fast fashion

noun

: an approach to the design, creation, and marketing of clothing fashions that emphasizes making fashion trends quickly and cheaply available to consumers

For many shoppers, Primark has an irresistible offer: trendy clothes at astonishingly low prices. The result is a new and even faster kind of fast fashion, which encourages consumers to buy heaps of items, discard them after a few wears and then come back for another batch of new outfits.

—The Economist

Competition is fierce at every end of the fashion spectrum from luxury to fast fashion.

—Nedra Rhone

In 1985, we bought roughly 31 clothing items per year; now [in 2012] we snap up twice that many thanks to "fast fashion."

—Azeen Ghorayshi

—usually hyphenated when used before another noun

fast-fashion chains/retailers

Examples of fast fashion in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The state of textile recycling The need to recycle clothing is becoming more urgent along with the rise of fast fashion, the business model where retailers churn out cheap, flimsy clothes quickly to keep up with ever-changing fashion trends. —Nicolás Rivero, Washington Post, 5 July 2024

How long has fast fashion been around and how fast is fast? —Dana Taylor, USA TODAY, 22 Feb. 2024

This is meant to help Zalando compete with online retailers like China’s Shein, which focus on fast fashion and lower prices. —Cathrin Schaer, WWD, 6 Aug. 2024

In an era where fast fashion dominates our lives, Scandinavians’ commitment to slow fashion — fewer, high-quality pieces, capsule dressing, and a unique blend of individuality and commitment to a personal style ‘uniform’ — was a breath of fresh Nordic air. —Zahra Campbell-Avenell, refinery29.com, 20 June 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1975, in the meaning defined above