Can fast fashion recover from the Covid-19 crisis?

The Covid-19 pandemic has had a devastating financial impact on the fast fashion sector, which needs a radical overhaul if it is to recover. Pictured here are shoppers in a Beijing Uniqlo store. Photo: Reuters

Zara, H&M and Gap may be slowly reopening their stores but the coronavirus pandemic has had a devastating financial impact on the fast fashion sector, which needs a radical overhaul if it is to recover, experts say.

Nearly 40 percent of businesses in the sector are expecting the impact to be "much worse" than that of the 2008 financial crisis, a Euromonitor International survey showed. It expects sales of clothing and shoes to fall by at least 12 percent this year.