thesis fashion industry

International Journal of Interdisciplinary Research

• Open access
• Published: 05 November 2021

Designing for circular fashion: integrating upcycling into conventional garment manufacturing processes

• Reet Aus 1 ,
• Harri Moora 2 ,
• Markus Vihma 1 ,
• Reimo Unt 1 ,
• Marko Kiisa 3 &
• Sneha Kapur 4  

Fashion and Textiles volume  8 , Article number:  34 ( 2021 ) Cite this article

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This paper summarises the results of a more than 5-year practice-led study on the use of upcycling design and production methods in garment mass production. The efficiency of upcycling design approach is described by analysing the generation and potential use of various types of fabric leftovers from garment manufacturing. The results of this research show that depending on the size of the factory the fabric leftovers and textile waste generated in garment production ranges from 25–40% of the total fabric used. Experiments show that 50% of that material can be upcycled into new garments and for some types of leftover—mainly spreading loss and excess fabric—it can even be up to 80%. Implementing upcycling on the industrial level requires transparency to understand the waste created in garment production and create designs that suite the production system. It is important to consider that the upcycling design process differs from regular design—a garment is designed based on the parameters of the waste materials.

Introduction

The fashion and textile industry is one of the world’s most polluting industries, mainly because its volume of production dwarfs most other industries. Textiles production requires a lot of land for crops and uses a lot of water, energy, chemicals and other resources leaving often untreated pollution behind and has a highly negative environmental, economic and social footprint (Fletcher, 2008 ; GFA & BCG, 2017 ; Hiller Connell & Kozar, 2017 ; Leal et al., 2019 ; Remy et al., 2016 ). Today’s conventional fashion and garment industry is linear by nature and in addition to the impact that raw material extraction for newly produced fibre production has, textile waste has become a major problem in the sector (Ellen MacArthur, 2013 , 2017 ).

The amount of waste created is truly significant, as the European Union (EU) textile industry alone generates around 16 million tonnes of textile waste annually (European Commission, 2017 ). Much of this waste today still ends up in landfills or is incinerated. This represents a loss from a production effort which uses millions of tonnes of water and kilowatts of energy, and countless hours of human labour that could be salvaged (Leal et al., 2019 ).

While most debates and circular fashion approaches focus on the problem of used garments—so-called post-consumer waste (Fischer & Pascucci, 2017 ; Singh & Ordoñez, 2016 ), less attention is paid to the textile waste and leftovers from manufacturing garments (pre-consumer waste). Yet the environmental impact of garment production in the whole garment life cycle can be from 29 to 72% depending on the type of clothing (Steinberger et al., 2009 ).

Over the past 30 years, most garment production has shifted to developing countries, mainly in Asia, in search of cheaper labour. Global clothing supply chains are now complex involving several actors on many levels and regions making it difficult to have full oversight on them. This results in the waste generated in the production being less visible and less recognised by brands, designers as well as consumers (Govindan & Hasanagic, 2018 ).

However, awareness that the textile waste generated during garment production is a problem is starting to increase mainly of economic reasons. Fabric can make up to 80% of the total production cost of a garment, which has made manufacturers to seek ways to decrease the creation of waste as much as possible (Nayak et al., 2008 ). Recycling technologies for textile production waste and leftovers are also being sought and developed (Leal et al., 2019 ; Lewis et al., 2016 ). The problem of textile production waste is still mainly left for manufacturers to solve. The unofficial waste management system in those manufacturing countries is unpredictable and the availability of different recycling options is very limited. Therefore, most of the leftover material from garment manufacturing ends up dumped or burned.

The aim of this study was to analyse the amount and types of textile waste and fabric leftovers generated in the garment manufacturing process that are most suitable for what is called industrial upcycling so as to redirect the leftover material back into the production of new garments. In addition, a summary of innovative design methods and examples of garment designs for upcycling textile waste is presented. These methods and examples were developed and tested during this research, which also formed the foundation for the development of a new circular design business model, UPMADE. It is the first of its kind circular garment design and production approach based on the principles of upcycling and has proven to be applicable in mass production in several garment manufacturing factories in Asian countries (SEI, 2019 ).

Literature review

• Circular fashion

In recent years, the circular economy, as the opposite approach to the current linear economy, has been one of the most important areas of environmental policy affecting the fashion and textile industry among others (Ellen MacArthur, 2017 ). Circularity relates to the intention to minimize waste and keep textile products within a cycle of use throughout the process of design, manufacture and consumption until they are returned safely to the biosphere once they have no further use (Brismar, 2017 ; Niinimäki, 2017 ). Today, fashion and textile companies are searching for new circular solutions to reduce their environmental impact. Over the past decade, a variety of new technological approaches to design and business models have been developed to rethink the various stages of product development and textile production with a focus on circularity, incorporating an emphasis on ecologically sustainable materials, which can easily be reused and or recycled back into the production cycle (Gazzola et al., 2020 ; Goldsworthy et al., 2018 ; Niinimäki, 2017 ). With an increasing concern amongst consumers towards the social and environmental impact of their purchases, businesses are beginning to understand the financial benefits of highlighting a circular approach. Even though the circular economy and problem of waste is gaining more attention, it can be said that fashion and textile industry still lags behind other sectors (Niinimäki, 2013 , 2017 ).

Measuring and creating visibility for textile waste can unlock major opportunities for material circulation using fabric leftovers from garment production and associated economic benefits (Bocken et al., 2017 ; De los Rios & Charnley, 2017 ). Providing innovative circular design methods for fabric leftovers and textile waste can significantly reduce the environmental impact of the fashion and textile industry and lead to a virtuous circle in which financial savings also lead to a positive environmental impact and lead to a win–win partnership (Lieder & Rashid, 2016 ).

Upcycling as a new design principle for circular fashion

More and more fashion designers are turning to the concept of upcycling. Over the last decade the term ‘upcycling’ has been coined and worked into the discourse of sustainability efforts. It first appeared in William McDonough’s book, Cradle to Cradle (McDonough & Braungart, 2002 ). The term has a number of definitions and practices and it has mainly been used in connection with fashion and textiles. Upcycling can be defined as a recycling approach where “waste”—textile leftovers that would usually end up in landfill or incineration—is used to create products with a higher retail value than traditional recycled products (Aus, 2011 ; Cassidy & Sara, 2012 ; Han et al., 2015 , 2017 ; Teli et al., 2015 ). As such, upcycling can be described as the opposite of downcycling, which downgrades the value of the material and discards the work and value invested in it.

Traditionally textile waste recycling refers to the reprocessing of textile waste (mechanically or chemically) for use in both new textile products and non-textile products (Sandin & Peters, 2018 ). Upcycling is generally understood as a design-based circular fashion approach, where pre- or post-consumer textile waste material is repurposed to create new garments (Aus, 2011 ).

