Has The Covid Summer in America, Cooled Down The Demand For Office Fashion Wear?

America is hot literally and the fashion scene there is not, at least currently. As we all know professional clothing has evolved over the years into more casual and fashionable dressing forms. In the case of Men's office wear, the designer suits replaced the erstwhile overcoats and slacks that went on to becoming simply blazers and dark jeans, and ultimately in the recent times into a shirt and jeans. For the Office wear on the ladies side, the pantyhose got replaced, skirt suits became outdated, and the office pants got evolved out of the tights that they used to wear.

Meanwhile the on account of this unusual and extraordinary summer in America has literally killed the office fashion garments.

The work from home culture has had serious implications on the way we dress for the work time. Who would want to dress with formal shirts, formal pants with matching belts, socks, shoes when a zoom video call does not show the other person anything that you have worn below your shoulder. Add to that the crazy summer heat in America, even the ones who are actually going to office are dumping their office fashion wear and going for the minimalistic approach.

The impact of this major shift in behavior by the Americans is being felt by many fashion businesses. These fashion brands were thriving on the demand for chic office wear and were making money by dressing up their office going clients for their office lives.

Brands like J. Crew, J.C. Penney Co., Men's clothier Brooks Brothers, Jos. A. Bank and Men's Wearhouse,  Ascena Retail Group Inc., Ann Taylor, Lord and Taylor are all struggling in varying degrees.

Retail real estate is also affected as the demand for office fashion clothes like chinos, houndstooth coats and pencil skirts are diminishing. The consumers' tastes with regards to office fashion have changed as dramatically as have the lives of millions of office goers changed due the extraordinary lock down brought about by the Covid 19 pandemic globally. United States of America with its heat and with the possibility of the work from home option continuing till a good part of 2021 does not look like a happy hunting ground for fashion brands dealing in office fashion wear, at least currently.