Records in fashion and accessories have reduced digitalization by 30% in 2022 Q2

The number of companies in the fashion industry has dropped by 30% between the first and second quarters of 2022.

Overall, the frequency of digitalization-related sentences between July 2021 and June 2022 is expected to increase. It was 92% higher than Global Data in 2016, and the information in this article was taken from, first and foremost, the key issues in the company’s documents.

When fashion and accessories companies publish annual and quarterly reports, ESG reports, and other records, Global Data analyzes the text and identifies individual statements related to the disruptive forces that companies will face in the coming years. Digitization is one of these topics – companies that are highly developed and invested in these sectors are considered to be better prepared for future business landscapes and to avoid unforeseen challenges.

To assess whether digitalisation is approaching more and more in the summary and strategies of fashion and accessories companies, we have calculated the percentage of total analytical statements that refer to digitalization.

Hugo Bos is one of the top 10 employers in the fashion industry, with the largest number of digitalisations between July 2021 and June 2022. GlobalData identified 201 digitalization-related statements in the German-based company record – 2.3% of all sentences. VF mentioned the second highest digitalization – the issue is mentioned in 2.1% statements in the company’s documents. Other high-digitalization employers include Levi Strauss, LVMH and Hermès.

Of all the fashion and accessory companies in the second quarter of 2022, the most focused file on digitalis came from VF. Of the 1,466 sentences in the document, 24 (1.6%) were digitalized.

This analysis provides an approximate indicator of which companies are focusing on digitalization and how important the issue is in the fashion industry, but it should be carefully interpreted as there are limitations. For example, when a company mentions digitalization regularly, it does not indicate that they are using new techniques or that they are prioritizing the issue, nor does it indicate that the company’s move to digitalis is a success or failure.

Over the past quarter, US-based fashion and accessories companies are likely to digitize 1.81% of sentences in the company’s documents. In contrast, companies with headquarters in Western Europe reported digitalization in 1.14 percent of sentences.