The Black Swirl Behind of Fast Fashion
- May 10, 2015
- 3 min read
In our globalization, Swatch changed watches’ industry, iPhone changed mobile phone market. So, who changed rules of the fashion industry? The answer is "Fast Fashion." The Fast Fashion concept was put forward in the 1990s and recently it became synonymous and changed the fashion world of clothing brand. They are fads that the fashion world goes through day in and day out and some of styles are ever changing and notoriously fickle.
The fast fashion retailers such as H&M, Zara, Forever 21, and Uniqlo have been able to appeal to different ages customers with fast paced production and knockoffs of trendy designer garments at lower prices. Also, their new logistic system is frequent and timely. It means customers always can have something new to look at and try on. For example, Zara stores famously gets two new shipments of clothes each week, while H&M and Forever 21 get clothes every single day!
The retailer Zara. with the middle-price interpretation of runway trends, with 1,900 stores in 87 countries in few yeas. They company does not advertise but leading purveyor of chic to consumers. “Their look is very aspirational, in terms of the brands they are emulating,” “Focusing on clean, spare lines, like those of Jil Sander or Céline, has set them apart.” said by Jeff Van Sinderen, a senior retail analyst for apparel with B. Riley & Company, a research and investment firm.
On the other hand, the retailer H&M realized that there's increased 36 % profit for the first quarter of 2015. The company is poised for an even more substantial growth spurt, with 400 stores open internationally by year’s end. Even though they are still growing the CO2 emissions, they trying to use the renewable energy and be more green in the logistics and the store operations. “ To encourage customers buy slow, the consumers can buy less, share items with friends and trade rather than toss when you’re finished with an item.
Fast fashion is Similar with Fast Food. It gives consumers the benefits in the beginning. Fast fashion allows consumers to quickly close to catch trend but it also brings harmful factors to the world. Back to the Slow Food movement took hold and we realized that we really should know more about what we eat, where it comes from, and how if affects our bodies and our environment? We should start shopping for our food locally, asking questions about where our food comes from and how it’s produced. Don't you agree?
The comedian John Oliver took a critical talk about fast fashion on April 23 in the episode of "Last Week Tonight". He talked about those fast fashion company's factories become synonymous that they have produced garments under unethical low and exploitative wages for long period.
According to the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index, it shows that retail prices of goods have gone up, and clothing prices have generally decreased. This means people are able to buy more clothing now and they even spend less of their money on it. However, people buying things but they don’t even want it.
But cheap clothing still has an appeal for every fashionistas. We are still susceptible to bargain. And most of us own more clothing than we really need. Worse yet, we discard outrageous amounts of clothing and textiles every year.
How can we change this?
The best solution against fast fashion is we can buy classic looks items; jeans, T-shirts, blazers, and black dress. We can use those trendy items as a core in our outfits. To save the environment, we can donate our clothing to Goodwill and Salvation Army.
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