Fashion labels fear psychological backlash of global crisis

0 Comments | AFP, October, 2008

PARIS (AFP) — Top womenswear labels are bracing for the psychological impact of the global financial turmoil on consumers but hope to limit damage by shifting buying strategies and raising their profile, industry insiders told AFP.

"We are really at the beginning of the crisis in Europe," the head fashion buyer at leading French fashion store Printemps Cedric Charbit said on the sidelines of the ready-to-wear shows for summer 2009, which ended Sunday. "It's very early to predict on the outcome in the long term."

"We need a bit of time to think about what is going on here," as in the wake of the attack on the World Trade Center in 2001, Serge Brunschwig, director general of Christian Dior Couture said.

"We will wait to see how the year finishes," said Thierry...