How is this pandemic affecting the way we shop digitally?
I had planned to meet up with a couple of archivists during my visit back to Los Angeles, but due to the outbreak and Los Angeles being on lockdown, those plans of photographing those popular individuals within the community was also on lockdown. Instead, I interviewed Fernando Rangel of the @silverleague shop- one of the archivists I had not yet spoken with. We went over my original semi-structured interview questions, and spoke a bit about how COVID-19 outbreak is affecting his business.
Due to the pandemic, the way we shop and the way the fashion industry works- is all up in the air, the market is crashing and Gen-Zers who are already in the workforce don’t know when or where their expendable paycheck is coming from. Fernando has shut his brand new showroom in downtown LA, and provided a discount code – like many other shops during this uneasy time.
He informed me about how his perspective on how we will shop may change, if those Gen-Zers who have their own income flow will halt with large scale purchases due to this stockmarket crash and future recession. I have begun to listen to podcasts as well that cover this subject matter. As of right now, many of these archivists are taking a halt, instead searching through online platforms to find Pandemic deals on Grailed, to grow their shop for when this is all over, potential buyers will come flooding through for these bargain pieces.