McKinsey ExplainersWhat is fast fashion?Fast fashion retailers have sped up their production processes, getting new styles to customers at a record pace—and creating significant environmental and social challenges.December 2023Fashion is fun. If you’ve ever seen a makeover montage in an ’80s movie, you’re well familiar. Trying on, buying, and keeping clothes to reflect our various moods fulfills complex human needs for comfort and individual expression—as well as for consumption.Fashion is also serious business. In 2023, the global industry was estimated to be worth $1.7 trillion. And more than 300 million people all over the world work on clothes, somewhere along the value chain. From 2000 to 2014, clothing production doubledand the number of garments purchased per capita increased by about 60 percent. This is due, in part, to the rise of fast fashion.Fast fashion retailers move, well, faster than their traditional counterparts. This means that they compress production cycles and turn out up-to-the-minute designs, enabling shoppers to not only expand their wardrobes but also refresh them quickly—and cheaply. And shoppers, it turns out, love a new look: according to the recent The State of Fashion 2024 report, published by Business of Fashion and McKinsey, 40 percent of US consumers and 26 percent of UK consumers have shopped at fast fashion giants Shein or Temu in the past 12 months. If you include other fast fashion retailers, the number would likely be much larger.For all the growth it generates, the fast fashion industry is also responsible for considerable waste. Fast fashion consumers are quick to throw clothes away: some estimates suggest that consumers treat the lowest-priced garments as nearly disposable, discarding them after only seven wears. For every five garments produced, the equivalent of three end up in a landfill or are incinerated each year. And total greenhouse gas emissions from textiles production clock in at 1.2 billion tons a year—that’s more emissions than those emitted by all international flights and maritime ships combined. Reports also indicate that some clothing factory workers are underpaid and exposed to unsafe workplace conditions.The true costs of fast fashion are coming into focus, especially for millennials and Gen Z. Young people are becoming more mindful of sustainability with respect to how they consume. They’re also keenly aware that the fashion industry is a major contributor to global warming. And they’re walking the talk too: half of Gen Z shoppers in China, according to a recent survey about sustainable consumption, said they aimed to buy less fast fashion.How can the fast fashion industry give itself a sustainability makeover? Read on to find out.Learn more about McKinsey’s Retail and Sustainability Practices.What is ultrafast fashion?If fast fashion retailers speed up traditional...
