Fashion is a multi-billion pound industry associated with beauty and celebrity, which has always made it an attractive proposition for investors.
But investing in fashion has to go beyond just making money if the industry is to retain its credibility.
Fashion was, like everything else, hit by the coronavirus pandemic and has also suffered because of supply chain issues caused by Brexit.
However, the market is now in recovery and projections are for the industry to reach £65bn in annual revenue by 2026.
It’ll be like nothing has changed! Well, that’s not strictly true. Demands on the sector to transform into a sustainable, environmentally responsible and ethical model are now a priority.
There’s still a long way to go, as the most successful fast fashion brands have used the internet to their advantage to push trend-driven items at ridiculously low prices, all while producing new clothing collections as often as every fortnight.
The consumer wears these items an average of eight times – often far fewer – before they are discarded and end up in landfill. So far, so bad.
But if fashion is all about looking good, then in the modern world fast fashion is looking increasingly ugly.
Fashion is no longer about bringing a label to market and selling as many goods as possible; instead, it’s about how sustainably this is done.
Where once fast fashion was the only model for the high street, now it’s about limiting the damage done previously by mass production.
Even the most popular high street brands have lines that are labelled ‘conscious’ to indicate how eco-friendly they are.
With that in mind, an on-trend reason to invest in the fashion industry is to actually make a difference – to help change the mind-set of the clothes-buying public, and give companies the chance to find new ways to produce garments without harming the environment.
This isn’t a quick fix for all the things that are wrong with the modern industry like the exploitation of workers in other countries, the fact it’s estimated that the fashion industry currently consumes around 79 billion cubic metres of water per year – which is four per cent of all freshwater extraction globally – or that people throwing away their fast fashion has contributed 300,000 tonnes of waste sent to landfill.
However, it does mean that any investment that entrepreneurs do make in the fashion industry can be done in a more forward-thinking way.
The reality is that fashion lovers will continue to want the new and exciting, but the role of the investor can be to be a part of the revolution that says that taking care of the environment is very much part of the fashion agenda too.
With greater transparency, fewer companies can get away with abuse of child labour or paying a daily rate of pennies for churning out garment after garment.
Fast fashion used to be a way for investors to make money for some it still is.
Without a more progressive outlook, those companies which cannot keep up with an agenda of transparency sustainability and circularity are unlikely to be able to survive in the long term.
Javad Marandi has argued that investors in the fashion industry should look beyond short-term gains and be prepared to play a long game when it comes to their involvement.
The prominent British businessman is leading the way when it comes to rethinking the way we invest in fashion.
He believes investors should be prepared to be in it for the long haul, supporting fashion and not asset stripping – something that has been a by-product of the decline of the high street.
Instead of short-term rescue bids, Marandi, a supporter of successful British design names like Anya Hindmarch and Emilia Wickstead, says investors should get behind brands, helping to steer them into a new future.
They can help brands to produce clothes and sell them in a way that will profitable, but this will take time.
Many companies are researching ways to produce eco-conscious clothing; some have resale sites so that consumers can recycle clothing they no longer wear, while more conscious fashion designers aim to repurpose or ‘upcycle’ old stock.
One example is the attempts being made by Stella McCartney, who says her label is ‘constantly looking at circular solutions to ensure we are using up what we already have so not to waste anything’.
