Fast fashion companies have gotten themselves in such deep water, they could be the next Atlantis. It’s no secret that fast fashion companies like Fashion Nova, Shein, and Pretty Little Thing thrive off of worker exploitation, and the commercialization of rapidly changing fashion trends. The trend cycle has transformed from decadally to seasonally to monthly because of the unrealistic capitalistic expectation and standard of success which perpetuates the idea that if you cannot keep up, you do not deserve a spot at the table. Fashion trends used to be only influenced by external forces like the weather, geography, politics, and social movements. Therefore, it made sense that fashion trends would change with the seasons, as you don’t want to wear a swimsuit in the snow. Fashion would also change with the decades, because up until the 2010’s, each decade had a distinct style that separated them from the fashions of decades past. 

Now, we are seeing a shift from those types of external factors to systemic external factors such as capitalism, and the incessant exploitation of the working class. Because capitalism has created an environment that only rewards the rich and successful, fast fashion brands have not only become the norm where the average consumer shops for their clothes, it has become the fashion industry business model blueprint. It checks all the boxes for capitalist expectations; it involves the opportunity for cheap labor exploitation, there will always be a demand, and you can make more money than you will know what to do with. Capitalism has created a non-existent need for the average consumer to constantly be changing and buying new clothes; that your style is not individual, but rather it is whatever the corporation wants you to wear and needs you to buy to fit their CEO’s quota. The capitalist fashion industry feeds on the fact that the average consumer, which makes up the majority of the external participants, rely on their advice, so when Vogue says mini skirts are in mini skirts are in. But the problem is the average consumer does not have the funds to be buying quality pieces that are upwards of $40 a garment for every new trend that pops up as rapidly as monthly to weekly.

This is where slimy fast-fashion companies come into play. They realize that the average consumer can not keep up with the trends if they buy garments at a retail price, so by making the same trendy garments fit better to the average consumer’s budget, each piece becomes as high as $15 to as low as below a dollar; the consumer wins and the corporation wins. But how long will this capitalist success last? Capitalism has sped up the trend cycles so fast that these fast fashion companies cannot even keep up. The time of production has exceeded the lifespan of modern trends; by the time a garment has been sewn, shipped, and received by the consumer a new trend is already in the works, and reaching consumers world wide. Fast fashion companies have not necessarily dug themselves this hole, they just exist in a capitalist society whose eyes are larger than its stomach.