Just Style

Week in Review: Climate change and the death of traditional fashion seasons

As the climate crisis makes extreme weather more likely, and blurs the lines between summer and winter, is it time that fashion stepped away from traditional seasons?

Here in the UK, we’re immune to unpredictable weather.

As we head toward the end of July, it was only last week that many of us were finally packing away our boots and rain macs, swapping them out for shorts and t-shirts as the country was finally treated to a burst of sun and warmth after weeks of damp and wet weather.

But as the public toys with the most appropriate outfit for the day based on the unpredictable weather, fashion brands and retailers are also experiencing similar challenges.

For large companies with huge supply chains, adapting to the erratic climate is much more difficult than simply remembering to pack an umbrella whenever leaving the house.

After the sixth-wettest spring on record, many UK retailers have reported a slump in sales as consumers chose not to spend on new summer outfits.

And as the climate crisis makes weather patterns more unpredictable, stalling sales on the back of unseasonable temperatures will likely be a worldwide trend in the coming years.

According to the Met Office, climate change is causing more frequent and intense weather across the world.

Last week, Uniqlo-owner Fast Retailing blamed a sharp fall in profits from its Greater China business on “lacklustre consumer appetite, and unseasonal weather".

And one recalls Superdry's eventual downfall came after several years of dwindling sales stemming from unseasonable weather.

Earlier in July, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) revealed June's total UK retail sales decreased 0.2% year on year with clothing and footwear hit particularly hard by unseasonably cool weather.

In 2018, the BRC and Met Office’s Weather to Shop? report claimed that for each degree warmer the first week of September is in the UK, relative to the previous year, the rate of growth for clothing is reduced by 1.1% - that’s equivalent to £40m in sales.

We've all walked past rails of coats in an unusually warm autumn or skipped the summer dress section when the sun has failed to appear, but as these weather events become more commonplace, retailers and brands are going to need a new approach.

As consumers continue to tighten their belts and spend more selectively - and the weather becomes even more unpredictable - the fashion industry might not soon have a choice but to stop basing their drops on specific seasons.