Upcycling is a growing trend among fashion designers, helping to save resources and keep tonnes of textile waste out of the waste stream. More and more brands and fashion houses are waking up to the method and applying it as they seek solutions to the industry’s environmental impact and to offer socially and environmentally conscious choices to their customers. Some of the best-known upcycling designers who use pre-consumer textile waste and leftovers are for example Reet Aus from Estonia, British designer Christopher Raeburn and Zero Waste Daniel from New York (Giordano, 2019 ).

Until recently, however, upcycling has mostly been used on a small scale, sold as unique pieces or added elements in some collections, and not on an industrial scale (Moorhouse & Moorhouse, 2017 ).

Implementing upcycling on the industrial level requires transparency to understand the waste created in mass production and create designs that suite the production system and make it less wasteful. It is important to consider that the upcycling design process differs from regular design—a garment is designed based on the parameters of the waste materials (Aus, 2011 ; Han et al., 2015 , 2017 ).

One of the main obstacles to the use (and upcycling) of leftover material in the fashion and textile industry is the lack of data about the textile waste generated in the garment manufacturing. The volume of textile leftovers is systematically underreported and thus underestimated by the industry (Runnel et al. 2017a , b ). Leftover generation and fabric loss from garment production (mainly from the cutting and sewing process) is relatively well known and the manufacturers are making considerable efforts to optimise their processes and avoid or minimise waste (Nayak et al., 2008 ; Saeidi & Wimberley, 2017 ; Townsend & Mills, 2013 ). However, very little research has been done to analyse and estimate the amount of fabric waste that is related to other problems with fabric quality as well as manufacturing and resource planning (Runnel et al., 2017a , b ).

Although upcycling uses traditional fashion design techniques (e.g. sketches, mood-boards and sample making), the designs are determined by the available surplus stock of fabric leftovers that can vary in size and shape. Therefore, the starting point is always a detailed overview of the waste streams and identifying the type and quantity of available materials (Aus, 2011 ). This requires flexibility from the designer, comprehension of the production processes and a sense of systems thinking. It also requires close cooperation and information exchange between the brand or, the designer and the manufacturer. However, compared to other textile waste recycling solutions the garments designed from textile waste and leftovers can be manufactured in the existing garment manufacturing sites, utilising existing infrastructure without the need to invest into additional technologies (SEI, 2019 ). This offers a great opportunity for an efficient upcycling of textile waste from manufacturing processes.

This study is a practice-led (Candy, 2006 ; Gam & Banning, 2011 ) research project aimed at gaining a new understanding of the practice of upcycled fashion design and its implementation in the mass production of garments. The study was based on five years of comprehensive field research in four factories in Bangladesh, India and Estonia, where the upcycling design approaches were developed together with an accompanying business model to integrate and implement them.

This practice-led research was completed in two main stages, as illustrated in Fig.  1

Overview of the research stages and methods

Textile and fabric leftover analysis in selected garment manufacturing companies

The results of the detailed textile waste and fabric leftover analysis were formulated based on investigations of two garment manufacturers. The first in Bangladesh, employs around 40,000 workers and produces approximately 240 million garments a year for a few dozen brands. It represents a classical large-scale textile manufacturer and the particularities of production processes of that scale. The other company is in India and employs around 400 workers and represents a typical small garment manufacturer with smaller output and fewer clients. They both service mainly European and Northern American fashion brands.

The textile waste and leftover analyses were carried out via repeated site inspections, interviews with key staff and screenings of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) data extracts as well as material and waste inventory data for both studied companies. The main categories of textile waste and fabric leftovers presented in this research are derived from a general classification used in the textile industry (Nayak et al., 2008 ; Ng et al., 1999 ; Saeidi & Wimberley, 2017 ; Townsend & Mills, 2013 ). The types and causes of manufacturing related fabric leftovers and loss generation were also studied in both companies during the waste analysis.

The detailed analysis of fabric leftover and waste generation was based on company ERP data from selected orders that contained vital information, such as amount of fabric used, average marker efficiency, rejected and excess fabric, excess garments, that allowed us to calculate the amount of fabric leftover generated with each order. The generation of different types of fabric leftovers was calculated according to the most common garment categories—T-shirts (jersey), trousers (denim), men’s shirts (woven) and dresses (woven). In each of the two factories, 10 random orders for all four garment categories were analysed. The average order size in the large factory was around 32,000 products and 1500 products in the smaller factory. Based on the analysis of these orders, it was possible to calculate the weighted averages of the share of fabric waste in the main studied categories of leftovers.

Development of upcycled garment design methods

From that waste analysis, the categories of leftovers with the greatest potential for upcycling were identified and then matched with developed design approaches. The applicability and efficiency of upcycling garment designs were tested on each selected fabric leftover category. During the testing, the suitability of the fabric leftovers for upcycling design and mass production was assessed in terms of total available material, as well as size, shape and other parameters. The selected leftover categories with higher potential for upcycling in mass production were used for a series of tests to further develop the suitable upcycling design methods that were documented as case studies.

In those tests the total use potential of that particular leftover category for making new upcycled garments was assessed. Specific types of textile leftovers from the selected orders (5 orders from each tested leftover category) were separated and used for producing new upcycled garments following a developed design method. The total quantity of the particular material that was sent for upcycling was measured as well as the amount of fabric utilisation in the actual upcycling process. The amount of leftover fabric used in upcycling was determined by measuring the surface area (e.g. width and length of roll ends/excess fabric or pattern layout of cut pieces) or weight (rejected panels and overproduced garments). The results of the measuring allowed us to calculate the average percentage of the leftover fabric used to indicate how much of specific leftovers it is possible to use for upcycling new garments.

Results and discussion

Textile waste and leftover generation in the garment manufacturing.

Implementing an upcycling-based garment design and production process requires a good understanding of textile waste and leftover generation in the garment manufacturing process. However, usually this data is not available to designers, and therefore it is difficult to introduce upcycling approaches on an industrial scale. Here we describe the main causes of textile waste with the results of our research on their volumes in the garment industry.

Main causes of textile waste and leftover generation

Textile waste is one by-product of garment manufacturing, and usually it is deemed unusable for its original purpose. Fabric waste and leftovers are generated at various stages of the garment production process and their volumes and causes can differ significantly (Runnel et al. 2017a , 2017b ).

In general, there are three main reasons for fabric leftover generation and fabric loss in the garment manufacturing:

Leftovers due to the technical particularities of production processes (e.g. cutting waste, roll ends, sewing damage and defects)

Problems with quality of fabric (e.g. defective, damaged or unsuitable fabric)

Problems related to manufacturing and resource planning (e.g. excess fabric, order faults or cancellations, over production)

Leftovers from garment production process

Textile waste and leftovers generated during garment manufacturing can be categorised based on technical particularities of the production processes as follows.

