With many of us to working from home or being in lockdown due to COVID-19, the demand for comfortable, yet trendy loungewear has dramatically increased, creating a shift in the fashion industry.
More and more people have ditched the restricting, expensive and often-times uncomfortable work blouse and skirt combo for trackies, oversized hoodies and the classic Ugg boots as working from home orders have stayed in place for many businesses.
This has led to greater investment in fun, relaxing home-wear which is both affordable yet trendy enough to be featured in people’s quarantine TikToks and for all the Zoom meetings.
Japanese casual fashion brand Uniqlo has reported a 4% increase in sales year on year in July, and this can be attributed to the company’s emphasis on affordable, everyday attire in comparison to its high fashion competitors.
And for some small boutique stores specialising in loungewear, they have seen an increase in sales.
Source: @lazydaysloungewear
Brianna Simpson, who runs the online loungewear boutique Lazy Days Loungewear, has seen an 1555% growth in sales between March and August when compared to her 2019 sales.
She commented that this increase has allowed her business to “thrive and grow during this time”.
“The biggest challenge we have faced is really keeping up with the demand and making sure we are continually restocking our store so we don’t miss out on our market share and also making sure that we do not have an oversupply of stock we cannot sell”, she said.
The Sleepwear and Loungewear Market report 2020 has estimated that the global market will increase at a growth rate of 7.6% by 2024, with the prediction that the rise of millions of people working from home and general post-Covid -19 environment leading to increased demand.
For Lazy Days Loungewear, Brianna believes that “inevitably once consumers go back to work post Covid that our sales will slow down slightly” but is hopeful that “given the quality of our products and the increased exposure we have had during Covid that we will still see a steady growth for demand”.
It seems for now at least, when we look back on the top fashion trends of 2020, we will continue to see pyjamas, yoga pants and hoodies dominate.
Check out Lazy Days Loungewear here
