Online Shopping Not The Culprit

The internet killed clothing stores.

Online shopping is our favourite scapegoat when we see another empty shop at the mall. It is a wrong assumption, like assuming that everybody has a laptop. For most people, it is not a necessity, like winter hats, long johns and gloves.

Not everybody shops online because it needs a fluid bank account, long distance credit cards, a computer or a cellphone and wi-fi. Before the pandemic, a variety of factors forced clothing stores to declare bankruptcy.

Casual Dressing

The world is less formal than it was when famous department stores set up business more than 100 years ago. There were clothes for every occasion, starting with the office and work in general.

Parents also enforced church dress code, dress code for going downtown/city, visiting relatives and travelling. Couples wore their best clothes for dining out and dates. Not any more. The world now prefers torn blue jeans, sweat pants and gym pants.

Fitness Centers

There is more awareness now about how the heart pumps and the need to keep its push-ups free of blockages. Health is the primary reason why people got to the gym. Looking good is the next big motivator.

What people wear to the gym is now standard in the workplace. Women find the black stretch gym pants comfortable. They don’t crease. They don’t need ironing and they hide dirt.

They go well with sneakers, women use the whole day at work. Previously, they used to take them off and wear formal shoes they kept under their desks. High heels are gone. 

They are in the closet, gathering dust. Even celebrities only use them on the red carpet in LA, Toronto or Cannes. Fitness clothes are so popular, the clothing industry came up with a category: active wear.

Suicide

What also killed clothing stores is outdated merchandise, that came back year after year. Stores also failed to understand that younger customers were influenced by what they see music and sports stars rocking. Department stores still carried clothes and hats fit for Prince Charles and Princess Anne.

Cellphones

This killed clothing stores because it made cracks in the family unit. Parents used to set limits to watching television and also called kids to the table for breakfast and dinner.

Cellphones exclude parents in many ways, thus limiting their influence on what kids do or wear, and they wear what they see online. What they see is not in department stores where parents have clothing accounts.

Conclusion

High streets shops have been there before, but they are not laughing at these stores and shopping malls. Every dog has its day, is what they say. Customers flocked to shiny shopping malls with multi-level parking and left them high and dry, and empty.

This is another written podcast by Nonqaba waka Msimang.