Sampling fabric leftovers

Textile leftovers are already generated in the product development stage. During this stage several samples are usually made on which the final production design is decided and the production processes are tested and planned. Typically, part-finished or finished garment samples and textile swatches are considered as factory surplus textile leftovers. However, fabric leftovers and not used samples that are produced during the sampling stage form a very small part of the total generation of textile/garment leftovers.

Fabric leftovers and losses from cutting

Cutting is the major stage among the various processes of garment production where most of the fabric waste/leftovers is generated. The amount of fabric loss in the cutting process depends on many aspects. During the cutting process two main types of fabric losses occur—marking loss and spreading loss (Nayak et al., 2008 ).

Marking loss arises due to the gap and the non-usable areas between the pattern pieces of a marker. Marker efficiency indicates the amount of marking loss. Marker efficiency is commonly affected by fabric characteristics, shapes of pattern pieces, fabric utilisation standards and marker quality. The higher the marker efficiency the higher the fabric usage and smaller the wastage. The area between pattern pieces, which is not used for garment parts, is usually called cut pieces.

The various fabric losses outside the marker can be broadly classified into the following groups (Nayak et al., 2008 ):

Edge loss—occurs due to variable fabric widths. The width of the marker is usually a few centimetres less than the edge-to-edge width of the fabric. This loss on the sides of fabric roll is called edge loss.

End loss—is an allowance left at both ends of a fabric ply in a spread to ease cutting. The end loss should be as small as possible (standard end loss is 2–4 cm, but it could be more depending on the quality of the cutting process). The greater the fabric length the less waste.

End bits and roll ends—during the spreading process, the variation in length of fabric between the fabric rolls as well as roll allocation could result in the generation of significant amount of remnant fabric loss or roll ends in different lengths.

In addition to the abovementioned leftover types, rejected panels could be brought up as a specific type of fabric leftover from the cutting process. Rejected panels are segregated after cutting when defects on the fabric are spotted or mistakes were made during cutting. The most common reason for rejection is defects in the fabric itself and different brands have different quality standards for the number of defects per square metre.

Fabric leftovers and losses from sewing

Fabric leftovers generated during the sewing stage are usually related to sewing damages and defects in the fabric. While some of the defects can be corrected, oil stains from sewing machines, uneven panels or other permanent defects result in rejecting the whole garment. That means the majority of the textile waste involves partial or complete garments that have been separated during quality control. The frequency and therefore the total amount is directly in correlation with the quality of the sewing process of the manufacturer depending on the suitability of the fabric and other materials, the competence of the sewers and the quality of the machinery.

Leftovers related to fabric quality

Whether the fabric is produced in-house (vertically integrated production) or ordered in, it can happen that the fabric has unrepairable faults in it. The following reasons cause the largest amounts of leftover fabric:

Unsuitable fabric—the main reason a fabric already sourced is not used in the production is when it deviates from the initial order. Problems with the specifics of the colour are the most common but also feel and other qualities. Although there is an industry-wide system for colour standards to make sure of the specific colour type, in reality variations occur.

Defective fabric—typical defects during the manufacturing process include back fabric seam impression, birds eye, bowing, broken colour pattern, colour out, colour smears, crease mark, mistakes in drop stitching, dye streak in printing, holes, jerk in, knots, mixed yarn, mottled, needle line, open reed, pin holes, press off and others.

Damaged fabric—damage can occur during storage, treatment or transportation if the proper conditions for humidity, ventilation etc. have not been met. That is also why various chemicals are often applied to deter the growth of fungi.

Leftovers related to manufacturing and resource planning

The garment industry has become a very consumer-driven industry, and this affects the relationship between brands and manufacturers. Manufacturing companies have to compete globally to respond to client demands. They cannot afford to lose time in the production process because this can lead to penalty fees when products aren’t delivered as promised. Buyers can quickly find other companies to replace manufacturers who cannot deliver. As styles are now changing rapidly the brands demand increasingly shorter lead times between ordering and delivery and many of them make increasingly smaller orders that are diffused amongst a number of manufacturers. To keep up with changing trends, manufacturers are pressured to plan and control their manufacturing processes accordingly. This results in manufacturers having to pre-plan and store sufficient supply of fabrics and plan for over-production to minimise delivery risks.

The main reasons a significant volume of fabric can be left unused include the following:

Order faults or cancellation—sometimes the client cancels the order for internal reasons. Although, usually the material cost is fully covered by the client, some of the material can already be produced and ready but will not be used.

Excess fabric—the minimum order quantity (MOQ) for fabric orders can be bigger than a smaller manufacturer will use to complete an order.

Delays—these can occur when ordering or manufacturing the fabric. Contracts are strict and being pushed back even a few days can result in cancellation of the order.

Over-production—the manufacturer has to deliver the products to the customer on an agreed date. The lead time can be as short as 30 days in vertically integrated plants to cater for fast fashion, although it is usually 60 days. An average lead time is 30 days for making fabric and 45 days for producing garments. To avoid under delivering to the client, the risk of possible production errors from all stages are accounted for by planning an extra 3–5% of end produce. This results in over production of ready-made and ready to ship garments. If no mistakes are made during the manufacturing, then the excess production—even though it can be perfect in quality—is usually written off as waste. Sometimes the branding labels are removed from the ready-made garments and sold off to the local market.

Quantity of fabric leftovers from garment manufacturing

The results of the detailed analysis of fabric leftover and waste generation in two typical garment manufacturers—one large and one small—are presented in Table 1 .

The results of the analysis show that there is significantly less fabric loss generated in the large manufacturing company compared to the smaller factory—the total share of leftovers was 24.7% and 39.2% respectively. The biggest difference is in the generation of cutting waste, where the share in the large factory is half that of the smaller factory in all forms—cut pieces from marking loss as well as end-pits and roll ends from spreading loss. The smaller proportion of waste in the large factory can be reasonably explained that they generally operate at a higher level of efficiency, larger orders allow them to better minimise cut waste from routines and fewer alterations. Furthermore, quality control works more diligently in larger factories. Smaller manufacturers have more fabric leftovers because their orders are smaller and the minimum purchase quantity is sometimes bigger than the order, which results in excess fabric.

Using the upcycling method in fashion design

The following section displays examples of selected upcycling design methods that were developed as a result of the leftover analysis and product development. Those designs have been successfully manufactured on actual mass production lines (smaller quantities have also been produced in more flexible facilities to create samples). The design methods are presented here according to the most suitable types of fabric leftovers for upcycling determined within this research:

Design based on cutting leftovers (small cut pieces, end-pits and short roll ends 30 cm to 3 m) and rejected panels

Design based on longer roll ends (3–49 m) and excess fabric

Design based on overproduced garments

Design based on cutting leftovers.

Cutting waste is the most abundant form of fabric leftover in the production process. Due to the small size and various shapes of cut waste its use in designing and producing upcycled garments is the most challenging. To effectively use such material, it is necessary to integrate the upcycling design into the garment production process.

