It is the lack of transparency or the lack of knowing how companies are conducting business that will hurt them going forward. Not all large companies are bad but they are assumed bad unless they can demonstrate some level of goodness.

As far as idea flippers, I get a lot of those. But the best was a new designer I did some patterns for. She had about 6 styles of swimsuit and a couple of caftans. At first she wanted to make it on her own terms but it soon became apparent that there was a huge amount of help available if she traded on her indigenous status. Within a year, and with still only the same few styles, she had a fantastic brand package developed, a website with amazing photos taken on location, and a huge amount of public awareness. She was becoming the face of indigenous success in the fashion industry here. She had spent a fortune on all the extras, but I couldn’t find any mention of stockists, nor find her swimwear featured in the shopping magazines. She was in the middle of negotiating with Miss Universe to dress the contestants when she made front page news. She had been arrested, accused of being the main player of a major drug ring, and couldn’t get bail to tie up the loose ends of her business, or even make arrangements for her 2 young kids (her husband was caught, too). Oops. Lucky she chose Australia to start a business self-funded that way. In Singapore, “execution is everything” could have been tragically literal.
It was a thrill, however, to see all the rahrah (weekend newspaper glossy features, tv coverage, featured designer at Fashion Week parades) and know that the substance of what she had was pretty much my work. I don’t think she followed my advice to buy your book.

We already have a lot of this going on in lines, for more than a few years now. The thing is clothes don’t make you live your live better, living your life better makes you live your life better. It’s guess its something worth thinking about. ‘What will I be wearing once I begin living a better, balanced life?’ I hope it isn’t khakis.

If you want to know the long term effects – ask a historian, not a futurist.

Via today’s WWD, the futurist Faith Popcorn says:

WWD: What do you think the single biggest impact of this economic crisis will be on the way people live their lives?

Faith Popcorn: Psychologically the rug’s been pulled out. We don’t believe in anything with a title. We despise institutions and corporations so much that ceo has become a curse word. There are T-shirts [like that]. If ceo’s stay that way in the mind of the consumers, we’ll have ethical panels running companies instead of ceo’s…

The biggest impact is this lack of trust. An angry consumer. Icon toppling. Anchoring is big now — spirituality, atmosphere. This is the Bermuda Triangle of the culture: the environment is one side of the triangle, the ethics is another side, and the economy.

WWD: What does that mean for the apparel business?

F.P.: They have to find a new benefit in clothing, besides being warm and protected of cover. I think the benefit will be how it makes you live your life better. We talk about goodness. Is this piece of clothing made from a good company? Is it made in a good way? Is it sold in an empathetic way? Does it improve your chances of doing well in the world?

What a company stands for is going to be almost more important than what the line of clothing is. Who am I buying from? Who’s the chairman? Who’s the designer? What kind of life does that person lead? I want that corporate logo stripped back; I want to know what I’m getting. It’s going to be much more raw and much more personal.