The new fashion order: how Philippine retail is adapting to change

A market in reset

The current state of play ultimately creates a window in which positioning matters more than timing. For industry leaders, this moment presents both a challenge and an opportunity: a chance to rethink scale; reimagine the role of physical retail; and consider what it means to bring international brands into a local context while refining Philippine identity and keeping it top of mind.

Michael Concepcion, who has been responsible for a tightly curated roster of mid- to premium-influential brands to a Philippine audience, is certainly feeling the crunch. “We import 100 per cent of our product, so the impact is direct,” shares the strategist and tastemaker behind the Framework Group whose portfolio spans globally resonant labels Carhartt, as well as premium multi-brands Commonwealth and Ronnie and Joe.

“We’re taking it seriously,” Concepcion continues. “Covid wasn’t that long ago, and we learnt a lot from that period about how to operate in uncertainty. This feels different, but the discipline is the same: protect the business, take care of your team, don’t make decisions out of panic. As of now, we’re preparing for a difficult stretch and hoping it doesn’t come to that.”

While the black swan event that was Covid-19 created the first landmine of challenges, it was followed by a protracted post-pandemic hangover. After lockdowns generally lifted in 2022, retail initially surged as consumers engaged in what was dubbed “revenge spending”.

Alas, this demand proved more temporary than retailers had anticipated. Consumers cooled their fashion spend, prioritising travel, dining and experiences over shopping. By 2023–2025, many brands were grappling with the excess inventory ordered during that short-lived rebound.

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Pressure points

After years of expansion and excess (department stores and mall-dependent brands expanded aggressively in the 1990s–2010s), consumer traffic shifted abruptly online during the pandemic. This massive and almost instantaneous shift left many chains with too many stores and high rental costs—and with it came the collapse of the traditional brick-and-mortar model.

The already tottering Jenga structure of physical retail was further destabilised by the ultra-fast fashion explosion, with hyper-efficient digital players such as Shein and Temu (not to mention the game-changing micro-trends of TikTok and the omnipresence of social media platforms such as Facebook Marketplace and Carousell), which have completely reshaped the landscape. Operating on extremely fast production cycles at fire-sale prices, these companies often bring designs from concept to sale in as little as 15 days.

Rabid price wars, combined with consumer expectations for instant gratification and the belief that fashion should be cheap and delivered quickly to one’s doorstep, have compressed margins across the industry and undercut traditional retailers, including the fast-fashion names that once ruled the roost. Shein, for example, contributed to the demise of major chains like Forever 21.

Meanwhile, after nearly 40 years in the Philippines, Stores Specialists, Inc (SSI), the country’s largest speciality retailer, announced it would cease operating Marks & Spencer, with all its stores closed by May 2, 2026—a proactive, strategic move to optimise its strong portfolio by retiring a long-standing legacy brand and pivoting toward shifting consumer trends. This transition reflects a transforming retail environment, prompting market leaders in luxury to continuously refine their offerings and prove their quality and value proposition.

The consumer shift

Today, all manner of players, from couturiers to legacy and specialist retailers, to fast-fashion giants and digital-native disruptors, have to ask themselves: “Where and how does the customer want to engage with us?” and “What makes us worth choosing?”

“The question is less about access and more about relevance—how to stay attuned to a consumer whose tastes are shaped as much by community as by commerce,” asserts Concepcion. “I don’t know the playbook for staying relevant during a crisis, and I’m not really thinking about engagement right now. I’m thinking about survival.”

Concepcion’s formula? “Protect your cash, tighten your buying, take care of your people, make decisions before you’re forced to. The strategy conversation comes after you’ve earned the right to still be here.” Concept retail, anywhere in the world, used to be one of the main ways consumers discovered new brands. In the Philippines, where retail has long been anchored deeply in mall culture and social shopping as a form of air-conditioned escapism, the shifts are particularly nuanced. Foot traffic has not completely disappeared, but it has become more intentional. Once defined by brand aspiration and seasonal indulgence, the Filipino consumer is emerging as more discerning, more selective and, perhaps most significantly, more fluid in where and how they choose to spend their hard-earned peso.

Mark “Jappy” Gonzalez, a leading figure in the retail industry who has shaped Manila’s contemporary fashion landscape for more than four decades through his sharply curated mix of global high-end cult and luxury labels under H&F Retail Concepts, argues that conventional retail still has a place and that social media or digital platforms are merely extensions of the overall customer experience. “Much of it is still intuitive, informed by experience,” he shares, adding, “We shouldn’t forget that there is a world beyond social media. Many so-called ‘online trends’ are still rooted in real, physical experiences. Just look at the shift when digital platforms began to decline post-Covid—they opened brick- and-mortar stores to make their ‘reality’ tangible.”