The most difficult pieces to use in upcycling designs are the smaller cuts, which are in essence non-usable areas between the pattern pieces of the marker (so-called marking loss). Their amount and size varies from order to order due to the garment’s design elements and order volume. To get the best use of the material, the panels for an upcycled garment have to be planned into the production and fit the empty spots on the original pattern. Gathering the cut pieces and later cutting them separately is too labour intensive, making it economically and technically unfeasible. Furthermore, cutting everything in one go with the original order is much easier and cheaper as it requires less handling and allows access to the main production lines. Interfering with the original production, however, requires good cooperation with the manufacturer and the brand’s design team, as well as reacting fast when the original order is prepared for production. This means there are two main approaches to using cut leftovers.

The first approach is to design the upcycling product in parallel with the original primary product and its production planning. The pattern is prepared in the factory just before cutting. The details of the pieces for the upcycled garment must be ready by then to be placed into the original marker. The most efficient approach is when the client who orders the initial garment plans their side product into the pattern themselves. The amendments must be swift because the initial order cannot wait for the secondary designs. To be able to upcycle in such a way, an analysis of many patterns over time is required to develop products whose details are suitable to place into the gaps. The details (or some of them) of the design of the upcycled product are integrated into the empty areas in the original pattern and will be cut simultaneously on the cutting table. This makes it possible to maximise pattern efficiency and the use of potential cut waste pieces for the upcycled garment. Those added details will be separated during cutting and the new upcycled garment can be produced in parallel to the original one.

The second approach is to define standard details that can be added to the markers continuously whenever the empty areas between patterns have enough space to fit them. For example, certain triangles fit well between men’s button up shirt patterns to combine into a new garment. At the cutting table those pieces are cut with the rest but separately collected to be later used in the production of certain types of upcycling products.

Cutting waste forms majority of textile waste produced throughout the production of garments, therefore in order to achieve maximum circularity, it is recommended to send cutting leftovers unsuitable to upcycling with the rest of the textile waste to mechanical recycling.

Example 1. Dress made from cutting pieces

One of the most efficient ways to minimise cutting leftovers is to design a product made from similar smaller pieces. That makes it possible to add those details into a marker that is already set up and the product will be cut at the same time. The details will be collected separately from the cutting table and sent for sewing. This method gives the opportunity to save up to 60% of the cutting leftovers, depending on the size of the detail added to marker. The example in Fig.  2 resulted in a 50% reduction in waste material.

Dress made from cutting leftovers (Design: Reet Aus, 2014. Photo: Gabriela Urm, reused with permission)

It is somewhat easier to use the fabric leftovers generated outside the marker during the spreading process—shorter end-pits and roll ends, usually up to 3 m in length. The variability of the length of the pieces does not allow many layers of material to be cut together. Therefore, the most complicated and expensive step in the process is cutting. It has proven reasonable to proceed according to the shortest length of roll ends that in our experience has been 30 cm. This length dictates the size of a panel in a product that allows to use the most fabric. Such panels can be combined into one product that may therefore have several cuts in them.

The most efficient way to use the end-pits and shorter roll ends is to develop special garment designs as standard products that can be continuously made from separately collected fabric leftovers that come from nearly all orders (see Example 2 and 3, Figs.  3 and 4 ). This requires a clear procedure at the manufacturing site, for which leftovers in terms of size, fabric type and other parameters must be separated at the cutting phase for later upcycling.

Upcycled T-shirt designed from end-pits and short roll ends (Design: Reet Aus, 2019. Photo: Krõõt Tarkmeel, reused with permission)

Upcycled dress designed from end-pits and roll ends (Design: Reet Aus, 2019. Photo: Krõõt Tarkmeel, reused with permission)

Example 2 . Upcycled T-shirt

The size of the details of the T-shirt can depend on the size of the available waste pieces. In this example, short roll ends were used. This design has been in production for five years, the amounts and colour variations depend on the fabric available (see Fig.  3 ).

Example 3. Upcycled dress

This dress is another example of a design based on cutting waste—end-pits and short roll ends. The size of the details is driven by the size of the abovementioned waste pieces—here 30 cm long pieces were used. This particular model has been in production for two years in three different colour and fabric combinations.

The generated leftovers—end-pits and short roll ends—can be upcycled up to 80% in both examples. The design of example 3 allows even higher efficiency in using the leftover fabric because the square shape of the pattern makes it possible to use the “zero waste” approach.

It is also possible to use rejected panels in the aforementioned designs. The challenge here is gathering and preserving the material. Cutting is especially challenging, as they are usually smaller than end-pits and shorter roll ends, the amounts are unpredictable and there can be defects in the fabric. Therefore, it is a suitable material to be used in small quantities, garment details, or other non-garment design products. The production from rejected panels is expensive and requires high flexibility.

Design based on long roll ends and excess fabric

The longer roll ends (usually 3–49 m) are the most abundant type of textile waste, and due to their size, it is the most suitable material for making large quantities of upcycled garments. To ensure greater efficiency, roll ends longer than 3 m are instructed to be separated from the smaller ones at the cutting table, put back on a roll and stored separately or sent directly for upcycled garment production. The upcycled design is free of constraints when using larger roll ends, as the size does not determine the cuts. The easiest way to cut the larger roll ends is by creating a 3 m marker and the fabric can be laid out in 3 m layers on top of itself.

Example 4. Upcycled dress

This dress is designed to continue the overall style of the collection that has decorative cuts. This model has been in production for three years and it has been produced in five different fabric combinations. This method made it possible to upcycle 80% of such leftovers (Fig.  5 ).

Upcycled dress designed from large roll ends (Design: Reet Aus. Photo: Krõõt Tarkmees)

Although producers try hard to avoid and reduce the amount of excess fabric it can still happen in significant volumes. The most reasonable solution is to use this excess in the production of other garments. In general, producers try to use such fabric in other orders or try to sell it to other smaller producers to be used in their production. Such fabric leftovers can also be used for making upcycled products, especially if they come in smaller volumes and in a variety of styles that are difficult to find a use for otherwise.

Example 5. Upcycled jeans

These jeans are produced from excess fabric that came from a cancelled order (see Fig.  6 ). Around 600 m has been stored separately for upcycling and the same model is being produced several times a year, 200 units at a time. Using the same fabric ensures consistent quality and can be used to make samples for new upcycled products. Furthermore, in this case up to 80% of the original leftover fabric was upcycled to produce new products.

Upcycled jeans designed from excess fabric (Design: Reet Aus, 2019. Photo: Krõõt Tarkmeel, reused with permission)

The best way to avoid this waste altogether is if brands had more flexibility with their orders. As they are generally good quality garments made according to the specifications of the client, the best solution would be to sell them to the client. However, as this is most often not the practice, it is possible to use the material and upcycle it into new products with a different design. This is a complicated and costly process, as the products will have to be dismantled either partially or fully, create a clever and suitable design, recut the panels and resew them back into a new garment. A production like this is more suitable for a smaller manufacturer or a studio; it is not viable in mass production. However, it would be possible on the sampling lines of a large manufacturer where the production conditions are different and they have greater flexibility.

