Is it the end of “Fast Fashion”? Topshop & Forever 21 are bankrupt ǀ Justine Leconte

Hi everyone, it's Justine. This year there has been a wave of fast fashion brands going bankrupt. Forever21 in Europe, Topshop in the US... big names that are suddenly in big trouble. So does it mean that the so-called golden era of fast fashion is over? What are the options for you as a consumer, as a shopper, wherever in the world you are? That's the discussion that I would like to start in today's video. And before we do that, let me very quickly define what fast fashion actually is, to make sure that we're talking about the same thing because it's not a word commonly used everywhere in the world what is fast fashion in a nutshell fast fashion is a concept created for rich countries if we're honest a fast fashion brand will have clothes produced in a less less rich country then production was so cheap that they can afford to ship the clothes all the way to Europe for instance where the living standard is and the costs are higher and then they can sell these clothes in an expensive store somewhere in London where the rent is expensive the salespeople are expensive everything is more expensive so the business model works because the production costs in the first place were insanely low it works because there are people buying in rich countries and people producing in less rich countries it's a system based on inequalities internationally and even then the margins for the fast fashion brand are really low because the price tags are kept so low to attract consumers even on a budget so if you're a fast fashion brand you will have to sell incredibly high volumes in order to be profitable at all now if the production costs start to increase for instance workers in Bangladesh get a law that says that they have to be paid a living wage (it's not the case right now, they work for a salary that they cannot live off of) let's assume their salary increases (still not a high cost factor for the brand in the end, and we'll come to that later) or the shoppers in said store in London are starting to demand higher quality better ethics sustainable sourcing as a fast fashion brand you will immediately lose your margin which is small and you will go bankrupt so it's a very unstable system with very little buffer in case something happens and something in the equation changes that it's just the summary of how it works if you want to know more about how fast fashion how the business model really functions from beginning to end I recommend that you watch this video which I did previously it's linked here and down below as well in there I explain among other things the breakdown of the retail price of a t-shirt as an example how much the government worker who saws it gets paid the retailer the transport the brand etc if you new to that topic I have to warn you it might blow your minds but now back to this video I want to move on to forever 21 which is the topic in the title and it's absolutely a hundred percent a fast fashion label what happened is that forever 21 failed at its own business model which is quite a thing the American brand forever 21 filed for bankruptcy they are closing about 350 stores worldwide out of 800 approximately they are practically leaving Europe and Asia they are giving up their their remaining active in North and South America but shrinking big time so it's really a setback for brand that once was major they thing is the way they filed for bankruptcy doesn't mean that they have to shut down the business it just means that they are freed of their debts they don't have to pay the creditors so the supply chain people the production people the suppliers won't get paid and if you know what I stand for and what I talk about generally speaking on this channel you would know what that makes me feel I'm mad when things like that happened I think it's so unfair for the people who are before before that in the supply chain like they always have the poor cards at the end of the day forever 21 was once known for trendy fashion and very very low price tags the problem is trends pass and once you've lost your cool competing on price is not smart because it will never save you if you're not cool people don't want to shop at your stores anymore so forever21 is victim of the business model that they contributed to establishing their brand was never really unique they lost the edge price is irrelevant at the end of the day so they have to start over does that mean that we're witnessing the beginning of the end of the first fashion era unfortunately not quite yet Primark on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean in Europe is still doing well Primark is uk-based and currently leading the market for very very very very cheap clothes directed mostly out of there a young target group teens young adults dirt-cheap really we're talking about in British pounds 10 pounds for a pair jeans 250 for a bra 25 for coats if you think about it for a minute you wonder how they even do it if you know the price levels in Europe it seems so low that it's hard to be true I said cheap but I should say blood cheap instead Primark is one of the brands that was having clothes produced in the sadly famous Branagh Plaza building factory in Bangladesh that building collapsed in 2013 killing over a thousand people and somehow Primark and others got away with it Primark targets teens and young adults how by relying heavily on the latest trends there's another UK former flagship retail brand that's called Marks & Spencer where everybody in the UK used to shop they didn't set enough on trends things Primark and they lost their relevance because teens and young adults didn't want to shop well their parents and grandparents were shopping so Primark is really trying to stay relevant by going for the very very very young people and releasing new collections all the time but now teens and young adults in Europe and everywhere in the world are becoming more and more environmentally conscious that's the greatest Wenberg effect and suddenly they're starting to research and to question the way the fashion three works so a strategy question for the future Primark how are you going to do in three years from now when your exact target group is going to be a lot more aware and demanding in terms of the clothes they're buying maybe they will turn towards more sustainable more ethical brands and you will lose your relevance as well? Primark is aware of the danger which is why recently they started the so-called sustainable line which means that they source organic cotton what they don't tell you though is that sustainable doesn't mean ethical it's a lot easier and a lot cheaper to source sustainable materials for your production than to pay the government workers properly