Work from home (WFH) has seen couches, kitchen counters and even bedrooms turn into office space with India in the middle of a 21-day lockdown.
Top fashion and lifestyle retailers are turning adversity into opportunity—WFH wear is a new category on their websites, catering to those who want to amp up the oomph during interminable conference calls.
The lockdown has led to a surge in inventory, forcing brands to innovate. Half a dozen firms including Myntra, Lifestyle, Shoppers Stop, Hennes & Mauritz, Madura Fashion & Lifestyle and The Label Life are showcasing their spring-summer collection, pushing them as stylish WFH clothing. Companies say this can become a norm, given WFH will become a way of work life even after lockdown.
“The new vertical is meant to engage consumers in navigating WFH situations wherein they are facing a large audience on camera,” said Vishak Kumar, CEO of Madura Fashion & Lifestyle. “We plan to make this vertical a permanent feature and increase selection as this culture of WFH is likely to gain momentum.” Madura Fashion has added a new pop-up on its Peter England brand site that directs potential shoppers to curated options of all-day separates for remote working and virtual meetings.
As the boundary between work and leisure becomes porous, websites of fashion brands have added similar WFH pop-ups that direct shoppers to browse outfits for conference calls, Zoom-ready dressing and loungewear. While they aren’t accepting orders yet — deliveries are currently confined to essentials — the brands are optimistic that merchandise will be added to shopping carts to be dispatched once the lockdown ends.
Flipkart-owned fashion marketplace Myntra is engaging its users by prescribing dress codes such as light-coloured shirts for client calls, colourful blazers for virtual meetings and comfort essentials such as T-shirts, hoodies and jogging suits to wear at home.
“Fashion is an engagement-oriented segment,” said Amar Nagaram, head of Myntra. “It is important to create such avenues that allow us to interact easily and frequently with our customers in these trying times.”
Warehouses of both offline and online fashion retailers have been shut because of the lockdown. The outbreak had begun to hurt fashion and lifestyle retailers as early as the beginning of March, when several states ordered malls shut. Brands told ET that sales have fallen almost 70% since fears over the virus intensified in March.
“The WFH journal is an initiative to keep our consumers engaged,” said Lifestyle International managing director Vasanth Kumar about a company initiative. “It is a curation of ideas on how they can optimise WFH schedules, stay fit along with styling advice and motivational sayings to get through these trying times.”
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