Fast Fashion: There’s A Reason The Devil Wears Prada
Victoria Wojan, Contributing Writer
Photo credit freeimages.com
The $250 or the $2,500 handbag? Would you be willing to pay more than you are comfortable with to get the best quality and wearability possible? Not in today’s disposable society.
Fast Fashion has become the best way that shoppers can get the trendiest and most amount of clothes for the least amount of money. This is more and more popular in today’s economy with people always looking for the best deal out there in all aspects of their life, especially clothing. But just because it is cheap does not mean it is better than the more expensive item.
Since the demand has increased for cheap goods this has lead to more and more fast fashion stores popping up. People aren’t necessarily concerned with where their clothes come from or what brand is on the tag. According to Haley Persall a personal shopper at Zara “Sometimes these fast fashion stores just have the right product so it doesn’t feel like you are bargain shopping.” Not only is it about price but it is also about the factor of convenience. If you spend $150 on a pair of shorts you as a shopper might want to find a less expensive top. You would go to a store such as Forever 21 or H&M and find a cute basic crop top to go with the shorts for as little as 5 dollars.
This has made these fast fashion companies such as Forever 21, Zara and H&M, companies over millions of dollars and has allowed them to move into famous fashion streets such as Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, Fifth Avenue in New York City and Michigan Avenue in Chicago. Hannah Salberg a New Yorker and who works at a social media company called Refinery 29 told me “ I find that the majority of my friends who are in no way rich, just hard workers. Go into places like Zara, Forever 21 or H&M because they want to, not because they have to.”
These high-end fashion houses and many other stores are in competition with the fast fashion companies in terms of that they do not have the high volume of clothing coming into their stores weekly, thus changing the styles and creating more demand for cheap goods. According to The EditorialistLA.com “ And while the intentions of fast fashion companies bringing low priced, fashion-forward clothing to the masses may have started out pure, the results are cheap fabrics, copycat designs, and inconsistent fit.” Fast Fashion had good intentions in the beginning but it since has succumbed to lowering their prices further to receive a wider customer base and gain more profit for themselves in the end.
Shoppers usually have a general budget in mind when it comes to what they are willing to pay and maybe go over it a little. In the grand scheme of things consumers will keep buying cheaper priced goods in the long run over more expensive investment piece items instead of biting the bullet and buying something more expensive that will last longer. The best thing to keep in mind when having sticker shock over price is, just because the price is cheaper does not mean that the product will be better.
Editor’s Note: The Vision magazine, our sister publication, is on stands now. Also look for us in the caf’ during lunch time to get your FREE copy. We are publishing shortened versions of some of the best Vision magazine articles, so be sure to check out the full-length stories of these are other items of interest to students at NGU.
