This year’s dominant themes in the global fashion industry include agentic artificial intelligence (AI), the growth of the resale market, the quest for operational efficiency and strategic renewal in the luxury sector, according to The State of Fashion 2026, the tenth edition of an annual report published by McKinsey and the Business of Fashion.

Research indicates that some of the larger brands are less well represented and covered on AI assistants, while many disruptive challenger brands feature more prominently, Anita Balchandani, the report’s co-author and senior partner at McKinsey in London, told a recent webinar.

This year’s dominant themes in the global fashion industry include agentic AI, the growth of the resale market, the quest for operational efficiency and strategic renewal in the luxury sector, according to The State of Fashion 2026 published by McKinsey and the Business of Fashion.
Tariffs are the top concern of executives surveyed, and the second-most-cited concern was how to unlock efficiency.

A second variant of this is agentic search on brand websites. The brands and retailers doing more in this space are absolutely seeing a lot of customer growth in agentic search traffic, she noted.

Nine in ten consumers cite being part of a like-minded community as a top driver of brand connection. Therefore, brands must think about the shift from attention to retention, said Gemma D’Auria, another co-author and senior partner at McKinsey in Milan.

“We also see that consumers expect more from the brands they interact with; short-lived interactions and the “dopamine hits” are losing their allure. Consumers are looking for more meaningful, sustained connections with brands that reflect their values and evolving identities,” she noted.

Resale is set to grow two to three times faster than the first-hand market in 2027, she said, noting that brands have started to embrace this channel, and some of the early concerns—about authenticity and lack of control over product—have abated.

Tariffs are the top concern of executives surveyed, and the second-most-cited concern was how to unlock efficiency, said Colleen Baum, the third co-author and senior partner at McKinsey in New York.

“The levers that the industry has traditionally relied on—a little improvement in sourcing and in full-price sell-through—will no longer be sufficient to deliver lasting efficiency. The focus here is on finding the next step—through technology, AI, and innovation—that will allow not only investment back into the business but also some of that margin to reach the bottom line,” Baum told the webinar.

Tariffs have increased prices for apparel and leather goods by roughly 35 per cent from a first-cost perspective, and the sector is among the most affected by tariffs in an inflationary market, she said.

In parallel, consumers are becoming more value conscious, with 70 per cent saying they plan to spend less and 80 per cent indicating value-seeking behaviour—waiting for sales or perhaps shopping around at different retailers for an item that they want. These factors have significantly affected working capital and inventory days on hand, she added.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)

Australia’s unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.1 per cent in January, reflecting continued stability in labour market conditions despite mixed employment trends, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

ABS head of labour statistics Sean Crick said employment increased by 18,000 during the month. Full-time employment rose by 50,000, partially offset by a decline of 33,000 in part-time roles, indicating a shift towards more stable job structures.

The participation rate stood at 66.7 per cent, down 0.6 percentage points from the record high recorded in January 2025, suggesting slightly lower workforce engagement, ABS said in a press release.

Australia’s unemployment rate held steady at 4.1 per cent in January as employment rose by 18,000, driven by gains in full-time jobs despite fewer part-time roles.
Participation eased to 66.7 per cent, while underemployment and youth underemployment increased.
Hours worked grew 0.6 per cent, and trend unemployment declined to 4.1 per cent, signalling gradual labour market improvement.

Labour market slack indicators showed modest increases. The underemployment rate edged up 0.2 percentage points to 5.9 per cent, while the underutilisation rate rose to 10 per cent. Youth underemployment climbed notably by 1 percentage point to 14.8 per cent, largely reversing the previous month’s improvement.

Total hours worked increased 0.6 per cent in January, supported by fewer workers reporting reduced hours due to seasonal leave patterns. Full-time hours worked expanded 0.7 per cent, while part-time hours rose 0.1 per cent.

Average hours per part-time worker increased 0.8 per cent, although overall part-time hours growth remained limited due to a 0.7 per cent decline in part-time employment.

Trend measures indicated gradual labour market strengthening. The trend unemployment rate fell from 4.2 per cent in December to 4.1 per cent in January, marking the fourth consecutive monthly decline in the number of unemployed persons. Trend employment and hours worked both recorded 0.2 per cent growth during the month, with annual hours worked rising faster than employment.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (SG)

With sound industrial development and policy support, an additional 81 million pieces of garments could be sourced by South African retailers every year from domestic manufacturers by 2030, according to a study commissioned by the Localisation Support Fund (LSF).

Achieving this could raise domestic sourcing by 20 per cent, add nearly R 8 billion ($502.36 million) in annual manufacturing output and create up to 34,000 jobs, it said.

South African retailers placed orders for about 250 million units of apparel and footwear with domestic manufacturers in 2019, and by 2024, this had risen to 389 million units, representing 34 per cent of total sourcing among signatories of the government’s Retail-Clothing, Textile, Footwear and Leather (R-CTFL) Masterplan.

With sound industrial development and policy support, an extra 81 million garments could be sourced by South African retailers every year from domestic manufacturers by 2030, a study said.
This could raise domestic sourcing by 20 per cent, add $502.36 million in annual manufacturing output and create up to 34,000 jobs.
However, it is significantly below the 65-per cent domestic sourcing target by 2030.

This level of sourcing has been significant and continues to support nearly 75,000 jobs in the formal manufacturing sector. However, it remains significantly below the Masterplan target of 65 per cent domestic sourcing by 2030, the study, conducted by industrial development consultancy BMA, revealed.

So there is considerable potential demand among South African retailers to source from domestic suppliers that could help bridge the supply gap, it noted.

Although demand was mapped across 32 product categories, around 50 per cent of the total opportunity is concentrated in T-shirts, denim and athleisure, suggesting that focused, category-specific strategies are more likely to deliver impact than broad-based interventions.

South Africa has established capability in key product categories, particularly in KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape. The alignment between this capability and the largest areas of mapped demand suggests an opportunity to concentrate support where scale and technical capability already exist, according to the study report.

There is a need for better industry and policy alignment to ensure that manufacturers can fully capitalise on the opportunity, it noted.

While retailers expressed a strong interest in local sourcing, price remains a key consideration. Though many manufacturers have made progress in building cost-competitive offerings, further work is needed, particularly in product categories like basic knits, to align pricing more closely with market requirements, it added.

A significant portion of the supply base operates on a small scale, and modelling shows that insufficient scale limits overhead recovery, constrains investment and weakens price competitiveness. The study also indicated that more adaptive shift models could materially improve competitiveness.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)