Could the days of ultra cheap “fast fashion” be numbered?

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https://www.wsj.com/articles/asia-factories-consumer-goods-labor-prices-7140ab98?st=hc77q70rkhewfb9&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

Fast fashion (throwaway clothes at low, low prices) has been made possible due to cheap labor in countries like China, Vietnam, Bangladesh and the like. However, operations in these regions are now reckoning with increasingly tight labor markets, as labor pools of young people shrink, people increasingly are unwilling to work in factories, and care work taking care of elderly is often a better paid prospect. Moving to lower-wage countries/regions is not always possible, as many countries (such as those in Sub-Saharan Africa) are not sufficiently stable or lack the right infrastructure, and running operations in rural areas is tricky due to distances from ports and similar facilities.

“There’s nowhere left on the planet that’s going to be able to give you what you want,” said Paul Norriss, the British co-founder of the Vietnam garment factory, UnAvailable, based in Ho Chi Minh City. “People are going to have to change their consumer habits, and so are brands.”

Perhaps we will see a shift back towards investing in fewer and better clothes, especially given the rise of the second-hand market (Vinted etc.) which may act as an incentive to buy decent clothes that have resale value.

It's for the best

I hope so.

It rarely looks good anyway. Basically disposable clothing

Really hope so, for the sake of the planet

Problem is we are now seeing fast fashion quality at slow fashion prices.
Hopefully this will have an impact envrironmentally as people will buy less but I do feel we are being ripped off when a polyester or acrylic item sells at £100+

This should have come about much, much sooner

Most of us know this stuff, and rightly deplore it. But that doesn't seem enough to actually change buying habits.

Perhaps it's a case of not being able to see the damage, so it's easier to ignore. Or it's just materialistic selfishness.

I hope so but after seeing the outrage from some posters on here when challenged about buying this shite, I very much doubt it.

I hope so.

I have a friend who makes and sells clothing for a particular niche. Whenever she asks people what they want, they say they would rather have fewer pieces that are high quality and well fitting, at the higher prices, than lots of cheap shit. Every time, that's what she's told.

But when she actually sets out her stall, the expensive, quality pieces hardly move, while the cheaper, lower quality stuff flies off the shelves.

I've never met anyone who admitted preferring lots of cheap stuff to a quality capsule wardrobe, although a lot of people will admit they can't afford expensive stuff. But the sales don't lie.

But when she actually sets out her stall, the expensive, quality pieces hardly move, while the cheaper, lower quality stuff flies off the shelves.

Hmm. But are these pieces directly equivalent? That is to say, is their quality their only difference? People might have a general preference for getting fewer higher-quality items, but this preference won't overcome other preferences, so if the lower quality item is of a preferred style, of a preferred colour, with a preferred cut that lies better, they'll still choose that over an item that's technically better made, but which fits these criteria less. People who might generally prefer fewer high-quality items might just end up buying fewer low-quality items instead, since it's not always a quality-quantity division, but also that many of the less-but-better group are not only making the quantity/quality decision, but generally do not see a need for more than X quantity of Y-category item.

I hope so, but suspect what will happen is the supply of poor-quality clothing will decline and the prices on poor-quality clothing will increase.

I hope so, but after a friend (vegetarian, dairy free, gym bunny) extolled the virtues of Shein last week, I'm not confident.

I only use Primark a small bit, so won't be unhappy. I buy alot of second hand on Vinted so I'm chuffed (and sorted!)

Too many people rave about Shein and Temu. I've never bought from either and the ads (esp. Temu) are grating.

I hope so but I think it will need legislation to really end it

Yes this, which is why it will need legislation, because it’s destroying the planet.

Otherwise people will still buy too many slightly less cheap cheap clothes. Cheap gear is a dopamine hit I guess.

I'm sure prices will go up - well it's happening already but yeah, it'll continue. What I'm less sure about is where the higher quality is going to come from.

Who's going to make it and how? Because much as I'd love to see the UK making its own clothing again, I just can't see it happening other than in a very niche, high end way (as happens already). We've lost the infrastructure and we've lost the skills and I don't see how we're going to get them back.

I don't see everyone turning to second hand as the solution either, and I say that as someone who buys most of my clothes this way - it only works because a lot of people buy new and discard.

Yes, and there appears to be a complete disconnect between the replies on this thread and the general theme of “you could get that for a fraction of the price in Asda!” on S&B whenever anyone dares to spend more than £25 on a dress.

I haven't really looked in to that (buying in ASDA v buying from Shein and similar)

Does anyone have a good link with a critique of the ethical and environmental policies of the major supermarkets?

Because if you can't afford to buy clothes (eg for growing children) you may have to use low cost supplier. So knowing which are the least worst could be useful