Fast Fashion

Fast fashion is a contemporary term used by fashion retailers to express that designs move from catwalk quickly in order to capture current fashion trends. Fast fashion clothing collections are based on the most recent fashion trends presented at Fashion Week in

both the spring and the autumn of every year. Emphasis is on optimizing certain aspects of the supply chain in order for these

trends to be designed and manufactured quickly and inexpensively to allow the mainstream consumer to buy current clothing styles at

a lower price. This philosophy of quick manufacturing at an affordable price is used in large retailers such as H&M, Zara,

Peacocks, and Topshop. It particularly came to the fore during the vogue for "boho chic" in the mid-2000s.

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Category management

The primary objective of the fast fashion is to quickly produce a product in a cost efficient manner to respond to fast

changing consumer tastes in as near real-time as possible. This efficiency is achieved through the retailers’

understanding of the target market's wants, which is a high fashion looking garment at a price at the lower end of the

clothing sector. Primarily, the concept of category management has been used to align the retail buyer and the manufacturer in a more collaborative relationship. Category

management is defined as "the strategic management of product groups through trade partnerships, which aims to maximize sales and profits by satisfying customer needs

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Quick response method

Quick Response (QR) was developed to improve manufacturing processes in the textile industry with the aim of removing time from the production system. The U.S. Apparel Manufacturing Association initiated the

project in the early 1980s to address a competitive threat to its own textile manufactures from imported textiles in

low labour cost countries. During the project lead times in the manufacturing process were halved; the U.S. industry

became more competitive for a time, and imports were lowered as a result.

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Marketing

Marketing is the key driver of fast fashion. Marketing creates the desire for consumption of new designs as close as possible to the

point of creation. This is achieved by promoting fashion consumption as something fast, low price and disposable. The

continuous release of new products essentially makes the garments a highly cost effective marketing tool that drives

consumer visits, increases brand awareness, and results in higher rates of consumer purchases. Fast fashion companies have also

enjoyed higher profit margins in that their markdown percentage is only 15% compared to competitors’ 30% plus. The fast fashion

business model is based on reducing the time cycles from production to consumption such that consumers engage in more

cycles in any time period.

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"Supermarket" market

The consumer in the fast fashion market thrives on constant change and the frequent availability of new

products.Fast fashion is considered to be a "supermarket" segment within the larger sense of the

fashion market. This term refers to fast fashion's nature to "race to make apparel an even smarter and quicker

cash generator". Three crucial differentiating model factors exist within fast fashion consumption: market

timing, cost, and the buying cycle. Timing's objective is to create the shortest production time possible.

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Supply chain

Supply chains are central to the creation of fast fashion. Supply chain systems are designed to add value and

reduce cost in the process of moving goods from design concept to retail stores and finally through to

consumption. Efficient supply chains are critical to delivering the retail customer promise of fast fashion. The selection of a merchandising vendor is a key part in the

process. Inefficiency primarily occurs when suppliers can't respond quickly enough, and clothing ends up

bottlenecked and in back stock

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Vendor relationships

The companies in the fast fashion market also utilize a range of relationships with the suppliers. The product is first classified as "core" or "fashion". Suppliers close to

the market are used for products that are produced in the middle of a season, meaning trendy, "fashion" items. In

comparison, long-distance suppliers are utilized for cheap, "core" items, sometimes referred to as "capsule" clothing, that are used in collections every season and

have a stable forecast.

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Environmental impact

Consumers in developed countries produce massive amounts of waste by buying and throwing away fashion

items. For example, the residents of New York City discard around 200,000 tons of clothes, handbags, belts,

and other sorts of textiles each year. The average American household produces 82 pounds of textile waste every year. Consumers in the European Union generate a total of 5.8 million tons of textiles each year that end up

in landfills.

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List of fast fashion brands

Zara United Colors of Benetton

Bestseller Peacocks Bershka C&A Charlotte Russe Deb Shops

Lolly Wolly Doodle

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