The fashion industry is among those hit hardest by the coronavirus outbreak. With shops closed, production ramped down and consumers all but completing the shift to digital channels, the aftermath has seen numerous retailers and department stores filing for bankruptcy. Which fashion companies fared best during these troubling times? And how can those struggling bounce back, correct their course, and ready themselves to address future disruptions?

We spoke to Dr. Christoph Schröder (Global Vice President, Industry Business Unit Retail – SAP SE), who provided us with his insights and observations about the last twelve months and a look ahead.

As a leading apparel solutions provider to global brands, Hela Clothing has in recent years been investing in digitization initiatives to strengthen its capabilities in order to innovate faster and better service global clients. 

Hear attune's Harin Nanayakkara (Chief Sales and Marketing Officer) and Kim MacIntosh (SVP & General Manager - Americas) together with our colleagues from Rizing - Brian Cederborg (SVP - CI) & Martin Stenzig (CTO) talk about - "The Future of Fashion Tech: Dressing The Industry for Success" with Bonnie D. Graham on Technology Revolution: The Future of Now broadcast via Voice America.

Since the launch in 2017, we have helped customers adopt S/4HANA technology. But for many, the complexity of the migration has made them hesitant and uncertain about the business drivers and justifications.

The pressures facing the fashion industry point to digital transformation being necessary, rather than optional. Certainly, there is a good reason for the pandemic being called “fashion’s biggest reset”. It serves as an undeniable affirmation that e-commerce is not just a privilege brands can choose whether to partake in. It is an indisputable business model that retailers and luxury labels should adopt not only to survive but to emerge better positioned for the future.

How do you consolidate a central DC with the flexibility to handle unpredictable demand across all sales channels? Although the omnichannel model is now relatively well established, a challenge that retailers continued to grapple with is how to reconfigure their supply networks to achieve better alignment between delivery responsiveness, product variety, and convenience.

The transition of an existing version of SAP S/4HANA to a newer version must be done meticulously, depending on your business and industry's requirements.

The SAP Apparel and Footwear solution (SAP AFS) has been around since the early 2000s, and many of its users over the years have grown accustomed to certain functionality and processes that it offered.

Even before the pandemic and economic crisis, brick-and-mortar retailers had been fighting a fierce battle against e-commerce players. Those challenges have now accelerated at a staggering speed.

The digital channel was largely left unscathed and operational during the COVID-19 pandemic — a lifeline for fashion companies. While some players leveraged their digital muscles to grow revenue, scores of retailers scrambled to widen their online sales. These fashion companies are better equipped than others—largely due to their digitization efforts.

Today, with the pandemic remaining a challenge, the apparel industry is rebooting, and, while the most-basic technologies have kept businesses relevant during this time, they will again have to adopt advanced methods to remain agile, and accommodate a changed, post-pandemic consumer.