The heavy winter coat is not only out -- it may be a thing of the past in Australia as temperatures rise and summers lengthen due to global warming.
Australian Fashion Week, which kicked off Tuesday in Sydney, has ditched the traditional autumn/winter tag in favour of "trans-seasonal" runway shows full of clothes that can be worn year-round. "We just don't have a need to do it any more," Fashion Week founder Simon Lock told AFP.
Lock said the move was partly the result of climate change, and partly due to the fact Australia has always enjoyed warmer weather than the traditional northern hemisphere fashion capitals of Milan, Paris and New York.
But he said as global temperatures rise, fashion houses and department stores around the world would face heavy winter clothing sitting ignored on racks as summer weather stretches well into autumn. "Clothes just sit there, no one is buying them," Lock said. "These are things that dramatically affect business."
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