Unintended Consequences of Fast Fashion Collaborations

At the heels of yet another retailer/designer collaboration, I wanted to bring about the subject of the democratization of fashion. The idea of having top-tiered quality clothing being readily accessible to the public has always been very exciting to me. Having the ability to purchase designs from some of the most famed contemporary and designer brands like Lanvin, Missoni, Lagerfeld, Marni, and most recently, Isabel Marant, known for her modern French chic aesthetic, at relatively "democratic" prices, makes the bargain hunter in me squeal with delight. 

And then eventually, almost inexplicably, the excitement wears off. 

I've thought about this post for a while now, and I've been trying to decide whether I support the idea or not. What better way to decide than to actually go to the store and buy the merchandise, right? So I did. 

I went in to the H&M store in Glendale and at the time, they were having the Maison Margiela collaboration, where they revived pieces from the house's archival collection and "re-interpret" them exclusively for H&M. Surprisingly, as I looked through the racks, I've noticed that there were still a good amount of product in the store. In fact, every style in the collection (at least in the men's category) was still available in most, if not all, sizes, which made me realize that this was a huge miss for the designer. (Turns out, designers and retailers rarely do these collaborations for profit/sales volume, but more so to gain new customers and increase "media impressions.")

I came across one revived style that caught my eye: the denim jacket. It was a very cool denim jacket and what made it special was that it had panelled frays all over the seams, making the reverse side of the fabric show through, creating a subtle color-blocking effect on the garment. It was a cool concept and ingenious in its execution. The fit was impeccable and the price, at about $120, was fairly reasonable for the garment itself. After I got home, it didn’t take long until the piece, much like the rest of the collection, soon lost its novelty and started to feel as though it was just any other denim jacket. The next day, I returned the jacket in the store.

Like I said, there was a definite design to this jacket and the fit was undeniably great, but what made me return the jacket back was that after a while, it just didn’t seem all that special. (In fact, I distinctly remember having a very long argument with myself while in the store on whether I should buy the jacket or not.) It didn’t take long until I started scrutinizing every single aspect of the garment: from the trims, the sewing, to the fabric itself. Maybe it’s the fact that I work in a denim company that I tend to hold a higher standard for all things denim, or maybe I tend to hold the designer himself to a higher standard, but the creeping feeling in me knew what really irked me. It was, after all, because the piece was, for all intents and purposes, “democratized.”

I feel the need to say that I don’t have anything against humane mass production. I’m definitely aware of the basic logistics of how a fashion company works, especially the likes of a massive fast-fashion retailer such as H&M, but I couldn’t shake the feeling of seeing such a cool concept, reworked and watered down in a less than stellar fabric, multiplied, and then hung along with the rest of the designer’s collection. It was not unlike a work of art that was essentially knocked-off; like Van Gogh's Starry Night was re-printed on paper, carbon-copied, and stacked along with hundreds of its exact duplicates. It's not just the same as the real thing. 

On the other hand, I could understand the excitement over the opportunity to wear designer clothing. As a twenty-something year old young adult myself, clothes that are made beautifully and thoughtfully doesn't come often, much less at a reasonable price tag. One could even argue that designers are not watering down their designs, they're simply reconfiguring the formula in order to fit a different type of customer. Granted, it's not their usual customer who is able to afford thousands of dollars worth of clothing at a swipe of a card, but their customer nonetheless. One of the many things that my mentor has taught me is that the mark of a good designer is being able to create and design new and exciting fashion to their customer, but a great designer is one who can deliver the same under a budget without sacrificing the design integrity of the garment. Furthermore, whose to say that these customers will not grow to the the same successful, affluent people who so generously patronize their clothes now? It would be a convincing argument to say that these collaborations are to be seen as an investment for the designer because they do bring in new exposure to a bigger audience to a brand that normally doesn't get it. 

However, what ends up happening with these kinds of collaborations is the huge disposability factor that inevitably comes with this kind of shopping experience. Not only does it contribute to the already growing piles of used clothing in landfills the world over, but it can also be attributed to the growing corruption of fashion. I personally support the idea of making fashion available to the masses, however, creating fashion for the sake of creating it, without thought or care, has no place in today's market. Fashion design is an art and it takes time to create and finesse a garment that is well-designed. In addition, no longer should the business model of fast fashion exist, as these kinds of concepts are not only responsible for tremendous waste, but it also perpetuates the process of design without intent. Walking in stores like H&M, Topman, or Forever 21, is like walking into a fashion avalanche, the second you step in you are flooded with a massive amount of discombobulated ideas of what you should look like. There is no purpose to this kind of shopping experience, but simply, and unashamedly, for profitability. 

Like democracy itself, we haven't quite perfected the idea of bringing real fashion to the masses. I don't have the singular answer to the problem but I do know that supporting the idea of disposable fashion would be a huge step back. I'm not saying that every time we shop for clothes needs to break the bank (expensive clothing does not necessarily equate to good design), but maybe part of it is we need to come to realize which kind of clothing deserves to be paid more, and we need to appreciate and recognize the brands that promote this kind of top-tier quality. And it's not like we throw away clothes that makes us look good anyway. In fact, we keep clothes that have good design because they flatter our shape and appearance and it makes us feel great. And at the end of the day, isn't that worth paying a little more?