While H&F Retail Concepts uses digital platforms to amplify their work, their approach to curation remains grounded. “It’s about experiencing the clothes firsthand... understanding the silhouette, the fabric and the brand’s intent, including its business sensibility. Social media comes after that,” Gonzalez maintains.

The long game

Gonzalez’s keen eye for cultural shifts and community- building has enabled him to position his retail empire not only as a commercial enterprise but also as a platform for dialogue. Like Concepcion, Gonzalez still has a pragmatic grasp of the status quo. And yet, somehow, he finds himself leaning in with a sunnier disposition.

“There is a stronger sense of community forming around fashion, both online and offline. Retail is no longer just about selling products—it’s about creating spaces, conversations and experiences. The only thing to do, really, is to remember that we are part of that community, which gives us a responsibility for keeping it alive. It’s more about purpose than optimism,” he says.

Across his group, there is much to celebrate. His multi- brand concept store, Homme et Femme, is approaching its 30th anniversary, UNIVERS is marking its 15th, while Fred Perry is approaching its 20th in the Philippines.

“We’ve pondered on how we can celebrate these milestones. And the truth is, what we do every day and every season reflects our evolution,” he shares. “We’re also seeing this evolution reflected in our own spaces.” Per Gonzalez, his team is preparing a refresh of the in-store experience in the coming months—robust plans that will not wait for wars to subside and for business sentiment to stabilise.

Retail recalibration

Depending on the business model or retail concept, one retail insider anticipates opportunities for brands with global reach. To hedge against rising costs—from material sourcing to fabrication and even warehousing—he instead advocates looking inward and shifting focus to a local direction. “Luxury brands that already have a strong regional presence will still be able to sustain and maintain; but now, more than ever, it is a chance for the Philippines to promote its own crafts and RTW,” he points out, preferring to speak on the matter anonymously to protect vendor negotiations.

Of late, Gonzalez’s “strategy conversation” has centred on embracing artificial intelligence tools, whether it’s generative design, virtual try-ons, or, in his case, automated marketing. Gonzalez explains, “Technological advancement, particularly in AI, is going to play a major role. It’s already changing how we market, how we track and operate, and how data is interpreted through algorithms that inform decisions, whether in merchandising or the customer experience.”

Keeping up with AI seems to be everyone’s solution (or problem) nowadays, and yet even with AI and social commerce platforms, Concepcion believes, “The role of the retailer has become more important, not less. There’s more out there than ever, and a lot of it is noise. A point of view is necessary, as are editing and presentation. But those things must happen alongside building a real connection with the people who trust you. The edit gets them in the door. The community is what keeps them coming back. Those two things feed each other.”

Gonzalez couldn’t agree more. “There’s a saying, ‘water seeks its own’, and in many ways, our relationship with our clients within our niche works the same way. We meet people where they are. Since 1996, we’ve seen a growing openness to more directional fashion a deeper appreciation for design rather than branding and a deeper expression of their true selves—[their] identity.”

The road ahead

Hot on the heels of the pandemic and without a sufficient grace period, the ongoing oil route crisis may prove to be a vicious ne plus ultra for all. And now it all boils down to staying in the game. Caught between rising costs and shifting demand, fashion retailers are being pushed to adapt faster, as strategy, not scale, becomes the ultimate differentiator.

Fashion is entering a more disciplined phase, forcing retailers to rethink growth, margins and what consumers truly value. From business strategy (data-driven decision- making, revised omnichannel blueprints) to consumer behavioural changes (underconsumption, deinfluencing), retail simply has to acknowledge these mutations and meet the industry’s headwinds head-on.

“In times of crisis and uncertainty, immunity from it is nearly impossible,” concedes Gonzalez. “Initially, we generally don’t know how to react. The “shock” is over and the situation becomes more stable. People want to return to where they feel alive and safe—and with that emotional bond, they seek out their former lives. It really isn’t the time to figure out the next move. We’re in the same boat, so solidarity comes to the fore by supporting our communities in times of conflict.”

In the end, the current moment may prove less a downturn than a necessary correction—one that is forcing fashion to confront its excesses and sharpen its purpose. If fashion has always reflected its time, this moment—marked by prudence, advocacy, adaptation and quiet reinvention—may prove to be one of its most telling yet.

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