Example 6. Song Festival upcycled T-shirt

The factory had cancelled an order of 70,000 polo shirts. Those cancelled products were turned into 23,000 new T-shirts produced for the Estonian Song Festival. Because the cutting of the original products had to be done by hand it was a relatively complicated and time consuming process (Fig.  7 ).

T-shirt designed from overproduced garments (Design: Reet Aus 2013. Photo: Kerli Sosi, reused with permission)

Conclusions

Years of practical research in different garment manufacturing units has proven that industrial upcycling is a feasible and viable solution to pre-consumer textile waste. As shown in this research there are different volumes of fabric leftovers generated for different reasons that can be used for the manufacture of new garments using the upcycling design methods. Based on the results of this research, it can be said that depending on the size of the factory the textile waste and fabric leftovers generated in the garment manufacturing process ranges from 25 to 40% of the total fabric used. The results of testing of different upcycling design methods and leftover types show that 50% of that material can be upcycled into new garments and for some types of leftover—mainly spreading loss and excess fabric—it can even be up to 80%.

However, for the successful implementation of upcycling design and production system some requirements have to be fulfilled. Most importantly, the application of the upcycling model requires the initiative from the fashion brands who hold the power to order upcycled garments and therefore to reduce the textile waste and leftovers generation from making their products. The upcycling model also requires a higher level of trust between the brand and the manufacturer. On the other hand, the mutual interest of maximising the use of leftovers leads towards greater openness, exchange of information and long term cooperation that is a win–win solution to all involved. The manufacturers can form a long-term partnership with the brand it produces garments for and the brand, in turn, can get more out of their fabric if the manufacturer will also produce an upcycled collection from the fabric waste.

To be able to implement upcycling design methods the designers need to understand the types of leftovers generated and the reasons why this happens. Fabric leftovers and waste are generated because of technical aspects of the production processes, manufacturing and resource planning and quality issues. Cooperation between brands/designers and the manufacturer is crucial to understand the particularities of the material and to be able to design for it. For the efficiency of upcycling it is necessary to integrate the upcycling design into the garment production process, especially when working with cut leftovers.

The results of this research show that upcycling is a good opportunity to find the highest value for textile waste with relatively low cost by leveraging the existing capabilities and capacity of textile manufacturers. Upcycling pre-consumer waste makes it possible to work with homogenous and predictable material streams to manufacture the same upcycled garment designs in large quantities. Large amount of textile waste and leftovers can be redirected back into the production and upcycled into new garments in-house while greatly increasing the overall circularity of the sector.

Availability of data and materials

The datasets generated and analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. The detailed data that supports the waste generation calculation (sample orders of two manufacturing companies) is not publicly available due to commercial restrictions.

Abbreviations

Enterprise Resource Planning—a multi-module software application to manage business processes. It keeps a record of the resources and raw materials used and ordered as well as keeping track of the data related to finances, production, sales, etc

European Union

Minimum Order Quantity

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to sincerely thank the representatives of manufacturing

companies for their support during the waste analysis and testing the design methods.

Publishing of the paper was supported by the Sustainable Design Lab, Estonian Academy of Arts, Estonia.

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Reet Aus, Markus Vihma & Reimo Unt

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RA and HM originated the research idea. HM developed the first draft of the manuscript, and all authors contributed to further writing, editing and review. MV helped with interpretation of study results. RA developed and tested the upcycling design methods. MV, RU, MK and SK with the guidance of HM conducted the textile waste and fabric leftover analysis. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Reet Aus: Researcher and lecturer (PhD) in Sustainable Design at Estonian Academy of Arts, Estonia. Harri Moora: Senior Researcher and Programme Director (PhD) at Stockholm Environment, Institute Tallinn Centre, Estonia. Markus Vihma: PhD researcher and lecturer at Estonian Academy of Arts, Estonia. Reimo Unt: Product designer and master’s student at the Estonian Academy of Arts, Estonia. Marko Kiisa: CEO of AusDesign Llc overseeing the business model development and supply chain management, Estonia. Sneha Kapur: Sustainability manager in Mandala Apparels Ltd., India.

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Aus, R., Moora, H., Vihma, M. et al. Designing for circular fashion: integrating upcycling into conventional garment manufacturing processes. Fash Text 8 , 34 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40691-021-00262-9

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173 Creative Fashion Research Topics: Awesome List Of Ideas

The 21st century has amplified fashion such that even a newborn knows about it. However, the challenge of finding unique fashion topics always baffles both college and university students. That is why some of them end up copying whatever they find online or guess whatever comes to mind.  

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Fashion Industry: Definition

Now, fashion refers to a form of expression at a given time, place, and culture. You may have heard of the latest smartphones, clothing, or even cars – well, that is part of fashion. It is not only limited to clothes and fine jewelry in the boutiques.

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Getting Started With Your Fashion Research Paper

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• Fashion magazines and books
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• This fantastic article (Did you think that I would leave it out?)

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Engaging Fashion Research Topics

• What your fashion taste says about you and the psychological impact of fashion
• How have women’s movements impacted today’s fashion?
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• The brighter side of invisible branding in fashion
• Tools used in fashion marketing
• Understanding fashion cycles: From trendy to obsolescence
• The impact of fashion in movies on the youth
• The role of garments in prehistoric ages
• The evolution of style from the 20th century
• The role of class in promoting a culture
• What influence does the military have on culture?
• Understanding the fashion industry: A Multi-billion dollar industry
• Fashion trends that were influenced by 1980s music.
• The role of dressing in subculture identification
• Fashion dressing in the golden age of Queen Elizabeth Era: What it meant ad how it defined social status.
• Evaluate why women pay a close look at what they wear than men

In-Depth Fashion Topics For Students

• What is the net profit and benefit of the fashion industry?
• Fashion ideas that originated from the 80s and are still used in the modern society
• The role of fashion in pushing for social agendas
• Legalizing of Bhang: Is it just fashionable or a necessity?
• Evaluate Retro fashion trends in the 21st century
• Investigating the ethics of suing flesh and fur in high fashion
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• The Psychology of cross-dressing: What is fueling the massive cross-dressing in today’s society
• Luxurious and Royal Fashion trends during the Cold War
• Discuss how the media impacts what people wear
• What is the relationship between art and high-end fashion
• How is the LGBTQ community impacting the fashion industry today?
• Icon case study: How music has influenced the successful running of Fenny Beauty
• How significant is a celebrities influence on fashion trends: A case study of Beyoncé
• Luxurious fashion companies and their impact on the general fashion trends
• Investigating the influx of designer products in the fashion market: Have they come affordable, or is there a leak in the market?

