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Ending a Love Affair with Cheap Fashion

Tuesday 02nd of September 2008 09:02:25 PM

Cheap fashion is not fashion that is necessarily inexpensive or bargain priced. It is copy cat fashion intended to be worn a few times and then discarded. It’s amazing this kind of fashion has appeared given the interest in preserving natural resources, but throw away fashion is becoming more popular all the time. Many critics in the fashion world are interested in reversing the trend now before the appetite for cheap fashion grows too large.

Cheap fashion (different from inexpensive fashion)is worn by consumers who regularly shop clothing stores and those who are simply looking for a bargain in the form of clothing such as the popular printed T-shirts seen everyday. The House of Lords formed a committee to look into the environmental impact of producing cheap fashion and there results were astonishing. Many clothing items are discarded within a year while some clothing pieces are recycled. The highest consumer statistics for fast fashion are for women in their early thirties who are interested in fashion per se without worrying about the environmental consequences.

Fast fashion is much more than a buzz word. It refers to a culture which does not penalize consumer fashion waste. Instead the consumers are encouraged to buy disposal fashion and then discard the same items while purchasing replacement clothing.

Fast fashion, also called value fashion, is clothing which is not intended to last for years without regular use. Garment prices have fallen an average of 10% over the last 5 years, yet consumer retail clothing purchases have risen steadily. This has made for interesting marketing studies because fast fashion is made with cloth of cheap fibre quality and garment finishing. In addition, the cost of fast fashion is so inexpensive that many consumers will not consider paying more simply for the sake of durability.

Fast fashion has managed to escape a lot of criticism to date, but that is changing. Defra, the environmental department, has been studying the impact of materials discarded in landfills. The throw away fashions account for more than three million tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year.

The general consensus among consumers though is that fast fashion has seen its day and a new term has been coined for long use wear which is “investment dressing”. The magazine “Harper’s Bazaar” has a September issue article which promotes buying fashion wear that will longer than one or two wearings.

The winds of change are blowing in the fashion world. There is now a measurement of unit called the EDU or economic damage unit. The EDU measure is a fashion term for assessing the damage textile materials do to the environment. You can check out the assessment criteria at exotextile.com. In addition, the London College of Fashion has created the Centre for Sustainable Fashion. These are just two indications of changing times.

But there are other economic reasons for the slow demise of fast fashion. Labour costs have increased significantly adding to the cost of producing cheap clothing. Cheap fibres like polyester and cotton are produced in countries where petroleum and rainfall has declined driving prices up. Air costs have increased significantly also so new shipments of clothing from other countries cost more.

The bottom line is that clothing like the one-night t-shirt is quickly becoming passé. Instead consumers are looking for quality embroidered polo-shirts , trousers and other fashion at affordable prices that are also long lasting.

( c) Emily MacInnes,sxc.hu