The Notion Of Fast Fashion

“Do I get a coffee? A snack? Or something to wear?”– Elizabeth L. Cline

If you have ever been a participant in some kind of fashion conversation, among other things somebody may have thrown around a phrase ‘fast fashion”. So what the “fast fashion” exactly is?

Fast fashion - is a new concept of twenty-first century having a reputation of contemporary and affordable clothes coming into the market as quick as it reasonably possible. The dominant objective of this retailing method is to follow the fast-changing fashion trends and consumer demands and quickly design a product in as near real time as possible.

The biggest fast fashion retailers even introduced the concept of “lead-time”. That is a time the company devotes to take a product through the whole supply chain. For example Zara is proud to be the fastest fashion retailer it takes only two weeks to design, make and ship the ready garment.

The origins of the notion

In the past, when fast fashion was something still uninvented, men and women got their garments tailor-made.

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They were carefully choosing fabric, trying to find a unique hand-made button in order to make the outfit look nicer and after the numerous fitting and several weeks, people got their long-awaited attire. It was quite a high-maintenance item, so you would not change this very often. These clothes worn very well and in the majority of cases were even given to another member of the family.

The fashion cycle finally put on some speed in the 1800s during the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain.

It was a time of the huge industrial jump and a transition to new manufacturing process where hand production methods were replaced with machines. First patented sewing machine in 1846 gave birth to the tremendously fast fall in the price of clothing and developed a localized dressmaking and tailoring establishment that were entitled to make clothing for the middle-class women. The cotton textile industry had a colossal influence on British industrial advancement. With the time when new textile machines and factories where set up textiles became the leading industry provided hundred thousands of people with work. Unfortunately, it came alongside with the slave trading. In 1841 nearly 530 million pounds of slaves grew cotton were produced and sent from the southern states of America and one day Brazil, Egypt, and China were able to supply Europe’s markets with raw cotton.

If you ever asked yourself what was the beginning point for fashion trends to start moving at a bewildering speed, it happened in the 1960s. Fabric prices finally reached an affordable level and thousands of newly opened clothing shops were ready to satisfy the humans hunger to get cheap, good-looking and trendy clothes. By now the fashion industry became one of the largest chains of manufacturing and consumption, if not the largest one.

What retail brand is the most successful?

But whom we have to honor as the founding father of what we are calling now “fast fashion”? It is hard to give a clear answer. The thing is many companies that are known to be market leaders today started their way as small shops in Europe around the mid-twentieth century. Technically, ZARA and H&M are the first fashion retailers, having started their first companies in mid 1950s. Nowadays they are holding a position of the world’s largest and second largest retailers respectively.

Before opening the very first store Amancio Ortega Gaona, the founder and chairman of ZARA, sold clothes to wholesalers and finally in 1975 he opened his first shop in Spain. By the 1985 he had 41 stores and seven manufacturing affiliates. As of today, Zara has more than 2,200 stores in 96 countries around the world. There are 563 stores in Spain, 223 in China and 152 in France. Zara had an opportunity to scale-up because were able to quickly respond to customer requirements. One of the key secrets of ZARA’s success is that they never restock even the most popular and desirable items, that is how they lure customers to “hunt” for “fresh” product. However, how far is it worthwhile?

Advantages and disadvantages of fast fashion

Even though a great number of people would rather buy goods from such fast fashion brands as Zara, H&M or Forever 21, we must acknowledge that there is a lot to think about, so it worth to cover a vast majority of advantages and disadvantages as well.

Positive and negative consequences for apparel producers and retailers of fast fashion

Arguments in favor of having fast fashion brands on the market are obvious:

• Getting a fast profit. The profit of such retailers is enormous and immediate. Even in first several years a manufacturer can show a quick, I would say fabulous growth.
• Conductive to growth. Being part of a fast fashion means to push the limits of your creativity and exceed everyone’s expectation. It requires you to reach the top of your imagination, your talent and your intelligence…and the benefits can be surprisingly lucrative.
• Easy to improve and rehabilitate. It is not a big deal if one of the clothes lines was a complete failure. The great advantage of fast fashion that it can be easily replaced by a new product that bring the double income. Taking into consideration that advantages take precedence over disadvantages I will mark out the biggest one – high competition. More and more retailers offer new stylish and cheaper garments. Therefore, manufacturers need to try hard in order not to be kicked from the market.

Positive and negative consequences for the customer.

Talking about benefits it worth to mention the following:

• It is fast and cheap. All of apparel producers focused their business on realization the affordable trendy clothes and immediate customer`s satisfaction.
• Multifarious styles. It is never boring. Fast fashion gives you more choice and an opportunity to find something that reflects your personality. Besides there is a tremendous downside of the issue:
• It is unsustainable. The quality is far from perfect.
• It worth mentioning about inhuman and horrific working conditions of workers. The business model is concentrated on making profits. Brand gets billions of dollars, so why are they unable to support its workers properly?

The future of fast fashion

Experts point out that affordable and trendy clothes will always have its place on a fashion market. The world is rapid and extremely changing. Taking into consideration all the negative points only fast fashion retailers could meet people expectations and desires.

To sum up I could say that fast fashion became a breath of fresh air. It made clothes affordable for all classes. Men and women could easily get a desired outfit and create their own unique style. Nevertheless, most fast fashion brands are not considered to be eco-friendly, and I believe that they will find ways to cut to a minimum a harmful impact on the environment and their workers.

Works cited

1. Cline, E. L. (2012). Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion. Penguin Books.
2. Fletcher, K. (2014). Sustainable Fashion and Textiles: Design Journeys. Routledge.
3. Black, S. (2016). Eco-Chic: The Fashion Paradox. Bloomsbury Publishing.
4. Palmer, A. (2017). Toxic Fashion: Fast Fashion's Impact on the Environment. Bloomsbury Publishing.
5. Ewing, E. (2016). Fashion and its Social Agendas: Class, Gender, and Identity in Clothing. University of Chicago Press.
6. Kawamura, Y. (2005). Fashion-ology: An Introduction to Fashion Studies. Berg Publishers.
7. Birtwistle, G., & Moore, C. M. (2007). Fashion Retailing. Routledge.
8. Connell, R. W. (2016). Fashioning Masculinities: Men, Gender, and Dress in Everyday Life. Routledge.
9. Barnes, A. P. (2011). The Changing Face of Retailing in the Asia Pacific. Springer.
10. Lütkepohl, H. (2013). Structural Vector Autoregressive Analysis. Cambridge University Press.