Case Against Fast Fashion

Fast fashion has firmly established itself as a popular movement among budget-conscience fashion followers over the past decade. Target, a U.S. retail chain, began the concept in early 2000 when it collaborated with high-end designers to produce mass retail clothing lines for its stores.

Swedish company, H&M followed suit by cooperating with Karl Lagerfeld in 2004 to produce a cheap yet chic collection for its brand, and there after le déluge. Stores like Wal-Mart, Macy’s, Kohl’s and yes even Payless ShoeSource were bringing in designers like Stella McCartney, Proenza Schouler, Missoni and Rodarte to develop fashionable lines for the masses.

The latest to fall to this rather unfortunate trend is to our dismay a Gloobbi favorite. Donatella Versace has recently released her Versace for H&M collection, which as expected crashed the H&M website and sold out in a matter of minutes in London.

While the union between large retail companies and top designers has proven to be a very lucrative business, with some designers being paid upwards of $1 million for the collaboration and sales for the retail companies reach close to $20 million, the common place of these designers somewhat kills the dream of high-end fashion.

After all, the whole fashion industry is built on dreaming and making people fantasize about a better, more glamorous lifestyle. To make fashion so readily available and disposable reduces those aspirations, and the fashion world is left with no standards.

These collaborations work well in the short term, where a carefully executed marketing plan highlights the relevancy of each designer to a wider audience and pumps in some necessary cash flow. However, in the long term, it slowly signals the end of an era of powerful, untouchable fashion figures and brands.

Soon, anything will be up for grabs.

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