China & Tokyo Stage First Ever Digital Fashion Weeks

Beginning on April 1, WWD China’s digital fashion week, which is in fact a six-week summit, will feature talks and panels from leading fashion industry experts and environmental scientists. It will also feature a collection of presentations from sustainable designers, and will be live streamed worldwide to viewers who will mainly be confined to their homes. Focusing on topics such as zero-waste design and ethical supply chains, the event will emphasise how important it is to act and produce sustainably, particularly during times of global crisis. The news comes as the previously cancelled Rakuten Fashion Week Tokyo (March 16-26) announced it will go ahead as a digital-only live-streamed event.

Although numerous designers have live streamed their runway shows on their websites or platforms, such as Instagram Live or YouTube Fashion, these will be the world’s first digital-only fashion weeks. Following the cancellation of both Shanghai and China Fashion Weeks, as well as others such as Seoul Fashion Week, these events will provide designers with a new means of presenting their collections and continuing to reach buyers, press and customers.

As more and more events get cancelled and postponed due to health concerns surrounding the coronavirus, this creation of new digital-only events is a really exciting way to ensure that businesses can continue to operate, albeit if in a slightly altered way. It also sends a message to brands and consumers alike that even in difficult times, we must continue to create and move forward.

For more on digital fashion, see Fashion’s Digital Future. To keep up to date with innovative brand communications and responses to the intensifying Covid-19 crisis, follow our updates on Coronavirus: Updates & Brand Responses.