Best Quality Fashion Topics To Discuss

• The impact of fake luxurious products on the high-end fashion industry
• Investigating working from home the new fashion lifestyle: What is the cost-benefit analysis of working from home
• Examining The recent boom in the wig fashion industry
• How big is the trending make-up industry ad what is its impact on the economy
• How Celebrity events push fashion trends
• How fashion translates the empowerment of the modern woman: A case study of Serena William
• How masks evolved from protective gears to fashion statements and the danger in the prevailing Covid’19 pandemic
• How fashion influences the psychology of its consumers
• The role of style in music in influencing teen fashion taste: A case study of Taylor
• Investigating the relationship between fashion and royalty during the Queen Elizabeth era.
• Analysis of the development and growth of fashion: A case study of Australia
• How Britney Spears pioneered the low rise jean fashion trend
• Investigating the hair industry: Who are the leading suppliers of hair in the globe, and who are its consumers
• How fashion can alter your look: How to look slimmer or curvier using fashion hacks.
• Source of leather for your fashionable belt, shoes, and wallet
• A study of the entry of trendy beard products into the hair industry

Excellent Fashion Topics To Write About Today

• An analysis of sustainable and ethical fashion brands
• The role of innovation and creativity in the running of the fashion industry
• A complete guide for buying fashionable high-end textile materials
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• Smart Casual: The latest trendy office fashion
• What is the role of fashion accessories in our dressing?
• The fashion statement of a handbag in every woman’s life
• Ten niches in a fashion that do not exist but should exist
• A review of the book Queen of Fashion by Marie Antoinette: How has it influenced style as we know it today?
• Investigating the impact of fashion trends in the running of a business
• compare and contrast between the European and African fashion
• Understanding denim as a fashion trend
• How big is the Vlog mass industry, and what is its role in pushing fashion trends
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• Why you should consider the prevailing fashion trends before starting a business
• Is Vlog a fashionable wave, or is it here to stay?
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• Understanding the Androgynous model: A case study of Willy Carter

Good Research Paper Topics-Fashion

• How the online industry has changed fashion
• Discuss the effects of various professions on what people wear
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• How necessary is liquidity in the fashion industry

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• The role of photography in the marketing of fashion brands in today’s world
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• The contribution of fashion to economic growth.
• How racism is prevalent in fashion advertising
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• Is crossover fashion the next big thing?
• The mechanism of the fashion industry: How it works
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• How the fashion industry has created employment
• How different seasons of the year determine what people wear
• The impact of covid-19 on our current lifestyle

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• Did the pandemic have any impact on fashion trends?
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• The relationship between plastic surgery and pushing fashion brand
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• The innovation of Nylon in the fashion industry
• Investigating the decline of some fashionable attires. A case study of the tie
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• Trade fairs in the fashion business
• The role of women in the fashion industry
• Challenges to expect as an entrepreneur in the fashion industry
• Contrasting the use of men vs. women in marketing fashion designs
• A guide on building a successful fashion business
• The evolution of minimalism in fashion dressing
• The necessary skills to learn before starting your fashion business
• Top trendy fashion style by entrepreneurs
• Relationship between liberalism and fashion
• Understanding the influence of feminism on fashion

Top Fashion Marketing Writing Ideas

• How are online stores promoting fashion in developed nations?
• Emergent fashion trends following the pandemic
• Impact of climate on fashion trends
• Fashion trends for people with disabilities
• A study of the baby clothing fashion industry
• Understanding organic VS synthetic fashion trends in the market
• Analyzing the direction of adults looking like children
• A study in the origin of the motif
• A study on the falling popularity of office wear in the workplace
• How working at home has impacted the workplace office industry.
• Understanding the decline in popularity of leather accessories
• Investigating the sustainability of some fashion trends
• Investigating the impact of fashion on the environment and its resources
• The origin and evolution of beachwear
• The understanding manner in the textile industry.
• Where did waistcoats originate from in the US?
• Checked Vs. plain fashion dressing
• The trendy use of unconventional material for dressing: A case study of lady gaga

Top Class Fashion Design Topics

• Who is the teenage fashion Icon?
• How Audrey Hepburn revolutionized the fashion industry
• Understanding the timeliness of fashion gowns from the 80s
• How Laurel Bacall pushed the trend of silk blouses, pencil skirts, blazers, and pleated trousers
• Understanding Tuxedo since the 60s
• The popularity of chunky heels between 2019- 2021
• Understanding the preference between sneakers and high heels
• The role of fashion writers in pushing for fashion trends
• The contribution of celebration to the fashion industry in the USA
• Impact of ethnicity on fashion trends
• Relationship between poverty and fashion
• A comparative analysis of fashion trends in royal families across the globe
• The influence of royal families on fashion trends
• Costume culture a case study of Madonna
• How ball gowns have evolved
• Does the fashion industry have a bright future with the proliferation of the internet?
• Investigating the social-cultural history of fashion to understand how it has evolved

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Ultra-fast fashion is a disturbing trend undermining efforts to make the whole industry more sustainable

Research Principal, University of Technology Sydney

Disclosure statement

Taylor Brydges is an Advisor to the Product Stewardship Centre of Excellence, which has provided mentorship to Seamless.

University of Technology Sydney provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation AU.

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Since the 1990s, fast fashion has enabled everyday people to buy the latest catwalk trends. But the sheer volume of garments being whipped up, sold and soon discarded is contributing to a global sustainability crisis .

Now, just when the fashion industry should be waking up and breaking free of this vicious cycle, it’s heading in the opposite direction. We’re on a downward spiral, from fast fashion to ultra-fast fashion . The amount of natural resources consumed and waste produced is snowballing.

Ultra-fast fashion is marked by even faster production cycles, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it trends, and poor labour practices . Brands like Shein, Boohoo and Cider are liberated from the concept of seasonal collections. Instead they are producing garments at breakneck speeds and self-generating microtrends such as balletcore, Barbiecore and even mermaidcore. At the same time there is limited transparency or accountability around clothing supply chains.

The overproduction and consumption of clothing cannot be allowed to continue. Without change, the industry will account for 26% of the world’s carbon budget for limiting global warming to 2°C by 2050. The fashion industry must take responsibility for its actions. Policymakers also have an important role to play in enabling the necessary shift towards a more responsible and circular fashion economy . And let’s not forget the power of consumers.

Read more: To make our wardrobes sustainable, we must cut how many new clothes we buy by 75%

Cheap clothing at what cost?

It was once thought the pandemic would trigger a transition to a more sustainable fashion industry. Unfortunately in reality the industry is getting worse, not better.

Most ultra-fast fashion brands emerged in the late 2010s following the most well known, Shein, founded in 2008. These online, direct-to-consumer brands exploded in popularity during lockdowns, with Shein holding the title of the world’s most popular brand in 2020 .

