As we once again enter the all-too-traditional sales period, it seems important to address another, different yet related subject: the new brands described as “ultra fast-fashion”. These brands attract young customers by offering constant promotions on their websites. A commercial technique with little awareness of fashion's environmental issues, concealing a highly questionable way of operating. They are indeed taking an increasingly prominent place in the disposable fashion market by using practices long associated with traditional fast-fashion brands. Seemingly unconcerned by international legislation – too limited as it is – these brands are reaching records in overconsumption. Today, it seems important to examine these commercial principles in order to understand why they pose a danger to companies which, like Hast, work towards more qualitative and sustainable fashion. Our aim? To inform you so that you can buy less and buy better!
We will begin by briefly analysing the origins of traditional fast-fashion to understand how these brands take these techniques even further.
The legacy of traditional fast-fashion
It is difficult to discuss these new multinationals without looking at the beginnings of so-called traditional fast-fashion. This rapid fashion, or disposable fashion in French, categorises part of the fashion industry based on the constant renewal of collections, products made quickly from low-quality fabrics and sold cheaply. To understand the origins and emergence of these industry giants, which now share a large part of the market, we must return to the man who invented it: Amancio Ortega. You may not be familiar with his name, but you certainly know his greatest achievement: building the Inditex empire, the group that owns Zara, among others. In many respects, Amancio Ortega is a marketing genius. In Spain, rebuilding and scarred by civil war, Ortega worked with his family in textiles and garment manufacturing in the poor region of Galicia. He quickly identified the region's production potential and based his business model on a principle that remains that of fast-fashion brands today: the rapid, large-scale reproduction of successful ready-to-wear designs.
The principle is as follows: store managers report sales analyses as quickly as possible, enabling head office to understand which garments perform best and adapt production accordingly. Successful designs are offered in different colours. Gradually, the pursuit of low costs and the development of synthetic fibres lead to a shift from materials such as silk or cotton to polyester and, later, viscose. The lower the costs, the higher the margins. The Spanish group thus laid the foundations of today's fast-fashion.
A copycat fashion model that produces on a mass scale by closely analysing sales.
Teams of specialist designers attend fashion shows and identify designs that can be reproduced in lower quality. Production quickly moves to Asia, brands become multinational machines and revolutionise the world of clothing.
Fast-fashion is regularly criticised for the little consideration this production method gives to working conditions and the environmental impact of the materials chosen (the widespread use of textiles such as polyester – a reminder that this is an artificial synthetic material derived from petroleum, which is extremely polluting for the environment). For several years now in Western countries, many brands have sought to raise awareness of the excesses of the fashion industry and, above all, the dangers of producing unnecessary garments “to excess”. Traditional fast-fashion brands are now regulated by law and are trying to improve their methods, which is a good thing. But the past decade has seen the emergence of newcomers taking fast-fashion practices even further. This is ultra fast-fashion.
Ultra fast-fashion, or the height of mass consumption
Fast-fashion and its major players are now trying to address criticism and improve their business model. And while consumers and professionals are becoming increasingly aware of the excesses of the industry, internet-born brands such as Shein and Boohoo are taking these extreme practices even further. The principle for attracting customers: constant promotions. While sales and promotions are a way for so-called “traditional” brands to clear unsold stock, the principle of constant promotions is in fact contrary to commercial ethics (the lower production costs are, the greater the discounts can be).
Many of the methods used by these new brands are regrettable. Entirely based on e-commerce, they vertically integrate every stage of production and even copy the same texts across several brand platforms.
They further accelerate the principles of mass production and consumption on which the giants of fast-fashion already operate.
In China as in England, where the designs sold by ultra fast-fashion retailers are produced, working conditions are often poor, notably because production lines operate almost 24 hours a day. Their perfect command of the codes of “influence”, particularly on TikTok, exacerbates the problem, as they directly target young consumers with limited purchasing power, using the reach we know social networks can provide.
Thus, these brands stand in radical opposition to those described as “slow fashion”, which have been trying for several years to raise awareness of the dangers of overproduction for the environment. This two-speed era is highly paradoxical: some consumers and fashion industry players are trying to understand environmental issues and the dangers of overproduction, while others remain strongly focused on price and disposable consumption.
One point should not be underestimated: responsible brands often operate with far smaller budgets than fast-fashion brands, which rely on minimal production costs and very high margins. They therefore have an extremely powerful capacity to invest heavily in influence and communication.
Poor understanding of the issues among consumers and brands, weak purchasing power in the face of the crisis, a lack of legislation at national and global levels: fashion still has a long way to go... We continue to move forward step by step!
Sources :
The Secrets of Fashion, Yann Kerlau
lemonde.fr
Arte: Fast-fashion, the hidden side of low-cost fashion
