As we head into the New Year, we find ourselves in a position that no one would have expected twelve months ago. We are still amidst a growing global pandemic - the likes of which haven’t been seen for a century - alongside fragile political systems and societal unrest. Many of us optimistically thought 2021 would bring a fresh start and COVID-19 would be left in the past along with 2020. The reality of this is that we’re having to continue to adapt, adjust and overcome these new challenges if we are in any way to establish a new status quo. But it’s not all ‘doom scrolling’ and negativity, there are numerous success stories within the last year and many more to come in 2021. The situation we find ourselves in forces us to think outside the box, come up with new initiatives and look for new solutions. Of course, with this comes hardships and challenges, but times like this are often when new ways of working are found and inspiring initiatives are started, as Emma Grede - CEO of Good American - noted in conversation with Sourcing Journal earlier this year; “This past year, it has been so inspiring to see changemakers rise within the fashion industry, whether they’re demanding to see more diversity and inclusion from brands or pushing the conversation forward around sustainability” In 2020, we saw the denim industry and wider fashion world forced to quickly respond to the coronavirus pandemic and adapt swiftly to very different ways of working. The reaction of the industry to an unplanned and unstable global context would have a huge impact on the how it would operate moving forward, as Samuel Trotman noted on the Calik’s Blog “2020 will be a year that defines the future of denim”. With the industry previously predicted to grow by more than $14 million by 2024, the last twelve months have been crucial for the future direction of denim. Aside from drops in retail sales and temporary closures of mills, wash houses and retail stores worldwide, the denim industry had to deal with the rise of the ‘working from home’ dress code and a significant change in consumer’s daily behaviour as a result of coronavirus restrictions. But the industry didn’t stay complacent and stepped up. We saw trade shows move to an engaging online format, new models of digital retail emerge, stay at home fashion shows and Zoom became the new go-to medium for communication. So as we move further into the new decade, what should we expect to see in the coming weeks and months of 2021? While we all would like to think that the turmoil of 2020 was a ‘one off’, the effects of the global crisis are still having a very real impact across all facets of industry and society. We delved into recent publications and listened to discussions in order to provide a brief summary of what initiatives we might see this year as we continue to travel an unknown course. While not a new concept and one which has arguably become saturated due to it being such a hot topic in recent years, we would be remiss for not raising sustainability. One contribution that 2020 made towards the goal of sustainability was that of forced reflection. At both brand and consumer level, the events of 2020 forced us all to stop and think. We found ourselves with the time to re-visit our core belief systems and values, reflect upon our own purchasing habits and the brands we choose to support, as well as having a heightened interaction with the immediate world around us (often through connections with nature like daily walks and exercise routines). The opportunity that we were presented with in 2020 was one which could not have been offered by technological advancements or development of a new fibre, it was a unique collision of circumstances that allowed us to practice deeper self reflection and investigative thinking. Every cloud has a silver lining, right? And hopefully this one will result in a sustained approach towards conscious consumption in 2021 and beyond. Similarly, 2020 set us up to be more globally connected and environmentally aware as we head into 2021. With a heightened awareness of our immediate world due to lockdowns and social restrictions, as well as an increased empathy for world events as a result of a shared context (eg. Coronavirus), we’ve become global citizens who are able to see the world through a new (shared) lens. This has been furthered by the fight for social justice causes, our opposition to oppressive regimes and desire for equality, which has encouraged us to take more responsibility for our environment and hold those accountable when it is necessary. As Adriano Goldschmied remarked recently; “we need justice, equality, inclusivity, respect and social responsibility”. With a steady momentum built up in 2020, we certainly hope this continues into the new year and beyond. Calik Denim are already taking this approach a step further for SS21 with their ‘Bluephilia’ collection, which is inspired by the merged barriers of real and virtual. Leading to enhanced human connection within digital communities, the collection places ‘netizens’ that are more active and aware than ever before, demanding a safer world by spreading positive currents of thought and encouraging a moral closeness. Staying with the topic of digitization, technology will continue to drive the denim industry into 2021. With Zoom as the new medium of communication, the digital world has come to replace the real due to the effects of the global pandemic and interaction through the online will be the primary arena for discussion and development. One area of tech which saw a huge boom during 2020 - which is set to continue for 2021 - is gaming. Although not traditionally tied to the denim or fashion arenas, games like Animal Crossing have integrated clothing into the gaming experience in new ways. Even hitting up the likes of McDonalds for fast-food themed virtual clothing and releasing seasonal collections of outfits for users to purchase, fashion is very much at the centre of Nintendo’s increasingly successful Switch game. Having sold over 26 millions units since its release in March 2020, it’s said that the game offered users as a sense of comfort and normalcy during the challenging times of 2020. And with 55% of US residents turning to gaming during the first phase of COVID-19 restrictions, it’s our guess that we’ll be getting our ‘fits off in Animal Crossing for the foreseeable future. Now a common occurrence, digital and online fashion shows have become a fairly normal fixture of the fashion calendar, alongside virtual trade shows and showrooms. As Teo van den Broeke of GQ notes, “it was the British Fashion Council that first took the leap from analogue to online with London Fashion Week June 2020, a three-day-long, gender-fluid event that took place on a Netflix-style multi-channel platform” with many other fashion weeks following suit. For 2021 this theme will continue and fortunately for many brands, it is now a tried and tested method. A method which is considerably more inclusive than their physical counterparts states Broeke, citing Prada’s SS21 show as an example. The accessibility and exclusivity of the high fashion world has always been a sore spot for discussion and the digitization of these previously invite-only events makes headway into breaking down social barriers and accepted norms within the industry. Let’s hope this continues for 2021. Technology will also continue to impact production processes in the year ahead, building on the successes of 2020 including Levi’s rollout of photo-realistic 3D renderings of garments and Tommy Hilfiger’s experiments with avatars and holograms at its Amsterdam based design center (read more about that here). Brands like H&M are also utilizing advances in technology to bring transparency closer to the consumer, with the world’s first in-store recycling system installed at H&M Stockholm under the moniker Looop. Digital discourse is also at the heart of Calik’s Bluephilia collection and the mill notes that the frontier of digitalization in fashion is the first requirement for enhanced human connectivity and new ways for brands to communicate with consumers. Through using methods like Dye-pro, E-Denim and Functionage, the mill is proactively applying cutting edge technology to their SS21 collection, with connectivity and consciousness at the heart of the offering. Although the last twelve months have tested us all. There is light in the tunnel. The denim industry has adapted at a rapid rate in order to continue to thrive, much of which is as a result of the industry’s most valuable asset: it’s people. Nicolas Prophte - Tommy Hilfiger vice president of sourcing, production and innovation denim - recognized this and notes that “every person across the denim value chain plays a role in creating an industry that has a positive impact on both people and the planet”, and that’s a worthy goal that we hope the industry continues to work towards far beyond the months of 2021.