Fast Fashion & Global Fashion Forecasting by Fashion Industry Analysis with Prediction
Consumers are exposed each season
to a multitude of new styles created by fashion designers, some of which are rejected immediately by the
press or by the buyer on the retail level, but others are accepted for a time,
as demonstrated by consumers purchasing and wearing them. Every trend has a
calculated life span moving forward with the wheel of time called the ‘Fashion
Cycle’. The fashion cycle is usually depicted as a bell shaped curve
encompassing five stages:
A.
Introduction
B.
Rise in popularity
C.
Peak of popularity
D.
Decline in popularity
E.
Rejection.
To understand the curve of
fashion cycle in details one need to understand the different kind of fashion
trends as per their life span such as, ‘FAD’, ‘Fast fashion cycle’, ‘Moderate
fashion cycle’ and ‘Classic fashion cycle’.
Ø
FAD is a fashion that is taken up with
great enthusiasm for a brief period of time seemingly a craze.
Ø
On the exact
opposite of the spectrum, there is the Classic fashion that is a style that
lasts for several seasons, sometimes even years, and is accepted by a wide
range of people. Classics are those styles that you don’t even have to think
about. You just know they will be acceptable from one year to the next. Running
shoes are a good example of a classic style. Even people who have no intention
of ever running own running shoes. Granted, the details may change from one
season to the next, but the basic design remains the same.
Ø
Moderate Fashion Cycle or the Normal Fashion
Cycle is the one having a medium acceptance, moving through the five stages
from introduction through obsolescence within a life span of 10-20 years
approximately or a decade that often may or may not be attached with a
recurring cycle.
Ø
Fast fashion
Cycle is the one that reaches the peak at a delayed time than that of FAD but
has a shorter life span than that of the moderate fashion cycle.
Now the point to understand is
that the ongoing trend of ‘fast fashion’ belongs to in between the FAD and the
moderate fashion cycle. That means it has a longer time than FAD which is for
one selling season but a shorter span than a moderate one such as Crinolines or
Bustles. Fast fashion is trending for quite some time and it has been 10years
of its introduction. Hence it can be concluded that in next 5years the trend
will face obsolescence.
The Introduction Phase of ‘Fast Fashion’
‘Fast Fashion’ is a term used by
fashion retailers to express that designs move quickly from the runway to
stores to keep up with current fashion trends. By focusing on speed
and low costs retailers are able to deliver frequent new collections inspired
by the latest runway looks or celebrity styles. This is why today it is
not uncommon for fast fashion retailers to introduce new products multiple
times in a single week. Some brands and retailers are striving to deliver
a near-constant feed of ‘buy now, wear now’ products since 2009.
Rise in Popularity of ‘Fast Fashion’
When Burberry and Tom
Ford began experimenting with the fashion-industry concept known as “see
now, buy now” in 2016, their efforts were met with a little skepticism and a
lot of excitement. The thinking was that consumers, especially millennials,
have become accustomed to instant gratification and are therefore much less
willing to wait several months to own the latest runway styles. The so-called
“fast fashion” companies like Forever 21, H&M, Inditex, and Primark were
already producing replicas of fresh-off-the-runway items and selling them in
stores in a matter of weeks, and consumers were rewarding their speed to
market: revenues at those companies rose 8.2 percent in 2017 in aggregate. This
was the peak of ‘Fast Fashion’ in its cycle.
Peak of Popularity of ‘Fast Fashion’
When a fashion is at the height
of its popularity, it may be in such demand that many manufacturers copy it or
produce adaptations of it at many price levels it is called the ‘peak of
popularity’ in the fashion cycle curve. Volume production requires a likelihood
of mass acceptance. Therefore, volume manufacturers carefully study sales
trends because their customers want clothes that are in the mainstream of
fashion.
Fast Fashion is a trend that is
relied on mass production itself. All the giant retailers producing fast
fashion massively points out to the fact of it being in the peack of its
popularity. Needless to say a popularity so much that the impact of fast
fashion in last two years has marked a severe ecological and environmental
degradation.
Decline in Popularity of ‘Fast Fashion’
However, after this peak there
comes next the age of declination in the fashion cycle which can be understood
by the basic fact of human nature to stop occupying same things that they
already have had enough. Same happens with our fashion choices and we grow
reluctant to invest in the same fashion choices we have been making, creating a
decline in popularity of that particular fashion. The trend emerges through social media today overnight
and disappears almost as quickly. However this trend also certainly has a life
span.
