Above blouse: Relaxed Fit Printed Shirt
August is here. For the majority of us that means soaking sunshine (if and when they occur!), hot breaks away, and getting the most out of our summer wardrobes before they set up shop in the back of our closets until next year.
But for the fashion industry August means something very different: The Autumn/Winter Collections have arrived. Just flick through a glossy fashion mag and you’ll see the pages filled with autumnal styles and advertising campaigns, all promoting new collections filled with knitwear and coats.
So whilst we’re all still enjoying summer, the fashion industry has firmly moved on to Autumn. We’re being told to start buying cashmere and woolly coats, whilst it’s still mid to low 20 degrees outside. What’s going on?
Well it’s all to do with the fashion industry’s calendar - one that is firmly misaligned with our seasonal one.
To give you a brief overview, there are 2 core seasons in fashion: Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter. But within these two main seasons, there are an additional 2: Pre Spring/Summer (sometimes referred to as ‘Resort’ or ‘Cruise’) and Pre Autumn/Winter (or Pre-Fall).
And these seasons ‘drop’ (i.e. land in stores and online) roughly across the following months:
Now, in theory dividing the year into 4 drops could work: it breaks up the year up evenly, bringing excitement and freshness throughout the year to avoid consumer fatigue. But the clear problem is which collection is aligned with which months. Summery styles start arriving in January, when temperatures are freezing, whilst coats launch in July, when we’re often only just starting to experience hot weather!
Once upon a time a Pre Spring /Summer aka "Resort" collection in the winter made more sense. It was initially introduced by luxury brand and high-end stores to cater to the wealthy who'd take luxurious trips abroad to warmer climates in the winter months. But, as with everything in fashion, it has trickled down through the entire industry, and the initial purpose of the pre collection has become outdated and confused.
As a result, not only does the fashion calendar today cause customer confusion – and supports the case that the fashion industry is “out of touch”– but it also results in a huge amount of waste. The pressure to create 4 collections every year at these times has led to both overproduction and a difficulty fulfilling customer demand, causing 30% off new apparel ending up being destroyed or in landfill.
Well at The Bias Cut this is something we refuse to comply with. We don’t stand for waste, and we are here to serve you; not to dictate when and what you should be buying certain styles throughout the year. And so we have always defiantly rejected adhering to the fashion industry’s calendar. We won’t follow an industry’s ‘rule’s just because that’s the way things have always been done; we do what’s right for our customers.
As such, we ensure we launch collections in line with the seasons, so you’ll only see new pieces when they are suited to your needs and the weather. Take our latest arrivals: a collection of dresses, blouses, trainers, tees and sweatshirts, in soft, warm sunset shades, crafted from viscose, linen, cottons and jersey. The perfect pieces to effortlessly slip into your existing summer wardrobe, and to take you from warm days to cooler evenings.
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Left: Isha Zebra Printed Shirt, Hailey Casual Trousers, Superga White Leather Trainers, Astrid Black Earrings; Middle: Boxy High Neck Cream Sweater; Burnt Orange & Gold Flake Retro Studs; Hailey Casual Trousers (as before), Cotton Sunset Printed T-shirt; Right: Organic Cotton Photo Print T-Shirt, Ivanka Orange Sweater; Hailey Casual Trousers (as before), Ecru & Lime Athena Circle Hoops
For an extreme example of how disconnected the fashion calendar is, all you need to do is look back to the “Beast From The East” in 2018. The snow storm ran from 24th February – 4th March, which was well into fashions Spring/Summer season. As a result, most stores had stopped selling knitwear, and only had new summery styles available. The results: they experienced poor sales as they failed to cater to customer demand. Conversely, at The Bias Cut, we remained flexible and adapted. Whilst we had been planning on launching our Spring Collection on 1st March, but we listened to your needs, and delayed its launch by a week, all whilst putting our knitwear front and centre.
However, whilst we take pride in being different, many stores don’t feel they have the freedom to do so. They are fearful of doing things differently, and physical stores in particular feel pressured to refresh their stores frequently and to display new arrivals as soon as possible to ensure they have maximum selling time.
But things could be about to change. As with pretty much everything else, Covid-19 threw the fashion industry through a loop. Pre-pandemic a new transeasonal approach to collections was beginning to emerge, and covid's impact has further encouraged many to reflect on themselves and the issues within the industry, including its calendar. For example, Michael Kors has decided to only produce 2 collections a year, meanwhile Donatella Versace has remarked:
“To be honest with you, I like the idea of having a slower pace in terms of seasonality — of having in the windows cashmere in winter and swimwear in summer… “This will give us that time to research and create things that have that something more and special that I am sure will be needed to make people say: I want it!”
What’s more, even those heavily resistant to hanging the calendar have had to adjust: the pandemic threw production and deliveries into disarray like never before, causing mass delays that meant collections unintentionally arrived more in line with the seasons.
As we return to ‘normal’ it remains to be seen whether these changes and new attitudes will be permanent. For an industry that is notoriously resistant to change, a complete upheaval and restructuring of the fashion calendar will not be an easy feat. And certainly at the moment, whilst some brands have moved to just 2 collections a year, the designs within them are still misaligned with the seasons.
But whatever happens, there is one thing you can be certain of though: The Bias Cut will continue to march to the beat of its own drum, launching seasonally appropriate collections at the right times. Because first and foremost we are here for you, so why would we want to do things any other way?
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More from our latest collection: Superga Flatform Trainers; Printed Wrap Maxi Dress; Ams Blauw Double Breasted Indigo Blazer
