76. The downside of impulsive buying decisions
Fast
fashion is the inexpensive clothing produced by mass-market retailers on the
basis of the latest trends. As the name suggests it makes the fashion industry
fast-paced. The consumer buying behaviour has changed drastically over the
years especially with the increasing digital usage and emerging e-commerce
market. This makes shopping experience convenient and more appealing. Now, the
consumers invest fewer resources such as time, energy, and with the help of fast
fashion the prices are also very cheap.
Traditionally
in the clothes industry, there are four major seasons on the basis of which the
clothes are produced. Luxury high-end brands follow this structure to launch
clothing lines for different seasons. The investment in terms of resources,
time, and money is very high for these luxury brands. Immediately after the
launch, fast fashion brands such as H&M, Zara make knockoffs of the
trending products and sell them at very cheap prices.
The idea
behind fast fashion is that clothes should not last long and the purchase
should be continuous and in short time span. So, instead of four seasons, these
brands change the collection 54 times in a year. The clothing is then marketed
through advertisements and other promotional activities such as discounts which
increase sales.
Fast
fashion has a huge downside when it comes to its impact on the environment. The textile industry is the second biggest contributor to water pollution. The
manufacturing process uses tons of water which exploits the resource to an extreme. Climate change is already a prominent subject worldwide which demands
collective attention. Fast fashion adding to the environmental issues is
another red signal for the climate.
The
answer to the problem here is conscious fashion. The first step towards this
could be to invest in clothes that have a longer shelf life and avoiding frequent
and impulsive purchases.
The problem is prominent now and increasing day by
day. Now would be a good time to take a step.
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