Death of the fashion season? Shopping is getting a shake-up

"When I launch pre-orders, I get a 23 per cent lift with site visits – that customer is [also] looking at product that's available and more likely purchasing that."

McCall is also considering launching an in-house rental service. "There's demand for my product but we can supply it in different ways, as well as [through] purchasing. It's interesting to brainstorm."

Finding more responsible ways to make and sell clothes, as well as when to sell them, are some of the big issues being debated by fashion globally as it looks to how people will consume fashion in a post-pandemic world. One major shift is likely to be a "death" of traditional seasons, meaning clothes will be more readily available when people actually want them. So coats in May, not February, and swimwear in November, not July.

There is also a shift away from large-scale releases of styles a few times a year to tighter, more frequent "drops", which offer consumers new things at more regular intervals, and often in limited supply to reduce wastage and the need for deep discounts at the end of each season.

It's a method that was trialled to great effect by Melbourne-based influencer Rozalia Russian, who teamed with Atoir to launch a range of loungewear this month when plans for a ready-to-wear collection were shelved until after the pandemic. The first release, which included a Kanye West-inspired beige tracksuit, sold out online in 20 minutes, with a second round of styles due before the end of June.

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At $160 for a windcheater and $140 for the pants, this is no knockabout leisurewear, but the idea for "investment trackies" in lockdown has certainly caught on, says Russian.

"Even when [coronavirus] restrictions were easing, people [were] still not getting dressed up," she says. "Our actual dress code has changed. We are going to people's houses, even at restaurants, I am still in sneakers, with a beautiful coat. This has really changed the way we dress."

Coronavirus has also changed the way people shop, and Russian has tried to tap into that, releasing the pieces on Monday nights when most people are home and on their devices.

"When I go to a store and see pieces time and again, I get bored," she says. "I didn't want people to be overwhelmed ... Sometimes there's too many options. You don't need to give people that many options. The older I get, the simpler my wardrobe gets."

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Melissa Singer is National Fashion Editor of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

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