How fast fashion ruined the luxury fashion business model
Most top luxury fashion houses, which have endured the test of time, emerged in the 1800s after the First World War. These brands include familiar names like Hermès, Chanel, Lanvin, and Louis Vuitton. At the time of their inception, they were the furthest thing from being mass-market produced. Their labels were equated with fine workmanship and enduring quality, and that’s where the bulk of their brand equity still comes from today.
In the 1800s, luxury brands embodied qualities that actually resemble the rallying call of many sustainable fashion brands today:
Produced in small quantities: Often, clothes were specially made to order.
Produced with highly-skilled, high-paid labour: Having especially skilled labour was a marker of quality and craftsmanship, which is why luxury garments and goods were valued so highly at the time.
Built to withstand the test of time: Many garments were passed down through generations and cherished through multiple wears.
But when fast fashion entered the market at the turn of the century, it offered cheap knock-off versions of expensive designer styles. Brands like H&M and Zara were downright accused of plagiarism and looked down upon by the designer elite which they emulated. Yet after years of steadily chipping away market-share, it became clear to designers that fast fashion could no longer be ignored.
In a plot twist that can only be described as Shakespearean, luxury fashion today has come to resemble the very thing it considered an arch-nemesis for decades. “The business that began 150 years ago as haute couture, and which was later reborn as ready-to-wear, has been remade to deliver luxury fast fashion for the masses,” said Liroy Choufan in a recent op-ed for Business of Fashion.