UK fashion: Can the industry survive Covid and Brexit?
The collapse in international travel, notably a lack of Chinese tourists in western capitals, cost the industry £10 billion last year and may do the same or worse this year, analysts estimate. And the glut of stock exposed by lockdown has revealed fashion’s dirty secret: it is based on overproduction, excessive resources and cheap labour. “The situation is worse than Sars, 9/11 and the global financial crisis put together,” says John Hooks, former right-hand man to Giorgio Armani and Ralph Lauren, who is now a leading consultant to the biggest fashion brands. But the business is all a...