The Outbreak Of The New Crown Affects The Fashion People In The World To Hear What They Say.

For many western fashion brands, the impact of the new crown outbreak was mainly reflected in the stoppage of factories and empty stores in China.

But with the increasing number of cases found outside Asia, from New York to Milan to Paris, the entire fashion industry has to deal with the impact of the epidemic on offices, shopping centres and boutiques. Millions of workers across China have been quarantined for several weeks, and in the past few days, some European and American fashion centers have launched voluntary quarantine measures for the first time.

To tell you what the potential signs are for the next situation, Hanya Yanagihara, editor in chief of T Magazine, wrote in Instagram that employees returning from fashion month had received notice that they could not enter the New York Times office within 14 days.

"This is not the official isolation requirement. We are only asked to work at home. But I began to wonder if this means that more organized official isolation is about to start, "she wrote in Instagram.

Previously, the impact of the new crown virus epidemic on the economy is still limited to China's supply chain and consumption disruption. Although the Chinese government has relaxed quarantine restrictions earlier this month, it is difficult for factories to resume full load production. Luxury brands are expected to lose 40 billion euros in sales this year and the industry value will fall to its lowest level in five years.

However, many health experts say the virus spread around the world sooner or later. As of the release of the manuscript, the new crown virus has infected 111594 people, resulting in 3888 deaths. The new crown virus is characterized by strong infection and long incubation period, so it is more likely to have a global pandemic.

The WHO has declared the outbreak an "international public health emergency (PHEIC)". The recent outbreak of the virus in Italy is forcing much of Europe to be on high alert. On Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron said, "infectious diseases are spreading." The United States Centers for Disease Control and prevention reported that a case of "unknown origin" appeared in California. This is the first case of no contact / travel history in the United States.

From the earliest cities in northern Italy, the announcement of the abolition of public activities to the present "blockade" of Italy, the fashion industry in the just concluded fashion marathon has also taken action. Not only Milan fashion week and Paris fashion week have activities (such as Byredo and Rosie Assoulin Conference) to change the original form or cancel directly, "watch and wonder" (Watches & Wonders and other large exhibitions such as the Basel exhibition show also announced the cancellation of the original plan. Including Prada, Gucci, Versace and other "super big" early spring holiday series fashion show, also announced the cancellation or delay.

It is not only the T Magazine family that makes corresponding provisions in the workplace. In reviewing the trend of last week's global fashion industry, BoF has reported that a number of media require employees to be segregated, including the American version of Vogue editor Anna Wintour, Elle editor Nina Garcia and InStyle editor Laura Brown. The media such as Hearst group, Kangtai Nash group, Wall Street journal, Instyle parent company Meredith group asked the employees who had previous business trips in Paris, Italy, Japan, Korea and China to stay for 14 days after they returned home and work at home.

Big companies are no exception. L'OREAL group also suspended the international business travel plan for 86 thousand employees around the world by the end of March. Employees of Gucci were also notified that business travel should be reduced as far as possible. The Milan headquarters of the brand encourages staff to take flexible office arrangements. Moncler has also taken similar measures, including flexible operation in some departments and the proposal to cancel unnecessary travel.

A spokesman for Gucci told BoF that "ensuring the health and safety of employees, customers and suppliers is our top priority. The company will continue to pay attention to the development of events so as to make prompt response and further measures when necessary."

Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein parent company PVH group also took similar precautions.

"We are closely monitoring developments and assessing the office and home work, production and travel policies at any time, based on the daily guidelines of local governments and national authorities," said Emanuel Chirico, chairman and chief executive officer of PVH group.

Harvard University Harvard Chen Cengxi T.H. Chan School of Public Health, deputy director of the national emergency Leadership Initiative (National Preparedness Leadership Leadership), pointed out that the major brands take measures to protect the health of employees, which is a positive approach, but away from the office can not ensure safety. S

He said, "working from home is one aspect, but what is the employee doing? Did he go to a nearby coffee shop, a grocery store, or somewhere else? Because community communication often occurs outside offices. "

Not all experts agree that such measures are necessary at present. "I think this is a bit overdone. Of course, any private enterprise has the right to decide how to do it," said Paul Hunter, Professor of medicine at University of East Anglia, University of East Anglia.

Hunter believes that people should follow the latest government guidelines. Only those who return from a high-risk area need to isolate themselves and observe respiratory symptoms. "The key is to maintain personal hygiene."

Most importantly, the rules of the enterprise should be coordinated with the policies of local health departments, McNulty added.

He said: "if your employees hear a set from their employers, the local media say another set, and the local public health department is talking about another set of things, things will often become a mess. If these measures are contradictory, then people will say, "OK, I just want to do what I want."

Of course, in today's technology driven world, for office work, it is relatively uncomplicated to implement flexible work contingency plans after a public health crisis. Employees can, more or less, do their jobs through e-mail, Internet conferencing and instant messaging, as usual.

But for other jobs in the fashion industry, the situation is different. For example, the designers and design team need to communicate with the actual fabric in the studio. Photographers can't take photos of models through video conferences. Makeup artists and hairdressers must also be filmed at the scene.

Goldie Williams, who photographed the fashion month for the Hongkong edition of Vogue, said that masks were distributed during fashion events, but few wore models, backstage makeup artists and hairdressers.

"Unexpectedly, my team is the only one wearing masks on the Eurostar train or at the performance and interview sites," said Bryant Lee, a senior buyer of Machine-A, a multi brand store. He thought it was strange: "because many buyers and media are from Milan".

Gucci said that the company's design department and other creative technology departments had not received any specific instructions because they were not in Milan. But the spokesman said the company is "continuing to focus on developments so as to make prompt response and further measures when necessary."

As the virus continues to spread, various contingency plans will also be tested. Xuan Wei, President of Huambo Weber (Shandwick Lydia) in China, Lydia Lee, said that "staff safety should be a top priority for enterprises". Li Lei is responsible for the company's four offices in mainland China. They are currently working on a "resumption plan" designed to get employees back to their daily work.

"Continuous, regular and clear communication is essential. It is awful to face such a virus that we do not know, and if people do not know what the company is doing and do not know what to do, it will be even more frightening, "she said.