Fast-fashion

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Fast fashion is a business model in textile manufacturing where companies quickly create and sell clothing and footwear at affordable prices by replicating the latest fashion trends and designs using cheap and fast mass production techniques.^[1][2] Fast fashion is defined by Merriam-Webster as "an approach to the design, creation, and marketing of clothing fashions that emphasizes making fashion trends quickly and cheaply available to consumers."^[3]

Multinational retailers that employ the fast fashion strategy include Shein,^[4] H&M,^[5] Zara,^[6] C&A,^[7] Peacocks,^[8] Primark,^[9] ASOS,^[10] Edikted,^[11] Fashion Nova,^[12] Halara,^[13] Uniqlo,^[14][5] and Temu.^[15][16]

As of 2026, 36% of clothing purchases worldwide are of the fast fashion category.^[17] The total market size of fast fashion clothing sales is estimated at $178 billion in sales per year.^[18]

Fast fashion brands have faced legal and regulatory issues due to alleged exploitation of labour, use of dangerous goods in their products, greenwashing their environmental impacts, and violations of intellectual property laws.

Business model

Fast fashion brands aim to put popular styles on the market as quickly as possible at a lower price than their competitors via optimized supply chains and quick response manufacturing methods.^[19] These retailers produce and sell products in small batches, maintain surplus manufacturing capacity to adjust production levels, use category management organization, and are able to make substantial and immediate adjustments to manufacturing based on sales.^[20] Fast fashion companies generally invest heavily in marketing, particularly via social media, using influencers and internet celebrities to promote their brand.^[15][17][21]

History

Before the 19th century, fashion was a laborious, time-consuming process that required sourcing raw materials like wool, cotton, or leather, weaving the natural fibers into fabric, and then fashioning the fabric into functional garments. However, the Industrial Revolution changed the world of fashion by introducing new technology like the sewing machine and textile machines.^[22]

As a result, clothes became cheaper and easier to make and buy. Localized dressmaking businesses emerged, catering to members of the middle class, and employing workroom employees along with garment workers,^[23] who worked from home for meager wages. These dress shops were early prototypes of the so-called 'sweatshops' that would become the foundation for twenty-first-century clothing production.^[24]

Fast fashion originated with utility clothing and tailors who sold mass-produced affordable suits for men. In the 1960s, companies including Inditex and Chelsea Girl attained commercial acumen, but the brand Biba endured as a fast fashion icon.^[25]

Before the popularization of the fast fashion model, the fashion industry traditionally operated on a four-season cycle, with designers working months in advance to anticipate customer preferences. However, this approach underwent a significant transformation in the 1960s and 1970s, as the younger generations began to create new trends. During this period there was still a clear distinction between luxury goods and High Street fashion.

Fast fashion grew during the late 20th century as the clothing industry adopted cheaper manufacturing techniques including more efficient supply chains, new quick response manufacturing methods, increased usage of low-cost labor from Asia, and cheaper petroleum-based synthetic fibers.

Fast fashion particularly came to the fore during the vogue for "Boho-chic" in the mid-2000s.^[26]

In 2013, the Rana Plaza collapse in Bangladesh, the deadliest garment-related accident in world history, brought more attention to the safety impact of the fast fashion industry.^[27]

In the 2010s and 2020s, fast fashion trends spread quicker via social media services such as Instagram and TikTok.^[28]

Legal and regulatory issues

Many fast fashion brands have faced legal and regulatory issues due to the exploitation of labour including poor pay and working conditions, including the use of sweatshops.^[29] In response, many brands audit supplier factories to ensure fair working conditions that are in compliance with local laws.^[30]

Many fast fashion brands have faced legal and regulatory issues since they produce clothing using non-biodegradable petroleum-based synthetic fibers and microplastics as well as dangerous goods including PFAS, endocrine disruptors, and carcinogens. They have been accused of greenwashing, hiding their true impact on carbon emissions and plastic pollution. Shein was fined €1m in Italy for misleading environmental claims about products.^[31] In response, some brands, such as H&M, have banned the use of PFAS and/or have purchased carbon offsets and credits and promoted textile recycling.

Fast fashion brands have been sued for copying designs that may violate intellectual property laws.^[16][32][33] In many lawsuits, fast fashion brands have been accused of copying designs, sometimes creating exact replicas, of major brands such as Ralph Lauren Corporation.^[34] Shein is considered to be the most frequent infractor; over 100 intellectual property-related lawsuits have been filed against Shein since 2017.^[35] Most such copyright lawsuits are settled confidentially. From 2019 to 2024, Shein paid $1.4 million to independent artists in settlements.^[36]

See also

• Cost per action – Measure of cost of online advertising
• Digital fashion – Visual representation of clothing with digital software
• Environmental impact of fashion
• Fast fashion in China
• Slow fashion – Concept in sustainable fashion
• Sweatshop – Workplace that has socially unacceptable working conditions
• The True Cost
• Thrifting – Retail establishment run by a charitable organization to raise moneyPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
• Zero-waste fashion – Sustainable clothing design

References

Further reading

• Matías Dewey, André Vereta Nahoum. 2025. Low-Cost Fashion: The Political Economy of Garment Production and Distribution in Latin America. Cambridge University Press.
• MacKinnon, J.B. (28 May 2021). "What would happen if the world stopped shopping?". Fast Company. Retrieved 4 July 2021.