R (2017) Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. [Online] Regione Lombardia. Available from: http://www.lombardiabeniculturali.it/architetture/schede/LMD80-00142/ [Accessed 10/07/20].