Established brands such as Gap introduce 12,000 new items a year and H&M 25,000 . But Shein leaves them in the dust, listing 1.3 million items in the same amount of time. How is this even possible?

The ultra-fast fashion model thrives on data and addictive social media marketing to create insatiable consumer demand.

But Shein’s incredibly low prices (its website has thousands of items under A$5) come at a human cost. The company’s own 2021 Sustainability and Social Impact Report (later removed from the site) found only 2% of its factories and warehouses met its own worker safety standards , with the rest requiring corrective action.

The brand has also forgone in-house designers. Instead it works with independent suppliers who can design and manufacture a garment in two weeks .

The result is an incredibly profitable business model. Shein filed for an initial public offering (IPO) last year to value the brand at US$136 billion, up from US$2.5 billion in 2018.

Shifting from fast to ultra-fast fashion has serious environmental and social consequences. This includes even more exploitative labour practices. Shein garment workers reportedly work 75-hour weeks and warehouses operate 24/7 .

Ignoring this shift isn’t just a fashion faux pas. Doing so jeopardises national efforts for a more sustainable fashion industry.

Read more: Fast Fashion: Why garment workers' lives are still in danger 10 years after Rana Plaza — Podcast

A seamless transition to sustainability

The Australian Fashion Council is leading a national product stewardship scheme called Seamless that promises to transform the fashion industry by 2030.

The idea is to bring fashion into the circular economy . Ultimately that means zero waste, but in the meantime raw materials would be kept in the supply chain for as long as possible by designing out and minimising waste.

Members will contribute a four-cent levy for every clothing item they produce or import.

These funds go into clothing collection, research, recycling projects and education campaigns.

BIG W, David Jones, Lorna Jane, Rip Curl, R.M. Williams, THE ICONIC, Sussan Group and Cotton On are Seamless Foundation Members . Each has contributed A$100,000 to the development of the scheme.

As one of the world’s first industry-led collective product stewardship initiatives for clothing textiles, Seamless presents a unique opportunity to drive change towards a more sustainable and circular fashion industry.

But there is a risk ultra-fast fashion brands may act as freeriders in Seamless, benefiting from the investment and initiatives without making meaningful contributions. Shein and others will continue putting more and more product on the market, which will need to be dealt with at the end of its short life. But if they fail to commit to the scheme, they won’t be the ones paying for that.

The government-funded consortium must also recognise ultra-fast fashion in tackling the industry’s environmental and social sustainability challenges. At the moment they’re only talking about fast fashion and ignoring the rise of ultra-fast fashion. Their global scan, for example, includes a discussion of fast fashion and no mention of ultra-fast fashion .

This also points to a lack of data more broadly in the industry but in the case of Seamless, it could have a big impact if this growing market segment is ignored.

Shein and Temu are estimated to earn a combined $2 billion in sales in 2024 , with customers from all walks of life.

Read more: Fast fashion's waste problem could be solved by recycled textiles but brands need to help boost production

The critical crackdown

Some brands are actively engaged and working towards a more sustainable future . But others such as Temu are learning from Shein and looking to emulate their business model.

The transition to a more sustainable and responsible fashion industry requires a greater understanding of ultra-fast fashion, urgent systemic changes and collective efforts.

The Institute for Sustainable Futures , where I work, is a founding member of an international academic research network aimed at tackling the complexities of ultra-fast fashion. That includes how ultra-fast fashion is affecting the livelihoods of garment workers, how it’s fuelling textile waste and underscoring the industry’s struggle to embrace circular economy principles. We’re also investigating how to reshape consumer behaviour, away from social media-fuelled hauls towards more sustainable consumption particularly among Gen-Z consumers.

Last month, Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek announced a potential intervention , perhaps by introducing minimum environmental standards or a clothing levy by July.

The clock is ticking. It is time to lay the foundation for a more sustainable and just fashion industry. Australia has a rich fashion history and is home to many leading local brands – many of whom have gone global. These brands show us what is possible when good design, sustainability and innovation drive an industry.

Ultimately, our collective choices wield immense power. By understanding the consequences of our fashion habits and advocating for change, we can all be catalysts for a more sustainable and just fashion industry.

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Forced labor in the clothing industry is rampant and hidden. This AI-powered search platform can expose it.

Developed by Northeastern University researchers, Supply Trace combines machine learning and on-the-ground investigation to track goods from apparel companies to regions with a high risk of forced labor.

Almost all of the clothing sold in America comes from overseas, making a long journey on a shipping container into a domestic port. Peer inside any apparel shipment bound for customs checkpoints, groaning with t-shirts or leggings or underwear, and you’ll probably see tags hinting at their origins: Made in Vietnam, China, Indonesia. If you think about it any further, you may suppose that they took a straightforward journey from a factory in that country, eventually reaching the shelves of a store or e-retail warehouse and going into a shopping basket.

It’s more complicated than that. In fact, there’s a very good chance even the company selling those t-shirts and leggings doesn’t have all the information about where they really came from.

That mystery is emblematic of what has long been a frustratingly obscure, dangerous corner of the economy, plagued by human rights violations. The global apparel industry is worth about $1.7 trillion annually. According to watchdog groups, an estimated $161 billion worth of apparel and textile goods are at risk of being produced with forced labor — what human rights activists equate to modern-day slavery. An estimated 27 million people — the population of Australia — are trapped in forced labor across the globe.

And unwieldy journeys from manufacturing regions to consumers in countries that buy their goods make it easy for unscrupulous governments and factories to cover their tracks. “There’s no way for people to know where their products come from,” says Shawn Bhimani, an assistant professor of supply chain management at Northeastern University.

Bhimani and his colleagues are about to change that.

On Thursday, Bhimani and project director Katie Shaw launched Supply Trace [supplytrace.org], an open-access platform that combines machine learning with on-the-ground research to sniff out risks of forced labor in the global apparel supply chain. Meant primarily for industry use, the searchable database allows users to chart the path of apparel goods around the world, connecting hundreds of millions of data points on imports in purchasing countries with in-person reports detailing the locations and practices of facilities that use forced labor.

There’s no way for people to know where their products come from. We’re trying to create a level of transparency that should have always existed. Shawn Bhimani , Northeastern University assistant professor of supply chain management

Users who search for a specific company on the platform will call up an auto-generated world map with color-coded lines indicating the likelihood that its goods have ties to areas of the world known to use forced labor, along with supporting documents compiled by the project’s facility investigation team at Sheffield Hallam University in the United Kingdom. In its pilot iteration, the target users are professionals within and around the apparel industry: fashion companies, human rights nonprofits and policymakers.

“We’re trying to create a level of transparency that should have always existed,” Bhimani says.

