Retail consultant Robert Burke characterized the coronavirus crisis as “an involuntary opportunity to reset the buttons for fashion deliveries and relook at our calendar in general.”
Brands have struggled with the demands of department stores that urged earlier and bigger deliveries, imposed difficult sell-through terms and requested “exclusives for exclusives sake,” according to Burke, who highlighted that exclusive designs for a particular retailer are not always the “best” and most saleable products.
Burke noted that most European luxury brands rely on the accessories business, and the best ones have learned to exalt and animate designs that last for years, not months. In an interview, he said he expects this strategy will increasingly be applied to ready-to-wear, pointing to the enduring success of classic-driven brands like Brunello Cucinelli and Loro Piana.
Burke couldn’t agree more that the markdown cycle must end: “We all knew it was out of sync, we could see that, but because there was another season right behind it, we were kind of on this treadmill that wouldn’t stop. Well, now the treadmill has stopped and we have to regroup.”
Burke projected that brands, not retailers, will take the lead in the post-crisis world, in terms of deliveries, seasons and markdowns. “The bigger brands were already leaning to being more flexible and creative with [deliveries to] their own stores, and being able to be a little more nimble is the takeaway here,” he said. “The brands often know how to run retail better than the department stores,” the impetus for more concession configurations, or leased departments, in U.S. department stores.
