Fast Fashion: The Quick, the Cheap, and the Costly.

Fast fashion is a business model that has deeply changed the fashion industry by creating an efficient supply chain to rapidly produce trendy merchandise. This model is characterized by its ability to create and respond to consumer demand, bringing new styles from the runway to the retail floor in a matter of weeks. However, beneath its glossy exterior lies a series of significant social, economic, and environmental challenges and the promotion of a throwaway culture in fashion.

A Business Model Designed for Speed

At its core, fast fashion is built on a business strategy that prioritizes speed and cost-efficiency. According to Levy and Weitz (2008), this strategy involves an efficient supply chain that enables the rapid production of fashionable items. The hallmark of fast fashion is its quick turnaround time from design to shop floor, often ranging from just 10 to 15 days. This rapid production cycle allows fast fashion brands to release new collections frequently, with some brands offering up to 40 "seasons" a year.

This efficiency lies in its ability to copy the latest trends seen at fashion shows and on social media and transform them into affordable products that can be quickly marketed. This approach not only encourages frequent shopping to keep up with the ever-changing trends and creates a desire for the abundance of cheap clothing. Zara, a pioneer in the fast fashion industry, exemplifies this model with its 840 million garments produced each year for its 6,000 stores worldwide.

The unphasomable size of the market

Overproduction is a business model that has been driving the industry for the past 40 years but with an acceleration in the last 20 years.

And we couldn’t not write an article to try and unveil what the fashion indsutry represents today. The scales are hard to even comprehend. And that is with figures that, a lot of the times, are approximations, for the simple reason that no one knows exactly how much is produced and put on the market. With brand witholding these crucial information, most of the figures that we use are probably underestimating the reality of the problem.

Production and waste.

Our consumption has become quite problematic. We buy 60% more clothes but wear them 34% less longer than before (the 2000s, so only 25 years ago!).

Today, we have reached a production of over 100 billion clothes put on the market each year.

Of these, between 10 and 40% are never even sold and dumped before ever being worn. Worse, the omnipresence of online shopping has raised the issue with more clothes being returned than products purchased. The problem being that most of these returned items are never sold again. They're destroyed (incenerated), simply because it would actually be more expensive to manage the product and put it up for sale again then make a new one. This way of doing things sounds completely unlogical, yet it is to fast fashion giants who have only one way of doing things: make, sell, throw away. That is why at the end of it all, it is estimated that we send 92 million tons of clothes to landfill annually, creating a real textile waste crisis. That is the equivalent of a bin truck full of clothes being unloaded on landfill sites every second.

The Hook of Fast Fashion on Consumers

Fast fashion's success does not lie only in the the “fast” but also in the cheap and in the shopping experience. Consumers are drawn to the feeling of getting a lot for a little money and the thrill of the hunt for new styles. This shopping model appeals especially to younger consumers who get satisfaction through the feeling of abundance of choices and for whom shopping in those stores is part of their social life. Studies have shown that fast fashion consumers often feel a sense of satisfaction during the purchase phase but are frequently disappointed with the quality and durability of the clothing after just a few wears and washes.

This cycle of frequent buying and quick disposal fosters a throwaway culture, where its more about the experience of shopping and not so much about the products, explaining why they are so easily discarded, well before their actual lifespan ends. The low prices on cheaply made clothing and constant influx of new styles creates a built-in obsolescence, pushing consumers to continually purchase more.

The Dark Side of Fast Fashion

Labor Exploitation

Behind the scenes, fast fashion's efficient supply chain relies heavily on low-cost, overseas production. This often involves employing disadvantaged populations, mainly women, in underpaid and poor working conditions. Workers in countries like Bangladesh, Vietnam, and India face extensive overtime hours, unhealthy working conditions, and separation from their families. The brands apply pressure onto suppliers to meet production deadlines which leads to harassment and depression among these workers.

Environmental Impact

The ever-growing production of fast fashion also has significant environmental consequences. From the production of fibres to the textile waste crisis, an incredible amount of resources and negative externalities are recorded along the life cycle of garments. Billions of clothes emit and pollute in their manufacturing processes, only to, end up contaminating ecosystems after only a few wears.

Quality and Longevity

It is not new to say that cost-efficiency comes at the expense of quality. Yet, in this model, that aspect is pushed to an extreme. Clothing produced by fast fashion is made from inexpensive materials with poor construction, resulting in items that quickly lose their shape, colour, and overall wearability. With clothes that aren’t designed to last, it beame easy to "justify" participating to the throwaway culture, as consumers will naturally find it quicker and cheaper to replace worn-out items with new purchases rather than repairing or maintaining them. There is a lack of attachment to the garment that is cultivated by the fast fashion industry and its cultural and marketing tools.

The Shift Towards Ultra-Fast Fashion

In recent years, the rise of ultra-fast fashion has taken the industry's speed and volume to even greater extremes. Brands like Shein or now Temu, have set new benchmarks by producing and releasing new designs at an unprecedented pace: nearly 7000 a week! Shein, for instance, is reported to have produced 60% of all clothes globally! Intensifying the existing issues associated with fast fashion, from labour exploitation to environmental degradation.

Conclusion

Fast fashion has undeniably transformed the fashion industry by making trendy clothing accessible and affordable to a wide audience. However, this comes at a significant cost to workers, the environment, and the quality of the clothing itself. As consumers become more aware of these hidden costs, there is a growing movement towards more sustainable and ethical alternatives, such as slow fashion.  

By understanding the true impact of fast fashion and of our very own consumption, we can make more informed choices and support practices that push for a healthier, more equitable fashion industry.

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