Vibe check: What’s it like to be an Australian fashion business right now?

Shifting consumer loyalty, the rise of pre-loved fashion and AI were among the hot topics discussed at this year’s M/FW Conversations: The Business of Fashion.

I’ve been involved in the fashion industry in one way, shape or form for nigh on a decade. I watched haute couture shows in my childhood bedroom, modelled internationally and grew up to be a fashion writer. As a native New Yorker, I thought I had a good grasp of the global business – until I moved to Australia. 

The Australian fashion industry is a unique, inspiring ecosystem unlike any I’ve experienced. In Melbourne, where I live, the fashion scene seems bound by an invisible thread. Independent designers, eclectic tastemakers and eager consumers are all intimately connected in a web where each role enriches the others.

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Over the past few months, I’ve become more acquainted with the ins and outs of Australian fashion, but I’ve still got more to learn. So, during this Melbourne Fashion Week, I made my way to M/FW Conversations: The Business of Fashion at GPT Queen & Collins to hear those in the industry talk about the past, present and future of the sector.

Where has the (local) brand loyalty gone?

We all know it’s been a tough year (and couple of years) for Australian fashion labels, with 2024 seeing beloved names like Arnsdorf and Dion Lee close their doors while business booms for overseas-based fast fashion brands. 

Like many experts, panellist Julia Browne, founder of Melbourne Fashion Hub, believes that market over-saturation and the cost-of-living crisis are to blame for the demise of Australian labels. But the overarching issue, she says, is the massive shift in consumer behaviour following the pandemic. Lockdowns forced everyone to shop online and we simply got used to it. We’ve become more comfortable clicking ‘add to cart’ than heading outside to shop (something I’m guilty of).

As a result, brand loyalty is at an all-time low. People don’t browse their favourite brand’s website to see what’s on offer, they search for a particular item. And in the age of fast fashion, the cheapest option often wins. 

LCI Melbourne’s Program Innovation Lead, Angelo Pantelone, offers another perspective. People under 30 love shopping pre-loved threads (guilty again!). While this is great for our wallets and the environment, Angelo notes that the rise of secondhand fashion is bad news for retailers. When ‘new’ clothes went out of vogue, Australian brands were forced to swap staffed brick-and-mortar shops for online stores and become more reliant on cheap, offshore production to stay afloat financially. Still, there is hope for the industry’s future.

Angelo suggests the key to revitalising brand loyalty and increasing profit for local talent may lie in producing less stock and working with fewer stockists. It may seem counterintuitive in a society hungry for instant gratification, but Angelo argues that brands should aim to sell out and create scarcity. The disappointment from missing a collection will create a sense of urgency, demanding consumers to develop a relationship with the brand to avoid losing out again. 

Regarding onshore production, Julia says that government investment is a must – local brands need funding for start-up costs and scaling their brands sustainably, fashion workers need training in skills like pattern-making and sewing, and onshore manufacturers need technology that can automate production. “There needs to be a symbiotic relationship between industry and government,” Angelo agrees. 

As new designers arise and choose Australian-made goods, they’ll have to find an equilibrium between pricing to keep enough money in their pocket without totally alienating shoppers. Angelo says consumer education around value and price will be vital for keeping buyers happy and onshore production viable.

Now loading: The Imagination Age

Beyond consumer behaviour, the industry is grappling with rapid technological changes. Unsurprisingly, AI was a hot topic among creatives this year. After all, some digital magazines are sharing suspiciously ChatGPT-esque content and AI-generated photos are becoming increasingly believable. Anyone with a creative bone in their body has experienced momentary fear that the robots are coming for their job. 

However, both Angelo and Julia agree that AI isn’t the enemy. In fact, AI can be an incredible tool, particularly for emerging fashion designers and entrepreneurs. It can help talent visualise designs, showcase collections, generate marketing strategies or refine business plans. In a nutshell, AI can take on a variety of roles for free, decreasing a new brand’s overhead costs and increasing time for creation.

Personally, I found great comfort in hearing Julia hypothesise that as AI brings the Information Age to an end, the dawn of the Imagination Age is upon us. In the near future, she says, more value will be placed on intuition, imagination and creativity – three distinctly human traits AI will never achieve. Innovative disruptors on the fringes of Australian fashion will become our next generation of leaders.

In this new era, Angelo advises LCI Melbourne fashion students to seize the opportunity to create values-driven brands that tell a story. There must be a clear, authentic connection between a brand’s clothing, creator and consumer – fashion that reflects humanity, as Angelo succinctly puts it. According to Julia, evolving alongside the broader culture to maintain this connection should be easy for Australian designers, who are more closely linked to their consumers than their European or American counterparts. 

Although Australian fashion businesses are facing major challenges, we also know there’s immense potential for revival and reinvention. We live in a world changing at breakneck speeds, but we can take heart that there will always be room for human creativity.

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