While some of your favorite clothing brands tout their quarantine-friendly collections and adjust their marketing campaigns for the pandemic, warehouse workers are putting their lives at risk to keep up.

Fast fashion companies like ASOS ($LON:ASC), Boohoo ($LON:BOO), and Fashion Nova ($PRIVATE:FASHIONNOVA) are responding to Coronavirus’ impact on the industry with increased production, flash sales and an emphasis on loungewear. Forever 21’s ($PRIVATE:FOREVER21) homepage advertises “stay at home steals.” Fashion Nova says, “Stay in, stay cozy,” and Boohoo jokes, “Turning up to the living room like…”

The strategy seems to be working for some of these brands. Since the end of March, Fashion Nova’s Facebook mentions have jumped a staggering 186%.

Facebook mentions of ASOS have increased by 123% since early last month.

And there are no plans of slowing down. ASOS raised money with a potential equity increase in order to continue operations through the pandemic. Forever 21 is on a similar track, adding new job postings to its website.

  

Meanwhile, Boohoo is amping up sitewide sales, but the deals are dwindling. The average discount peaked at 43% last month but has since dropped to 28%.

Fast fashion factory conditions were questionable to begin with. Now, they’re deadly. “No social distance, not enough sanitizer, not safe at all, I’m scared to go (to work) as I have a three-year-old daughter,” an ASOS employee told the GMB Union. Another worker said, “It is an infectious center, you can get COVID at any given time. Why am I still there?”

About the Data:

Thinknum tracks companies using the information they post online - jobs, social and web traffic, product sales and app ratings - and creates data sets that measure factors like hiring, revenue and foot traffic. Data sets may not be fully comprehensive (they only account for what is available on the web), but they can be used to gauge performance factors like staffing and sales. 

Further Reading: 

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