There is little doubt that leggings and sweatpants are more comfortable than dress pants or a pencil skirt. Once a vast number of professionals began working from home, forced out of office settings by the coronavirus, they naturally embraced such clothing options. If they had no need to dress professionally to interact with colleagues and clients, they opted for comfort, ease, and softness. Even if they continued to be productive and produce high-quality work, their appearance while doing so grew considerably less formal.
Such preferences might make professional workers more comfortable, but they are having the opposite effect on retailers that sell professional attire. Neiman Marcus, J.Crew, and Brooks Brothers filed for bankruptcy quite quickly; other brands have scrambled to find new ways to market their existing offerings or else adjust their product lines to appeal to the new segment of work-from-home professionals.
For example, Express created a new design for its ecommerce site, categorizing its clothing options according to three “ways to work,” namely, interview, back to the office, or work from home. Each category contains appropriate options, such that in the work from home section, shoppers can find trendy joggers, soft sweaters, and nice smelling candles.
At Gap, the effects are particularly clear across its different imprints. Banana Republic, with its emphasis on more formal lines and clean cuts, suffered a sales drop of 47 percent in the immediate aftermath of the pandemic. But the company’s Athleta brand, which sells exercise attire alongside athleisure-inspired regular clothing, has remained nearly on an even keel. Specifically, though it still experienced some effects (as has virtually every retailer), the damages were limited to just an 8 percent decline in sales.
Another option is for retailers to push their offerings of fashionable tops, blazers, and jewelry that people wear near their faces. People working from home often are required to participate in video conferences and calls, implying that they need to look professional at least from the waist up. They might be sporting jogging shorts on their legs, which are hidden by the kitchen table where they do their work these days, but they can put on a sharp tie or attractive scarf to look put together and presentable to their conference partners.
This last option is promising for some but makes the bad news for other retailers clearly evident. Colleagues on a video conference cannot see one another’s shoes for example. Thus, the exclusive Jimmy Choo shoe brand is worried. So are makers of expensive luggage, who are finding that when no one is taking business trips, no one needs new suitcases either.
Discussion Questions:
- Should business attire retailers switch completely to more casual product lines, or are more formal styles likely to make a comeback someday? What other factors influence your answer?
- In what other ways might retailers diversify to deal with the trends in business fashion induced by the coronavirus?
Source: Allison Prang, “Apparel Brands Push More-Stylish Dressing at Home,” The Wall Street Journal, July 2, 2020; Suzanne Kapner and Soma Biswas, “Brooks Brothers, Hurt by Casual Friday and Coronavirus, Files for Bankruptcy,” The Wall Street Journal, July 8, 2020