Five years of post-pandemic fashion

It has been five years since we discovered what Covid-19 was, and five years since it disrupted the world forever. The World Health Organization activated their emergency systems on January 1, 2020, and informed the world by January 4, 2020. By the end of that week, they had set guidelines for various countries to follow. Comparable to the Spanish flu of 1918, more than 7 million people have died of Covid according to official data. Unofficially, no one has an idea. WHO has just this week asked China to provide critical data to understand the virus's origins as a “moral and scientific imperative”.

- NAMRATA ZAKARIA

Covid-19 is thankfully now a banal flu. Thanks to vaccinations and timely preventive measures, it is now just another one of our quotidian stresses. It barely signals a hospital visit, leave alone death. But Covid-19 has changed us forever. It has changed how we live, how we interact with each other, how we work (most offices are still practically work-from-home), and most certainly how we buy. Health has become a priority for most of the world, with healthier food (even in the junk-food-crazy US), and more focus on exercise (just look at the fitness trainers on Instagram) and ethical fashion.

Despite the initial run to purchase clothes online, during lockdowns of course, ecommerce the world over is on the wane. In July 2024, online shopping was down 5 per cent as compared to the same month in 2023. By August 2024, it was down 13.5% as compared to 12 months prior.