Evidently, the market trend is
changing and to adjust, more retailers will invest in sustainability. In
the UK, supermarket plastic bag usage has fallen by 86% in 2018 and there are
now campaigns calling for charges on plastic bottles and disposable coffee
cups. Similarly, Australia has also taken action against single-use
plastic bags. In 2018, Australian retailers started banning them in
supermarkets and other large retail stores. Merchants will improve on their
practices to ensure that they’re packing, selling, and delivering products in
ways that aren’t harmful to the environment or to society. From ethically
sourcing goods and materials to using sustainable product packaging, we can
expect this trend to continue.
According to a new survey from
the Fashion Retail Academy, London, the consumer’s sentiments are shifting from
the fast fashion in favour of more sustainable apparels. Reportedly, around 39
percent of shoppers said that they would rather buy expensive longer-lasting
clothing over cheaper options that are more fashionable in a recent survey. The
young generation is undoubtedly concerned about the ecological impact,
environmental factors and values the idea of a meaningful life than bragging
off their belongings.
A Slow Path Towards the Final Stage of Rejection of ‘Fast Fashion’
However, it is also to take
notice of that many people especially the younger ones are very fashion
conscious and that is not going to change anytime soon. People of all ages
however are coming to the realisation that they have too much of everything and
it’s ridiculous to buy clothes every season to stay fashionable and are aware
of the immense amount of waste. But, consumers say they would prefer to buy
more expensive clothes that will last longer, that may not turn out to be true in
any near future because they have become so programmed to look for bargains.
Looking at the success of all the
off-price retailers especially for apparel the argument becomes stronger
concluding that consumers “saying” they would be willing to spend more money
and “doing” it may not be the same. Hence, apparel retailers need to move
slowly on this and attempt to find a balance of fashion apparel that will stay
in style longer, in essence last longer, while still being within the price
points that consumers want. It’s not going to be easy.
Retailers
Adjusting to the Market Trend Shift of ‘Fast Fashion’
Retailers like H&M have
retooled their operations and concepts in attempts to meet the situation by
accepting old clothes in order to recycle, as one way of addressing the issue.
Beyond getting new merchandise produced more quickly, Zara have focused on
speeding other elements of their operation, such as click-and-collect. There
are several new business models also coming up of rental clothing.
According to a survey, American
consumers are more open to buy and sell secondhand apparel than ever before:
the resale market has grown 21 times faster than the retail fashion market over
the past three years and is projected to grow from 24 billion US dollars to 51
billion US dollars in the next five years, according to ThredUp’s annual Resale
Report. That means the secondhand market will be 1.5 times bigger than fast
fashion by 2028, when used items are forecasted to account for an average of 13
percent of people’s closets.
However, the experts believe that
even though the consumer’s mindset is changing, the fast fashion is yet not
over and still going to be big part of the industry; only the growth will slow
down. That is explained as ‘declined in popularity’ phase. This phase is
described theoretically as to the time when, so many copies are mass produced
that fashion –conscious people tire of the style and begin to look for
something new. Consumers still wear garments in the style, but they are no
longer willing to buy them at regular prices. Retail stores put such declining
styles on sale racks, hoping to make room for new merchandise.
New Transitional Trend Emerging Over ‘Fast Fashion’
The backlashes of the trends like
experiences over things, small-scale living, social awareness, environmental
awareness seem to drive the fashion wagon away from the path of easy
fast-fashion. The young generation is undoubtedly concerned about the
ecological impact, environmental factors and values the idea of a meaningful
life than bragging off their belongings.
The concern is what trend is next
on line that can replace ‘fast fashion’ that seemingly is way too popular to
put an end at this moment. The new trend growing in the corner to overcome it
is the sustainable fashion and technical textile. The world is moving forward
with the idea of technical textile and accordingly the researches are going on.
Sustainability has already become a factor to judge a product in the market in
every level of buyers. In every process of manufacturing some or the other new
technology is coming to make the process more sustainable.
Fashion and textile products
evolve through several processes that involve the conversion of fiber to yarn,
yarn to fabric and fabric to garment. With the growing global interest on
sustainability and increased consumer awareness, fashion and textile industries
have taken initiatives to offer sustainable solutions in their production
lines. There are a number of approaches taken by the stakeholders in the
fashion production starting from fiber production to garment manufacturing even
the supply chain management to fulfill the sustainability requirements. Fashion
items produced using sustainable practices can contribute to environmental,
social, and economic well-being leading to a green earth in the future.
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