Thinking aloud...in the time of Covid

It’s now been 6 weeks since the world, my world, went into a lockdown. Six weeks of dealing with anxiety, denial, hope, excitement, criticism and myriad such feelings. However, one feeling that I believe we all must have experienced is that of helplessness. We, a problem- solving community, who think of every possible scenario and who excel at finding solutions for other people’s problems, don’t know what to do. We have ideas, based on what we read, hear or watch from friends, news and social media. Then they also change almost daily depending on what we last heard/ watched. Our proclamations are the manifestation of our fears and anxieties. Numerous webinars with “experts” who share their personal opinions on very public platforms, give us chills or hopes depending which side of the pendulum you are at, during that moment. The fact remains that most of these opinions are sum total of their experience, their learnings and their own hopes and fears. Let’s go back to January 2020 when China was already dealing with the virus..no experts, with all their experience and learnings and hopes and fears, predicted that the world will go into a lockdown. That the world economy would come to a grinding halt. For all the known unknowns, there a many more unknown unknowns which eventually decide how the world would behave. More often than not, it’s a knee jerk. Do what seems right at that moment and we will deal with the consequences later. History will be the judge of whether we did right, or we erred. Did we save lives or condemned them to ignoramus struggle for survival? 

I am no expert and I have no opinions on the matter..at least not an original one. I have been a student and professional in the textile and apparel sector for longer in my life that I have not been. Three decades of the five that I have walked this earth. I don’t claim to know this industry better than anybody else but I do know this industry better than any other industry in my life. 

I have a few thoughts though. Just thoughts. I am sharing them with you largely because these are finally bubbling over and need an outlet. So here goes:

MORALITY:

I have read several comments on LinkedIn and other platforms about how the “evil” retailers have left millions of workers in third world countries, stranded by cancelling orders. Suddenly, its good v/s bad, oppressor v/s the oppressed. 

The fact of the matter is that it is not a question of morality. The retailers are suffering the same fate as the manufacturers. Their workers are as much at risk as their counterparts in the poorer countries. Their business may not survive this calamity either. So lets spare a thought for workers across the world. It’s not a poor vs rich fight. It’s a situation that we all need to deal with together. My proposal: 

A/ Lets understand that it’s a bloodbath and no one is coming out of it unscathed. Or unstained. 

B/ Each order has four distinct stake holders: Manufacturer, Fabric supplier (Can be same as manufacturer), the trims and accessories supplier and the retailer/wholesaler (the buyer).

Each one of them must accept that there will be a loss. 

C/ Let each country support their own. Let the retailer be supported financially by their country so that they can pay a part of what they committed. Let the manufacturers government support their factories by ensuring salaries to workers and cash flow support. With more cash flow at hand, the manufacturer can pay the fabric and trim suppliers. The manufacturer can still sell these goods as a dead stock and recover some value.

This is the only way to grease the wheels of this “cycle” so that it can resume its rotation. 

It’s important that we cut off the poisonous finger (the cancelled goods) now to stop the spread in the healthier parts, in this case the future. If retailers are saddled with stocks that they can’t sell, there will be bigger cash flow problems that will affect the future buying and therefore resumption of business as before. 

CONSUMPTION: 

I have heard a lot of expert speak that the consumer will now focus on basic needs and will understand the folly of over consumption. That they will now understand difference between need and want. They believe that we will go back to the world of our parents where saving for the rainy day was more critical. 

I want to bet against it and for the human resilience and ..greed. If we want the world to come back to normal as we knew it, let’s go and reclaim our lost pieces. Let’s remember that the only way for the economy to recover and people to get back at their jobs is,if we decide to spend more than, or at least as much as, before so that we are back on our feet faster. As soon as we are allowed to, and as per the law of the land, lets consume more. Let’s do it for our brethren in the retail stores, in the restaurants, in the airlines and the hotels. Let’s discover the world like never before. 

Let me repeat, I am not suggesting that we defy the norms put in place by the government. They know what they are doing and they are in the best position to do that. I respect that and I believe that we must follow this to the T. However, we will soon be on the other side of this crisis. That’s where our job, to restore the world order, will begin. Let’s not take it lightly. The world will need the push from each one of us, to bring it out of the quagmire it’s in. Let’s remember, if the world is a bus, we are all co passengers. If we don’t give a helping hand, it won’t reach the inertia it requires to sustain itself. 

What happened to us in the past few weeks or months, was not in our control. What happens to us now, we can have a say in that. Let’s not just say, lets SHOUT. The enemy caught us unawares. We are unaware no more. Let’s be cautious but let’s be brave. Meek doesn’t have to inherit the earth.