On Friday 24 April, the third round of eXpression Live took place. In a live-streamed conversation about the future of the fashion industry, trend expert Lotta Ahlvar, the creative collective Random Bastards, Karin Björk and Malena Hjärpe, active in their companies Design by Björk and Pattern by Malena, met for a digital conversation about the future of the fashion industry.
The conversation raised the question of what opportunities and challenges facing niche designers today. How does productions and collection releases when work needs to be rearranged and life turned upside down? And what happens post-corona?
The conversation revealed that all companies and creators are changing in one way or another, and Ahlvar said that the current situation can provide opportunities for niche and flexible players with strong digital channels.
The big fashion chains were already struggling before the Corona pandemic and we have already seen bankruptcies and redundancies. Entrepreneurs and companies that are strong digitally and focus on sustainability will have a good chance of remaining," predicts Lotta Ahlvar.
An example of such a player is Random Bastards, which on Friday launched new products through its digital channels. The representatives of the creative collective, Erik Hörstedt and Marian Dembiciewics, expressed in the conversation that they are not quite as vulnerable and dependent on the changes that are currently taking place in the world around them.
We don't work with collections as traditionally done with releases in spring, autumn, summer and winter. We produce and release products when it suits us. Daring to do your own thing is a must for us, otherwise creativity dies, says Erik Hörstedt, one of the participants in the successful collective.
Also in the conversation was pattern designer Malena Hjärpe, who is currently working on digital PDF patterns aimed at a new target group for Hjärpe: people who sew as a hobby. The digital patterns have been on sale for some time via the digital platform etsy.com and to reach out with her designs Malena has started a collaboration with Finnish influencer Malenami. The collaboration is in order to strengthen her own brand but also to reach out more widely with her products and services.
Good cooperation strengthens the brand! The brand and the passion for entrepreneurship are hugely important for survival as an entrepreneur, says Malena Hjärpe.
Karin Björk, founder of Design by Björk and currently working on trousers for wheelchair users, highlighted challenges in the production chain that have arisen as a consequence of the impact of Covid-19 on the factories used for sewing in Italy. Due to the current situation, the Italian factories have had to reschedule their production at short notice in order to adapt to the new needs created by the pandemic. Karin also shared her future plans for the international market.
Finding collaborations is something I am actively working on. Of course, I want to reach out internationally because my target group is all over the world," says Karin, who will be visiting Oslo this autumn during Artic Design of Sweden.
The discussion was moderated by Annakarin Nyberg, Programme Manager at eXpression Future Retail Lab.
