Be honest, what are you wearing right now? Blouse and jeans? Or long sleeves and jersey pants? (Or are you even bothering to wear pants?) Since the outbreak of the Coronavirus crisis, working life has shifted step by step into the domestic sphere for many people. Of course, this also has an impact on the choice of clothes.

Anyone who has perhaps still thrown himself into "work clothes" in his home office with a lot of enthusiasm in the first few days will probably fall back into comfortable clothes after just a few days in quarantine. Now I am sitting here in my former dining room/new mobile office and wearing, surprise surprise, sweatpants and a baggy sweater. A vision in grayish tones. If Karl Lagerfeld were still alive, he would probably repeat his famous quote countless times, like a mantra: "If you wear sweatpants, you have lost control over your life.” By the way, these words are from 2012. Who would have thought that after eight years it would come so close to reality?


PR agencies have adapted their mailings and instead of spring-like outdoor looks, they are now advertising "homewear styles" (American Vintage), "cuddly looks" (Baldessarini) or "purist and comfortable styles" (Filippa K). The Hamburg lifestyle brand Hey Soho has launched a hoodie with the imprint "Stay Home” and the "Stay Home Crew" T-shirt of US children's brand The Wishing Elephant is already sold out online. At Topshop customers currently receive 30% off the entire loungewear range, including jogging pants, tops, knitwear and sleepwear. H&M has created a separate category on the website. Under "When life takes place at home,” customers can shop for everything from pajamas to sheets and scented candles.

Under the hashtag #westayhome or #stayhomechic, influencers present their home look on Instagram. With all the flood of cozy and comfortable styles, do we now have to fear that other product groups will fade into the background? Do jeans brands and jeans retailers have to be particularly concerned? A current denim report by retail data analytics firm Edited looks at precisely these aspects and the question of whether the Coronavirus and its consequences could lead to a disruption in the denim sector. The report says: “Analyzing the new arrivals of men’s and women’s jeans, leggings and sweatpants arriving online since the start of the year until now across major retailers in the US and UK show denim is still the dominant style.”

While the report emphasizes that there would be a huge demand for sweatshirts and jogging as customers adapt to their new working lifestyles, it says this should not lead retailers to stop their denim promotions or cut their denim ranges. Especially now, it would be important to offer denim with, for example, comfort features for sale. “The majority of SKU sales of women's stretch jeans increased by 23% compared to last year, suggesting that these styles are a low-risk investment to refresh your denim promotions in these uncertain times,” the report continues. Labels such as J Brand, Madewell and Topshop, for example, already emphasize stretch and comfort denim in their brand communication.

One cannot blame the brands for wanting to bring their products to the customer even in difficult times. Whether home and loungewear styles will sell like hot cakes remains questionable. At the moment, people are still concentrating on products for their daily needs. The just published consumer climate index of the German market researcher GfK shows that the coronavirus crisis has caused a drastic drop in consumer sentiment in Germany. Only at the peak of the financial crisis in 2009 the GfK consumer climate index was lower. "The Coronavirus is having a massive impact on consumer sentiment in Germany. Retailers, manufacturers and service providers must prepare for a recession. The severity of the recession will ultimately depend on when the economy returns to a kind of normality,” says GfK consumer expert Rolf Bürkl.

In a metaphorical sense Karl Lagerfeld was right. At the moment we have lost control of our lives, whether with or without sweatpants.

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