The fashion industry has suffered yet another casualty as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The beloved retailers Totokaelo and Need Supply Co., sister retailers under the parent company NSTO, will permanently close after falling on financial hardship during the coronavirus. “Need Supply and Totokaelo have made the difficult decision to wind down their business and operations in an orderly fashion,” says Corey S. Booker, a lawyer for NSTO. Staff were informed in a call last week, but neither brand has yet to officially announce the closures.

Despite being sister brands, both retailers have slightly different backstories. Chris Bossolo founded Need Supply in 1996 to sell vintage Levi’s in Richmond, Virginia, before expanding its lineup to include popular brands such as Maryam Nassir Zadeh and Nanushka. Totokaelo didn’t come around until 2009, but the Seattle-born multi-brand retailer quickly made a splash with its artful boutiques that were commonly likened to those of Dover Street Market and Opening Ceremony, which also recently announced closures. Its clothing came from some of fashion’s most experimental and renowned designers, such as Yohji Yamamoto and Haider Ackerman.

Though both businesses seemed successful before Covid-19 came into full swing, the closures speak to broader trends within the fashion industry as niche retailers are finding it increasingly difficult to stay afloat in the current economic recession. In the past few months, Barneys New York permanently closed its doors, Neiman Marcus filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and the label Sies Marjan called it quits.

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Even though New York has started reopening after more than 100 days of quarantine, many of the city’s art spaces remain closed. In the spring, Public Art Fund invited 50 local artists to create works in direct response to Covid-19 for a massive outdoor group exhibition, called “Art on the Grid,” that will appear on more than 500 bus shelters and screens of LinkNYC kiosks across the city this summer.

As the show developed, however, the parallel epidemic of systemic racism and police brutality came into sharp and painful focus as protests swept the nation following the death of George Floyd. Many of the 50 participating artists, which include Cynthia Talmadge, Elliott Jerome Brown Jr, and Rafael Domenech, have created works that respond to these crises. They center around themes such as healing and loss, community and isolation, intimacy and solitude, and striving for a more equitable future.

“The broad framework is about reconnection and renewal as something that we were, in a sense, all yearning for,” says Nicholas Baume, Public Art Fund’s director and chief curator. “The outdoors has been a relatively safe respite within the limits of social distancing. We realized that we had a unique responsibility and opportunity to help restore the cultural landscape of the city.” The exhibition is expected to be one of the biggest shows ever mounted by the Public Art Fund and will open in two phases: 10 artworks were unveiled at 100 locations last week, with the other 40 pieces debuting at 400 locations on July 27. Baume aims for the show to offer an inkling of hope during turbulent times: “It’ll be an amazing gift for the city.”

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