If a style dazzles on the catwalk tonight, you can expect inexpensive knock-offs to be available in retail stores tomorrow. That’s the world of fast fashion. The clothes may be cheap, but the social costs are very high. I don’t support fast fashion. Here’s why…

Imagine all the amazing styles and fashions you see on the red-carpet celebrities at the Oscars or on the catwalk during Fashion week. Reporters love to talk about the price of these fabulous creations, but then, before you know it, you can find a similar style in your local shopping mall for a small fraction of the price. 

That’s fast fashion. It’s the fashion category the clothing industry assigns to the business model of very quickly and inexpensively mass producing the hottest apparel, styles, and trends and making them available online or in a local retail stores at an inexpensive price. Retailers known for the fast fashion strategy include Primark, H&M, Shein, and Zara. 

New, quick-response manufacturing methods and international supply chain efficiencies drive this segment of the fashion industry forward. In recent years, fast fashion has become a booming industry. There is a huge gap between “high-end” and “high street” fashion. High-end fashions are usually more expensive,  well manufactured, and more exclusive. High Street fashions are readily available at your local retailers. They are often cheaply and poorly manufactured, and they sell for a deeply discounted price. 

These cheap, inexpensive clothes can usually only be worn a few times before they either fall apart, reveal manufacturing short cuts, or go out of style. Since they are so cheap, consumers simply throw the older, inexpensive clothes out and shop for more. 

The Evolution of Fast Fashion:

Many people attribute the introduction of fast fashion to Amancio Ortega who founded Zara in 1963. He was an entrepreneur who embraced the fast fashion business model. His strategy was to sell affordable replications of popular higher-end clothing fashions. In order to succeed with this business model, he pioneered many supply chain and manufacturing efficiencies including computer guided fabric cutting. When he moved his operation from Spain to New York in the 1990’s, the New York Times dubbed his business model with the name, Fast Fashion.

H&M has a similar story since their start in 1946, and may be the longest running retailer.  In 2008, Shein (Pronounced She-In - short for She Insider) established an enormous online platform mainly for “drop shipping”; however, by 2014, it acquired a supply chain system and evolved into a fully-integrated fast fashion retailer.  As of 2022, China-based Shein has grown into the world’s largest fashion retailer. 

What’s Wrong With This Business Model For A Fashion Entrepreneur?

If you are a designer determined to start a new fashion line, the fast fashion business model is not a good financial choice for you. Fast fashion depends on a sophisticated network of low-priced, high volume manufacturers and an efficient, complicated international supply chain. Even though the clothes it produces are cheap, the capital investment for the infrastructure is huge. Shein just completed another round of funding and is now valued at $100 Billion.

That is not the kind of capital most entrepreneurs have access to. In order to start a fashion line that sticks to the fast fashion model, you would need enormous capital, international connections with manufacturers and transport companies, and retail and online distribution channel that could sell an enormous amount of low-priced apparel at a very slim profit margin. 

This is one of the reasons V.Mora does not participate in fast fashion. It is simply not a realistic financial strategy to profitably launch a new fashion start up. 

What’s The Social Cost Of Fast Fashion?

There are many other reasons why I shun fast fashion. My goal and company mission is to help you build a sustainable brand that makes a positive contribution to your customers’ lives and the planet. Fast Fashion is famous for its cheaply manufactured, inexpensive clothing; however, when you look at the social cost of Fast Fashion, there is nothing inexpensive about it. 

Fast fashion seemed too good to be true in the eighties. All these stores were  selling cool, trendy clothing you could buy with your loose change, wear a handful of times, and then throw away. Suddenly everyone could afford to dress like their favorite celebrity or wear the latest trends fresh from the catwalk.

Then in 2013, the world had a reality check. The Rana Plaza clothing complex in Bangladesh collapsed and killed over 1000 workers. It made consumers start to question what the real cost was of a $5 t-shirt. 

The worldwide fashion industry has almost no regulation whatsoever.  This tragedy exposed many social and environmental abuses associated with the fast fashion industry. It revealed that workers all over the world were being exploited. 

They work in dangerous facilities for low wages and have no human rights.  They are frequently exposed to harmful fumes from cheap, toxic textile dyes and other dangerous chemicals.  These are the infamous sweat-shops and the workers are almost slave labor. 

For example, workers at Shein factories are reportedly required to slave for 75 hours a week, and are paid only pennies. In fact, statistics show that if you only pay $1.35 more for each garment you buy, workers wages could double all over the world.

Today 40 million people are living “below poverty” in ‘modern slavery’ and fashion is the second biggest contributor. Much of the underpaid workforce consists of women (80%) and child labor.  

The planet itself is facing serious threats from fast fashion.  Land and marine animals  in the wild are exposed to pollution from the toxic dyes and chemicals being released into the waterways. This can devastate the food chain and cause permanent damage to the ecosystem. 

Polyester and other cheap textiles also increase fast fashion’s impact on the environment. Polyester is one of the most popular fabrics. It is derived from fossil fuels, contributes to global warming, and when washed, it sheds microfibers that add to the increasing levels of plastic in our oceans. Even “natural” fabrics can be a problem at the speed and size of fast fashion.  Regular cotton requires enormous quantities of water and pesticides in developing countries. This results in drought risks. It creates extreme stress on water basins and competition for resources between companies and local communities.

Finally, there is the massive waste created by the “throw away” culture.  Fast fashion apparel has a built-in obsolescence. Usually, the clothes fall apart faster than they go out of style, and each year landfills are loaded with this discarded apparel. 

On average, we buy 60% more clothing than we did 15 years ago and keep it half as long.  In the U.S. alone, we send 21 billion pounds of textiles to the landfills, and only about 15% of donated clothes ever make it to another individual. 

Why Doesn’t V.Mora Support Fast Fashion?

At V.Mora, we want to work with fashion entrepreneurs who understand the value of designing sustainable brands. We do not participate in fast fashion because it is not a good business model for start-ups, and it causes so much damage to the environment. The waste, pollution, and labor abuses practiced by the fast fashion players give a black eye to the entire fashion industry that we love.

Creating sustainable brands and launching them is an excellent business strategy for a start-up fashion line. The production runs are smaller and less expensive, and your sustainability story can add a very compelling reason for a planet-conscious consumer to try your brand. 

Consider the very successful high-end brands like Mara Hoffman, Patagonia, Veja, and Stella McCartney. They produce sustainable fashions and their business is thriving. Footwear start-up, Rothys, uses recycled plastic bottles to manufacture its trendy shoes.  They launched successfully and are growing very quickly. 

Fast fashion is not a good business model for fashion entrepreneurs or the planet overall. It’s a good idea to avoid the pitfalls of fast fashion, if you are trying to successfully launch a new fashion line. The capital, social, and environmental costs would be crippling to a start up and will not allow your brand to grow, thrive, and prosper.  If your dream is to launch a successful new fashion line it’s best to avoid fast fashion and focus on a brand that can be sustainable and profitable.

Stuck on product Production? At V.Mora we can help you through the entire production process from designing, to sourcing and so on through our Production Development services. If you are in need of the following Development and Production services: 

• Sourcing 

• Technical sketches   

• Pattern Making

• Prototype making 

• Sample Making

• Fittings 

• Digitizing and Grading

• Marker Making

• Manufacturing

Please contact us at: vmorainquiry@vmora.com