Fashion retailing, marketing

Over 40 billion garments made each year are never sold.
And textile waste is predicted to go up another 60% by 2030.
Basically, landfills are being filled with unsold clothes that have never been worn.

Current purchasing practices reflect the rise of fast fashion. Where the norm was previously four style seasons per year, the brand Zara pioneered changing styles monthly. Most high-street brands now produce 52 ‘micro-seasons’ a year. Brands will also suddenly order twice as much of their popular items. This high turn over of product, coupled with uncertain order quantities has produced the current industry model. The uncertainty caused by buyer purchasing practices is then displaced upon workers through the use of flexible job contracts, unemployment during fluctuations in production, and downward pressure on wages..

In the last few decades, we have seen fashion trends changing more and more quickly. Pressures on workers to produce more and at lower prices have grown alongside pressures on consumers to turn to the newest trends.