How beauty and fashion industry is struggling to keep afloat amidst crisis

There is a public outcry from different players of the beauty and fashion industry surrounding the devastating mess the coronavirus has caused globally.
From fashion shows, castings, to beauty and style affiliated businesses, everything is on halt.
“We are losing a lot of money now. Places have shut down,” says Joram Job Muzira, a renowned model scout.
Muzira has scouted a number of Ugandan models, who are now signed to other international agencies worldwide. One of them is Joy Winnie Aketch, currently in New York City.
Aketch says: “Fashion houses have been closed. There are also no modelling gigs at the moment,” she says.
Aketch and other models had initially been booked to walk in several international fashion shows as well as feature in major modelling campaigns worth millions of shillings.
However, that has not been possible due to the outbreak of the pandemic. As a result, models are counting losses.

But even back home, the fashion and beauty industry is struggling. Designers will tell you, for instance, that sales are low.
A case in point, designers who make bridal gowns are facing a tremendous decline in sales because of the Presidential ban on social events, including weddings.
“Before a Covid-19 case was registered in Uganda, I was getting clients. Today, no one is buying or hiring any bridal gown. The would-be brides have pushed their weddings to a later date because of the outbreak,” one fashion designer says.
The beauty and cosmetics industry has not been spared too. Priscilla Kirabo, a make-up artist, says she has not received any client for the past one week.
“I have not gotten a customer for the past seven days. Before the outbreak, I was getting female customers going for weddings and other kinds of parties, but now that such events have been stopped, I don’t see any client,” Kirabo says.
The same effect has extended to every agent dealing in beauty products, wigs, among other fashion accessories.
People are not spending their money on any of these items. Everyone is saving for emergency.
Venture into making facemasks. These are selling like hot cake right now.
Now is the time to utilise social media more and other digital platforms to sell your products. You could open up a Whatsapp group, add different clients onto it and constantly update them on the items you are offering for sale.
Now is not the appropriate time to be selling items on credit. There are higher chances you may never recover that money.