The last two years have been challenging for industry. Première Vision Paris, in its hybrid format, was a good occasion for a quick dip-stick survey to feel the pulse of industry.
Première Vision, as its catchline asserts, remains the art and heart of fashion. With over 1,000 exhibitors from more than 40 countries, Première Vision Paris signalled an industry dying to get back on track.
TexFash spoke to two exhibitors about the times in which one of the world’s most go-to events was organised: Federica Annovazzi, Design and Product Development Director at Iluna Group, and Koji Hamada, the Chief Executive Officer of Asahi Kasei Fibers Italia.
Fortunately, demand is going back to pre-pandemic rates, but forecasts remain unpredictable. Now the market does not focus only on function, but also social values such as sustainability and SDGs (UN Sustainable Development Goals).
How has business been since the reopening and second closure due to COVID-19? How has your purchasing/procurement changed based on the demands of a digitized world?
Koji Hamada: Fortunately, demand is going back to pre-pandemic rates, but forecasts remain unpredictable. Now the market does not focus only on function, but also social values such as sustainability and SDGs (UN Sustainable Development Goals). We have not experienced any visible change with purchasing/procurement due to the digitised world, but we are trying to approach new promotional methods to fit in it.
Federica Annovazzi: By manufacturing technical fabrics and masks, we were able to not stop production. At the same time, we incremented our offer of sustainable products from 3% in 2018 to more than 50% in 2021, and also introduced natural dyeing. Unfortunately, the increase in the price of raw materials and consequently on yarns and elastomers has had a strong impact on production and delivery times, so we have had to organise our warehouse stocks to avoid possible production stops.
The last two years have been very complex and challenging, but our collection has sold very well, especially the sustainable products. We have invested in changing over half of the machine fleet for more efficient, and qualitatively better production while reducing waste.
How challenging have the last two years been? What have you done to keep the business afloat and prepare for a post-COVID world (even though the pandemic is still going strong)?
Koji Hamada: The business demand for occasionwear has been firmly damaged, which strongly affected our business. So, we tried to support and communicate with our partners as much as possible and give them insurance for stable supply and an invariant relationship, but also create new demands in different markets, such as upper casual and comfortwear. Finally, we worked on a rebranding aimed at the 100th anniversary and beyond [The Asahi Kasei Group will celebrate its 100th anniversary in May 2022].
Federica Annovazzi: The last two years have been very complex and challenging, but our collection has sold very well, especially the sustainable products. We have invested in changing over half of the machine fleet for more efficient, and qualitatively better production while reducing waste. We have also invested in more recycling of water used for dyeing and greater energy savings through supplies from renewable sources. However, increases in energy costs have had negative effects on processing costs and therefore on the selling prices of our products.
SUBIR GHOSH is a Kolkata-based independent journalist-writer-researcher who writes about environment, corruption, crony capitalism, conflict, wildlife, and cinema. He is the author of two books, and has co-authored two more with others. He writes, edits, reports and designs. He is also a professionally trained and qualified photographer.
