Fast fashion news and archive

European textile federations call on the EU for "urgent action" against ultra fast fashion

Paris - "Without delay", "immediately": European textile and clothing companies "can no longer wait years for measures to be taken against ultra fast fashion", they write in a joint letter to the European Commission. Fashion and textile players are growing impatient with the slow legislative response to Shein, Temu and AliExpress. These large...

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Business|Reportage

The 'Prato system': corruption and illegal labour at the heart of the Italian textile industry

The fatal shooting of Zhang Dayong in Rome, who was found with six bullet wounds, initially seemed unconnected to Prato, Italy's textile hub. However, investigators now believe the murder is part of a brutal "hanger war" between rival Chinese mafia groups for control of Europe's largest garment manufacturing centre. This criminal escalation is...

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Business

Shein fined 40 million euros in France for false discounts

The ultra fast fashion retailer Shein has been fined 40 million euros. The brand was reprimanded by France's Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) for misleading commercial practices towards consumers. The sanction follows an investigation into Infinite Style E-commerce LTD (ISEL), the company...

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Podcast: Should resale websites ban fast fashion?

On second-hand clothing platforms, there are not many rules. While most platforms now have rules addressing fake products, there are no restrictions on the brands a consumer can offer. Should resale websites ban fast fashion? Source: Conscious Style Podcast

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Fashion

Despite environmental damage, Gen Z has taken a shine to ultra-fast fashion

So-called "ultra-fast fashion" has won legions of young fans who are able to snap up relatively cheap clothes online, but campaigners say the trend masks darker environmental problems. Britain's Boohoo, China's SHEIN and Hong Kong's Emmiol are the main players in a sector that produces items and collections at breakneck speed and rock-bottom...

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Fashion

Fast fashion's disastrous effect on Chilean environment

A mountain of discarded clothing including Christmas sweaters and ski boots cuts a strange sight in Chile's Atacama, the driest desert in the world, which is increasingly suffering from pollution created by fast fashion. The social impact of rampant consumerism in the clothing industry -- such as child labor in factories or derisory wages -- is...

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Fashion

UK fast fashion: Half of top brands’ clothes made entirely from virgin plastic

A study looking into the use of plastics in the UK’s fast fashion industry has found that 49 percent of the clothing from four top brands is made entirely using virgin plastics. Boohoo was the biggest culprit with 67 percent of its fashion made entirely from fabrics derived from petrochemicals such as polyester, acrylic, nylon and polyamide....

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Fashion

Frugal shoppers are buying less, putting sales volumes under pressure

Buy less, buy better, once the mantra of elite sustainability campaigners, has swept the world to become a global mindset, defining a post-pandemic reality. Rail upon rail of cheap clothing is no longer an appealing retail formula as consumers shift away from fast fashion to mindful shopping. Inexpensive short lifespan garments, embedded in the...

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Fashion

Secondhand clothing sales are booming – and may help solve the sustainability crisis in the fashion industry

A massive force is reshaping the fashion industry: secondhand clothing. According to a new report, the U.S. secondhand clothing market is projected to more than triple in value in the next 10 years – from 28 billion dollars in 2019 to 80 billion dollars in 2029 – in a U.S. market currently worth 379 billion dollars. In 2019, secondhand clothing...

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Fashion

What Lidl's 12.99 euro sneaker says about fast fashion's progress

Lidl has launched a pair of sneakers costing just 12.99 euros in some markets. Demand for the brightly-coloured trainers is so high that stock shortages and Lidl-mania have prompted its re-sale value to somewhere near 450 pounds, according to the Mirror. The phenomenon in question should not be the challenge of getting one’s hands on a pair, but...

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Business

Coronavirus takes fast fashion's foot off the gas

Zara, H&M and Gap may be slowly reopening their stores but the coronavirus epidemic has had a devastating financial impact on the fast fashion sector, which needs a radical overhaul if it is to recover, experts say. Nearly 40 percent of businesses in the sector are expecting the impact to be "much worse" than that of the 2008 financial crisis, a...

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Business|INTERVIEW

First hand fast-fashion nightmare for Bangladeshi clothing makers

One day Parvin was toiling to meet the fast-fashion demands of European capitals, the next she was among hundreds of thousands of Bangladeshi clothes workers made instantly jobless as the coronavirus pandemic struck. Big-name international brands have cancelled billions of dollars in orders because of the pandemic, decimating Bangladesh's most...