Whether it was a yacht club meeting, or a designated patch of grass in a city park, outdoor spaces were a welcomed respite from quarantine. And influences from the outdoor apparel category continue to be relevant to value-seeking fashion consumers like performance fabrics, functional trims and durability are top of mind as consumers begin to rebuild their wardrobes, as well as the ethical ethos that many outdoor brands stand behind.
Environmentalism is the hottest trend about everything you wear, and it not a new concept, but with the U.S. rejoining the Paris Accord Agreement and the Biden-Harris administration pledging to restore the country’s climate leadership, expect to see a sense of environmentalist pride sweep over American fashion. Planet-friendly slogan tees, nature-inspired motifs, and brand and product stories with an environmental slant are bound to be on the upswing.
Beyond burgers, consumers’ vegan lifestyles are influencing all aspects of fashion apparel in 2021. Retail market intelligence platform Edited reported that vegan arrivals saw an upwards trajectory in 2020, increasing 8 percent year-over-year, and with consumers increasingly concerned about their health and the environment, vegan products have major growth potential. And brands know it, including jeans labels. AMO, Boyish, Nudie Jeans and Mother are among the denim brands that bypass the traditional leather patch for a more animal-friendly alternative or skip the branding opportunity all together.
Though the catwalk gave wide-leg jeans and slouchy fits the seal of approval several seasons ago, the pandemic-induced desire for comfort pushed the trend into the mainstream. That’s good news for denim retailers, which can no longer sustain themselves solely on the sales of dark skinny jeans. The trend has a built-in audience with ’90s-obsessed Gen Z, while giving older consumers a new reason to shop for jeans.
Text : Emila Jones / Photography: Alex Plotnikov / Style: Sonya Vartanyan / Retouching: Katerina Sergeeva / MUA: Gaya Vartanyan / Hair: toniandguyspb / Assistant: Ksenia Kostenko / Models: Antonina Ermolina, Aleksandr Bagrov 28 January, 2021