and they say nothing about that it's completely untransparent actually if you really want to do things right you need the sustainable sourcing and you need fix in terms of how you do your production so it's really just a marketing stunt meant to buy themselves an image of an ethical brand when really it's actually one of the dirtiest players out there let me be really clear about that and also this sustainable line is just a tiny part of their sort and all the rest of what they sell all the basics is still sourced and produced the way they used to do it and trust me it's not clean their sales keep increasing yes they're doing fine for now but it's artificial growth it's because they keep opening new stores overall it seems that the fast fashion business model is starting to feel out of breath is overheating htm' has been having difficulties it's one of the leaders in the market they launched a new brand which is positioned as a more ethical sustainable we don't really know thing Topshop is bankrupt in some parts of the world as well so it's really it looks like it like a downward trend for most players so they're all looking for solutions if consumers shoppers start to demand higher quality and higher ethics is the solution than to shift to the other extreme and go luxury?... Barneys New York is bankrupt as well if forever 21 and Primark are down here in terms of pricing Barneys is is a it is the the epitome the most luxurious high-end expensive department store chain in the US I studied in New York so at my school they will always say that the holy grail for young fashion designers starting out is to get into Barneys there was a professor who said once in class getting to Barneys is the highest sign of recognition that you can get from the industry if you get your clothes to get sold at Barneys together with Vuitton Gucci Chanel etc it means that you've made it in fashion but you know what I looked into it the conditions to get into stores like Barneys as a designer or ridiculous they negotiate the prices super hard they have you design special things special colors variations just for them they put you on a rack there they won't promote you so unless you do the heavy lifting no one will even know that you're being sold at Barneys and at the end of the season if they haven't sold everything they force you by contract to buy your inventory back so 100% of the risk and of the cash flow problems potentially is on the side of the young designer and I always thought before I go knock on the doors of big retailers like Barneys I'd rather sell my clothes directly the fixed cost and the financial risk is a lot lower for me and the price tag will be a lot lower so my clothes will also be more affordable for customers for shoppers and this system seems like a much better option for everyone doesn't it you would think that barn is selling high price high and high high things would have huge margins and then also huge profits because it's the opposite of what fast fashion is doing and yet behind that facade of the most luxurious fashion experience they have bankrupt as well so where is the solution fast fashion brands can't seem to be able to last on the long run it looks like the system is overheating but on the other hand traditional retailers look like they can't sell enough to survive either so that's that so problem somewhere in the equation and that brings me to a question or I should say an affliction that I get every time I talk about the topic of fast fashion on this channel Justin you're saying that fast fashion is bad but you know not everyone can afford Chanel and designer brands and I have a problem with that argument because Primark is five dollars or pounds or euros whatever shannon is mm are you telling me that you see no option in between because for me the option is clearly in between it can't be the price of Primark because that's not sustainable that's not ethical and I think that's not okay it has to be more expensive than that and in Western countries we can afford more we did afford more before the fast fashion labels existed and nobody was going around wearing new clothes you know what I mean and then it doesn't have to be as expensive as Chanel there is a lot of buffer in between and lots of brands that are tackling different aspects it can be a safer more sustainable sourcing system with Fairtrade labels it can be local production it can be an ethical production based in Europe there are plenty of options in between and I think the option is definitely in between now I'd like to send a question back to you how much is in between how much are you willing to pay for what more specifically and regardless of the brand new looking up I'd love to know how much you would pay let's say for a cotton t-shirt basic made in China how much would you pay for a t-shirt in organic cotton made in Europe how much would you pay for a t-shirt in recycled cotton made in China do you look at the tag does the origin or the material influence the price that you're willing to pay are you willing to pay more for organic for garment workers paid properly protected by European law for instance are you willing to pay more because it's recycled or because it's a new technology called development and you know it will be better for the environment and why or why not I will read all your comments under this video I will try to summarize all the inputs and the arguments you're writing down and I will present the results of this little survey to you in a future video so here really your opinion matters if you feel like you want to know more about how the fashion industry works here and down below I have linked two videos the first one is the one that I mentioned earlier about how the system works and the price breakdown for a t-shirt and the other one is a video where I explain how you can find out yourself if a brand is part of the fast fashion system or not because spoiler forever 21 and Primark are by far not the only ones out there and you have several fast fashion brands in every country you can think of. Thumbs up if you watched until here! I will see you very soon in a new video, that's all from me for today :-) Until next time, take care, bye!

Channel: Justine Leconte officiel

Views: 279,939

Rating: 4.9600544 out of 5

Keywords: fast fashion, sustainable fashion, forever 21, ethical fashion, fast fashion brands, fast fashion vs sustainable fashion, primark, topshop, barneys new york, Forever21 & Primark are bankrupt, the end of fast fashion, justine leconte, fashion industry, primark haul, topshop haul, barneys new york closing, justine leconte fast fashion, fashion industry documentary, fashion industry ted talk

Id: mCF1A6uc7jw

Length: 14min 30sec (870 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 01 2019