The 1.9 trillion US fashion industry and 500.000+  brick-and-mortar retailers have been paralyzed due to  COVID-19, limiting their overseas production, and as the largest polluter, after the oil sector, Fashion Consultant Laura Barrera advises on sustainability practices moving forward. While working for Zara, she thought: “If we are designing 70.000 references and producing millions of cotton t-shirts yearly, how is the environment going to support this production long term? Zara and Inditex have been investing in corporate social responsibility strategies by re-planting cotton fields and implementing sustainable fabrics with the Join Life collection, made with sustainable organic cotton and recycled polyester. 
But what about brands that produce locally in the US, LA, Portugal, Europe, Colombia vs. those with overseas production to China and India? Local productions resulted in slow shipments, but brands received the product on time to sell the new Fall collection, whereas overseas had to cancel multiple wholesale orders and slow the business, selling old stock collections, due to a halt in production during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Most retailers have been innovating to continue selling their merchandise, not only by launching an online store, but creating new strategies to help people stay connected with the use of Instagram Live Videos, sending an exclusive selection of products to VIP clients, taking orders by Phone, Facebook groups, text, and WhatsApp. The challenges to create a campaign, hire models, and organize a big production photoshoot during the pandemic with samples limited and no budgets have changed the fashion landscape. Wholesale and trunk shows are now performing only online. Cabana is partnering with JOOR, the wholesale B2B fashion marketplace, where brands and retailers meet to show their line and line-sheet online, including loungewear and basic collections, health and wellness items, and sustainable clothing. Fashion brands are taking all possible measures to continue offering their products safely. Home delivery and pickup-in-store requests are up as consumers seek to minimize interpersonal interaction. Fashion retailers are taking safety precautions around package preparation, inventory update, employee safety, and consumer well-being having all transparent information on the website is almost a requirement by the customer before purchasing online. 

BELOW ARE BARRERA’S TIPS TO GROW YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS IN LIGHT OF THE PANDEMIC:

QUALITY CONTENT

Our Instagram is our new digital Business card, I highly recommend to use only HQ images, Keep it beautiful, consistent and add educational tips and content to engage with your audience. 

POST WITH CONSISTENCY

To really grow your account we recommend to post regularly 5-7 times per week in the greed and daily in your stories. 

COPYWRITING

Use your writing skills and create captions that engage with your audience. A great tip is to always ask a question, so that your followers are more likely to comment below.

Always reply to your comments and messages, this action increases your Instagram engagement and the algorithm recognizes that you are active on the app.

USE HASHTAGs 

A hashtag is a label that we use on social media channels to make it easier to find posts related to a specific topic. The same way YOU search content in Instagram, other people search that too and can find you. By using hashtags in your photos, you are more likely to be discovered by potential customers. For more information, please visit gigmiami.com and contact [email protected] or call 3054905911

MORE ABOUT GIG MIAMI

Gig Miami designs personalized and functional online experiences based on the principles of Design and Fashion trends, combined with digital marketing campaigns. In a saturated market, we know customers buy 65% more if the design is attractive with a compelling message of the brand is clear. We Art Direct product photoshoots to make sure they have the best appealing images. After creating a beautiful on-brand online shopping experience, we help brands promote their site and get the traffic necessary to maximize their results. We do that by creating our own 360 digital campaigns strategy, combining different digital media efforts and outlets: newsletter campaigns are still one of the most successful sources, we analyze data and design A/B testing campaigns to find the best results, Google Ads campaign featuring important keywords, Facebook and Instagram Ads and Social media content, Influencer marketing campaigns and last but not least we push a parallel Positive Reviews campaign of their products through platform like Trustpilot.

MORE ABOUT LAURA BARRERA

Laura Barrera, worked in the fashion industry in Europe for more a decade in roles that included Art Direction and Graphic design leadership for Zara and Carolina Herrera one of the world’s biggest brands. Laura Barrera helps brands identify their vision, mission, values, and she uses that to create a visual brand story.  She supports brands like Carolina K obtaining their goal to succeed mostly online and revert their business from a Wholesale model, depending on showrooms, and buyers of big retailers to buy their collection, to a self-sustain online business with a 300% sales increase in their e-commerce this year. By teaching more than 100 stores during the closeup the 360 strategies, Gig Miami helped them to reinforce their online presence and how to sell in different creative ways online.