Creative burnout hitting the fashion industry hard

Dior, Lanvin, Baleciaga. These are just some of the iconic names in fashion that have suffered high-profile departures from designers in recent weeks. One big reason is creative burnout. Simply put, fashion designers – and other staff of the major fashion houses – are being spurred by the ubiquity of the internet and the trend of fast fashion to create collections and shows at an increasingly rapid rate.



1.Why are all these people leaving, what's going on?

There is too much information, too much product too fast, too much demand. And fashion is the fastest creative cycle, historically speaking its faster than technology. It was a six month cycle, but now it's a three month cycle and actually if you talk to a designer at a major house like Dior or Chanel, it's a three week cycle. They have to create whole collections in three weeks.

2.So how does that work in the studio?

It means they have to come up with the ideas, communicate the ideas to the seamstresses, the people who create the samples, create the samples, fit the samples, make the clothes, ship the clothes back to the studio, fit the models, produce a runway show.


3.Who is providing this pressure? Is it the designers themselves, is it the houses they work for, is it major retailers, is it the high-end retailers? 

It comes from all different directions. I mean the retailer wants more product, the public wants more product and information. They're consuming information and product at a much faster rate because of the internet, obviously. But they're also consuming it because of fast fashion. Fast fashion has become kind of the scapegoat for all of this. But I don't think you can point the finger at one specific person, or system, or part of the culture. I think its just everything is much faster now. In the fashion world you're not just seeing the creative talent leave, but also the business side, great managers are leaving because it's too much pressure.