What Budget Airlines Mean For The Future Of Business Fashion

Elke Sudin is the founder of Drawing Booth, a live art company, and designer behind Elke NYC, a travel fashion and accessories brand.

Each year it seems like the restrictions by airlines on bag weight and size reduce our travel to the bare minimum. So what does this mean for the business traveler?

We might consider our available choices, packing fewer items and doing more frequent loads of wash, but these changes have a profound effect on our purchasing preferences, resulting in a shift in the science of fashion adjusting along with it.

As business leaders, we set the tone for what is acceptable dress for our employees and are the primary face representing our company. These trends not only affect our personal choices and packing strategies for business travel but also company culture that permeates out to our team and sends a message to our clients.

Performance material, or functional fabric, is expected to grow by 13.4% each year from 2024 to 2031. Examples of functional fabrics are moisture-wicking and stain-resistant fabrics. While we typically associate these materials with athletic attire, today many brands are using these materials in more professional cuts and masking them as business attire. At the same time, the acceptable attitude towards business attire is shifting also towards more casual and oftentimes more comfortable looks and feels.

While some comfortable fabrics, think jeans and sweatpants, are made up of traditionally thick material that takes up a lot of room, there is a space where thin yet durable synthetics are stepping in to be the powerhouse of ultra-light work travel.

Here are my five predictions for the shift in business travel fashion:

1. More Unique Designs. Every fashion trend influences traditional business attire with a subtle shift. As the trends develop to more self-expression, we will see more designs that help business leaders stand out for the right reasons and help differentiate them from the crowd. Being more memorable helps clients remember who they spoke to and keep coming back for more business. Typically functional designs attempt not to rock the boat, so they can attract a safe client base, but as more smaller brands and independent designers are bringing their unique approach to the market, we will see this variation play out in the boardroom.

2. Multi-Purpose Items. As we pack light, we need what we pack to perform more duties and thus make the most of their space-saving qualities. When one garment can go from day to night or from business to travel comfort purposes, we will get more out of what we pack.

3. Luxury Accessories. Accessories can make an outfit come across as more luxurious. Expect investment pieces like jewelry, a fine watch or a scarf that bring a unique touch point and signal to others that customers are quietly someone of taste to be on the rise. Pairing a unique accent piece with an otherwise minimalist outfit—even if all black—can enhance your look and give you more styling options per wear.

4. Refined Trims. One of the ways we signal with our attire is with elevated aesthetic versions of otherwise utilitarian objects. Take your zippers and buttons or snaps, for example. A colored stitching around a buttonhole can show your attention to detail, or a high-quality snap on functional items can tell the difference between a no-name brand and one that is giving you luxury touches inside and out. These details are ones to look out for.

5. Heat And Healing Qualities. Quick-drying and moisture-wicking fabrics are just one step towards apparel that will help customers as the weather changes. Cooling synthetics or even fabrics like merino wool can regulate body temperature. There are now even materials that turn body heat into infrared light to bring healing effects associated with infrared. Some brands are infusing silver and other conductive materials into their designs to help curb the harmful effects of EMF (electromagnetic frequencies).

Not to be forgotten is the environmental impact on our choices. Choosing pieces that are made to last can offer more wear than fast fashion which relies on trends and a clean new look on the onset that deteriorates rapidly. If your clothes are wearing out within a year, then there’s something wrong (paywall). Even synthetics are getting more sophisticated, so instead of just reading a label, feel the material for yourself. This is becoming more difficult with online shopping taking away our tactile senses when shopping and we have to trust our visual predictions and reviews.

Preparing Businesses For The Future Of Fashion

As we try to avoid the look of function that evokes a hiker putting on a collared shirt to return to the office, we will see more and more advances in both the function and style of fashion.

Leaders can respond to this trend by operating outside of conventional office attire. Upcycled pieces, from footwear made from recycled or biodegradable materials to apparel from resilient tech materials constructed into pieces with unique cuts, can say a lot about your personality even while keeping a minimalist versus maximalist approach.

To prepare and cater to customers’ growing needs and interests, we may see more modular piecemeal clothing, with the ability to mix and match. If we expect this modular functionality out of our travel luggage, we should be seeing it in our business travel attire.

In light of these predictions, leaders should prepare for the additional costs of goods, considering the high cost of materials, shipping and labor to make these goods, especially if they are made locally and with ethical business practices. We can learn from previous generations that a quality, versatile item will get more use per wear and withstand the evolution of trends to serve more functions over the long term.

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