Fast fashion essay

1130 Words3 Pages

Introduction
Many clothing companies encounter difficulties in terms of monitoring consumer behaviour and managing customer demand. However, these difficulties are solved by implementing a business strategy known as fast fashion. Fast fashion is “a business model that encourages new designs in stores every few weeks instead of every fashion season.”( Okonkwo, 2009 p.229). The retail fashion industry has seen a major transformation in recent years. Fast fashion companies introduce the newest collection of clothes in accordance with their research of latest fashion trends and are manufactured rapidly and efficiently to enable consumers to benefit from the latest pieces at lower prices. This assignment discusses the concept of fast fashion by identifying the relevant characteristics and how they affect company approaches to capacity planning. It will also look at how fashion companies meet their demand and how it contributes to Zara’s success in particular.

The characteristics of fast fashion are as follows:
Relatively inexpensive – Fast fashion is inexpensive. “Retailers such as H&M and Zara sell up-to-the minute fashion at low prices”. (Slack, Chambers, Johnston, 2010) This attracts customers into the store and also allows them to see trendy styles of clothing at an affordable price before they go and new styles emerge, making it accessible to the public as H&M and Zara are high street retailers.

Styles changing frequently – There’s an ever changing development in fast fashion. “To keep their merchandise always fresh, they rely on a combination of customer data and fashion discernment – spotting trends everywhere” (Turconi, 2007, p. 8). As the market research findings arrive, designers quickly in...

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...Zara has become the forefront of fast fashion and have become a fast fashion follower over the years. The approach of conducting mass communication in terms of market research has made Zara the most productive fast fashion retailer. They implement their design strategy in a different way to competitors. Their design stage is split into three product areas: women’s, men’s and children’s garments and designers and market specialists and buyers are co-located to try out prototype designs. (Slack, Chambers, Johnston, 2010) This allows customer reactions to new designs to be incorporated making Zara a successful fast fashion retailer. Zara also receives information from various store managers and sales assistants on their stores. According to (Inditex, 2013) “A non-stop flow of information from stores conveys shoppers’ desires and demands” contributing to Zara’s success.

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