Google searches for sustainable fashion increased hugely from 2015 along with a rise in the ethical market. In recent years the impact of fashion has been more widely acknowledged. This ensured that Boohoo continued to grow, with the company doing better during the lockdown than the previous fiscal year. They quickly swapped dresses and clubbing outfits for lounge wear, which customers could order from the comfort of the own home. During lockdown, many companies like Primark suffered from the closure of non-essential shops, whereas Boohoo was able to capitalise. The rapid turnover in stock and cheap prices allow customers to keep up with the trends. Online clothing brands like Boohoo buy into this, offering copies of the clothing seen on celebrities and influencers for an average price of £17. It is not unusual for these ‘influencers’ to buy clothing just for an Instagram photo and talk of the ’embarrassment’ of outfit repeating. This perpetuates and normalises the culture of consumerism, encouraging the viewers to purchase more clothing, with the added incentive of a discount code offered by the ‘influencer’. Haul videos are popular on YouTube, where ‘influencers’ show the recent clothes they have purchased or are gifted from brands like Boohoo. Manufacturing their clothing in the UK allows for a fast turnover of stock: these companies use a test and repeat method, hosting a wide range of products available on their site and then reordering the ones that prove to be popular.īoohoo and other fast fashion brands have increasingly come to rely on influencer marketing, using social media to cultivate a culture of consumption. Boohoo itself was founded in 2006 by Mahmud Kamani and Carol Kane, who have bought similar clothing brands including Nastygal and Pretty Little Thing. This business model became popular in the early 2000s. Will fast fashion be forced to change for good now that consumers are confronted more directly with the effects of their shopping habits? Or will the issue be side-lined once again in a struggling economy after lockdown?įast fashion is defined as ‘an approach to the design, creation, and marketing of clothing fashions that emphasizes making fashion trends quickly and cheaply available to consumers’. However, the recent scandal shines a light on how fast fashion directly impacts workers in the UK as well. The poor working conditions, low pay and environmental cost involved in the making of our cheap clothing abroad have been part of public consciousness for a number of years. This has led to questions over the cost of fast fashion to those in our own country. It was also revealed that some suppliers to Boohoo were paying workers as little as £3.50, far below the legal minimum wage. Recently, reports emerged showing that Boohoo’s suppliers had kept factories open during the lockdown without adequate social distancing and with workers reporting symptoms. Image description: a shopfront with ‘sale’ in large lettering
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