-New strategies or trends such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) In Clothing Design and Virtual Reality will play a part in the increase of the market value.
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) are gaining the ability of design and create more clothing designs that could cater to people of all ages or genders.
-Artificial intelligent digital assistants are also used to recommend clothes to customers based on their height, weight, shape, and current size or preferences.
-Many e-commerce apps such as Shopee or Lazada also incorporate such AI digital assistants to recommend new products or clothing items to consumers.
-Virtual Reality is an added function in many online stores where consumers can try on clothing virtually by uploading a photo of themselves.
-All these tools are credited to technological advancements and are being easily assessed by many consumers in Singapore, who are open to trying out these new functions.

2. Inflation of fast fashion [jiaxuan]

Support from key sources:
- There has been a rise of prices for apparel, including in-demand items. Since June of 2020, the consumer price index for apparel rose 4.9%. The cost of men’s apparel increased by 1.5%, while women’s apparel prices saw a 5.3% boost
- Most factors influencing the recent price inflation are by-products of the pandemic like restrained and decreased consumer demand since staying home due to the pandemic, government stimulus checks and increasing employment costs
- Price of supply increasing from tariffs increasing shipping costs and stressed supply chains due to lack of manpower of overseas factories and shortage of materials around the world
- Fast fashion may benefit as they are based on a lower-price point, even if consumers tighten their spending
- In Singapore, retail goods inflation declined at a slower pace of 0.4% in November of 2021 compared with the 1 per cent fall in September, due to a smaller decline in the prices of clothing, footwear and telecommunications equipment
- Singapore consumer price index of 2021 with 2019 as the base year, saw a decrease of 4.9% from Jan-May 2021/2020

3. Employment in the industry accounting for the recent Covid-19 Pandemic [Gerald]
- When the pandemic had initially come to Singapore and had started to spread more commonly through the masses, many had expected that Singapore would experience a large number of layoffs and retrenchment in the working population as the government enforced a nationwide lockdown.
- Although store jobs in the fashion/retail industries have been listed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) as one of the more vulnerable jobs at risk of layoffs and retrenchment, the MAS have also said that what is more likely to happen to workers is a hit on their current wages
- As companies start to face the impact of the pandemic, they would start to have more pay cuts among employees, a halt of bonuses distributed as well as reducing employees' work hours
- In the fashion/retail industry this would mean that some full-time workers would be asked to be moved to be part-time workers so that the companies would pay them lesser as well as decreasing the number of hours the employees would work.
-Moreover, the Singapore government is also subsidising around 75 per cent of the first $4,600 of gross monthly wages for 1.9 million local workers to lessen the number of companies that are laying off or retrenching their workers
- The Ministry of Manpower has also offered 2,500 job opportunities and more than 1,000 training or attachment opportunities in the fashion/retail industry to help boost the employment rate and help struggling businesses find employees

4. The effects of Covid-19 on the Economic Situation of Singapore [Fariel]
- According to Singstat's performance of Singapore's GDP growth, as of 24th November 2021, The Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) announced that Singapore’s GDP growth is expected to come in at “around 7.0 per cent” in 2021  whereas the Singapore economy is expected to grow by “3.0 to 5.0 per cent” in 2022.
-  In the third quarter of 2021, the Singapore economy grew by 7.1 per cent on a year on-year basis, slower than the 15.2 per cent expansion recorded in the previous quarter 1. This brought GDP growth in the first three quarters of 2021 to 7.7 per cent.
- In the retail sector, which fast fashion is categorized into, it expanded by 0.7 per cent year-on-year, slower than the 51.1 per cent growth in the previous quarter.
- Travel and domestic restrictions have continued to weigh on the recovery of consumer-facing sectors such as retail trade. For instance, consumer-facing sectors such as the retail trade services are projected to return to prepandemic levels by end-2022, as domestic restrictions are progressively eased, and consumer sentiments improve.
- The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on the retail and F&B services sectors in Singapore. Retail sales fell 15 per cent compared to the same period a year ago.

5. Expansionary Fiscal Policy [Huda]
-  Budget measures will be targeted at those who still lag in the recovery
-  The Jobs Support Scheme (JSS) was enhanced to provide further support to affected firms and help them retain workers
- Employers have the flexibility to allocate the subsidies for their businesses as necessary to keep the business running and to help them continue to retain their employees.
- JSS payout will likely be 30 per cent, for sectors like food services, retail and marine & offshore.

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/global-fast-fashion-market-report-2021---market-is-expected-to-grow-at-a-cagr-of-5-3-from-2025-and-reach-211-909-7-million-in-2030--301414180.html