Initially, Supply Trace will be focused on cotton tracked back to the Uyghur region in Western China, a hotbed of forced labor thanks to oppressive government policies against the vulnerable Uyghur ethnic minority in that region. The Sheffield Hallam research team includes Uyghur nationals, some of whom work anonymously to protect their sources and families. But supply chain experts think the model will be a broad-based game-changer, shining a light on how goods of every stripe are sourced across the global supply chain.

“This has the potential to turn into something huge,” says Nada Sanders, a distinguished professor of supply chain management at Northeastern’s D’Amore McKim School of Business. “I would like this to grow across industries and regions.”

What we don’t know

One of the more surprising things about Supply Trace is that the information the platform can uncover was all but impossible to get previously. Under United Nations guidance, “forced labor” entails work compelled under threat of physical violence, fraud, withholding information or extortion of loved ones for another’s financial benefit. Importing goods made with forced labor has been illegal in the United States since 1930; for nearly a century, many Western countries have gradually adopted more specific regulations, banning imports from certain regions and levying fines on companies found to be out of compliance. In 2021, the U.S. Congress passed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, banning imports from the region in Western China.

Yet at the same time regulations are addressing forced labor more directly, market pressures are making the problem worse. “Fast fashion” — the business model of producing garments in bulk as cheaply as possible, exemplified by discount retailers like Shein and Temu — has exploded in recent years, ramping up demand for supercheap apparel churned out at a breakneck pace.

“I’m not trying to pick on anybody, but if you think about it realistically, how is it possible to get a shirt or a pair of jeans to a customer so quickly for a few dollars?” Sanders asks. “Someone is not getting paid along the way.”

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For its initial launch, Supply Trace is focused on goods originating in Western China, where the government, per policy, is detaining, re-educating and forcibly working members of the Uyghur ethnic minority in textile mills and other industries. (The Chinese government denies this, but it is widely acknowledged by the international community).

The problem: cotton doesn’t go directly from the source to a merchant in the United States. It might travel to a supplier in another region, then to another country or two without import bans before eventually getting to a U.S. port. Not all of this movement is nefarious. “Sometimes products go from between one or two countries before they come to the U.S. because one country is better at harvesting cotton and another is better at sewing and dying it,” Bhimani says. “But it makes things complex.”

“In a supply chain, you have a ‘direct supplier,”’ but your direct supplier has a supplier, which has a supplier,” he explains. “By the time it’s three levels away from you, you have no idea who they are.”

Tracking down those “indirect suppliers” takes painstaking tracking of individual shipments, and the sourcing data that exists at a high cost. A few private platforms charge high fees for supply chain information — up to $50,000 per month. “That means over 99% of the world can’t access this,” Bhimani says. “We’re the first platform that will make it accessible for everyone.”

Charting a path

The base dataset for Supply Trace is U.S. imports — 400 million dating back to 2013. At Sheffield Hallam, a small group of researchers has contributed in-depth reports on facilities that use forced labor in Western China, drawing on clues from public records and state-run media.

“There are terms and policy wordings we look for,” says M. Tanrikut, a researcher at Sheffield Hallam and a Uyhgur national whose family has experienced forced labor. “There are euphemistic terms — ‘elevation programs’ is one, and ‘land transfer’ — with very horrible things happening behind them.”

“Obviously it’s not going to be as simple as finding an article that says ‘forced labor is used here,’ Shaw adds. “They’re looking at publicly available resources, then they start drilling down: where is this physically located? Oh, it’s really close to a prison. Or, there’s a type of language the Chinese media will use to people within the country, a kind celebration of great productivity. That’s a red flag.”

Machine learning enables Supply Trace to corral millions of those unwieldy data points and draw connections between them, spotting patterns at a scale that individuals cannot. “An algorithm can pick up correlations that might not be obvious to me and you,” Sanders says.

Bhimani breaks it down: “Let’s say for example, you are a small fashion company in Boston, and you think you have no exposure to China. You buy products from Indonesia, so the first [data point] machine learning picks up is an import record: who shipped it to you from Indonesia? What was their company name and address?

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From there, where did it come from before it got to Indonesia? Indonesia has its own import records that might send you back to maybe Sri Lanka or India. And then eventually we trace it back to where the original content came from.”

At launch, the Supply Trace platform has traced more than 1 million companies, nearly 2 million relationships and over 2.5 million transactions using this combination of data.

“We can’t do this for every product,” Bhimani cautions. “But in this pilot, we’re working toward [flagging] areas of the world [from which] it is illegal to buy cotton.”

‘They want help’

Forced labor in the apparel industry has been a known problem in international watchdog circles for years; major retailers including Zara , Nike and Shein have come under recent scrutiny for the alleged presence of materials from the Uyghur region in their supply chains. But Bhimani and Shaw stress that Supply Trace isn’t about pointing fingers. “The platform uses specific phrasing around potential risk,” Bhimani says. “It doesn’t say, ‘X company is using forced labor.’ I hope companies and governments can take this as a starting point to go fix something that’s wrong.”

That small fashion company in Boston, for instance, could shift to an Indonesian supplier without risk exposure to the Uyghur region. Armed with better data, too, legislators and regulators will be better able to target policies. In focus groups with fashion companies and government officials, the feedback has been enthusiastic. “They can’t do this themselves, and they want some help,” Bhimani says. After the pilot phase, Bhimani and Shaw hope to expand Supply Trace to shine a light on other industries and more parts of the world. Sanders hopes the model eventually will give users the ability to track any product from the source to its consumer — from apparel to electronics and batteries. “I see this growing into something really powerful,” she says.

Schuyler Velasco is a Northeastern Global News Magazine senior writer. Email her at [email protected] . Follow her on X/Twitter @Schuyler_V .

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A pioneering bill to slow fast fashion gets approval from France’s lower house. Next stop the Senate

File - The logo of Swedish clothing-retail company Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) is pictured in Velizy, outside Paris, France, Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2017. A pioneering bill to curb the rampant pace of fast fashion won unanimous approval in the French Parliament, making France one of the first countries in the world to target the influx of low-cost, mass-produced garments. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

FILE - The LVMH logo is photographed at the Vivatech show in Paris, June 15, 2023. A pioneering bill to curb the rampant pace of fast fashion won unanimous approval in the French Parliament, making France one of the first countries in the world to target the influx of low-cost, mass-produced garments. It’s a measure that promotes environmental protection and aims to safeguard France’s prized fashion industry—in a week when French President Emmanuel Macron feted luxury giant LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault with the Legion d’Honneur, France’s greatest civilian honor. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, File)

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PARIS (AP) — A pioneering bill to curb the rampant pace of fast fashion won unanimous approval in the lower house of the French Parliament, making France one of the first countries worldwide to target the influx of low-cost, mass-produced garments predominantly from China.

The fashion industry is among the world’s biggest producers of greenhouse gas emissions . France is seeking to reduce the allure of fast fashion items, setting a precedent in the fight against the environmental degradation they cause.

Lawmakers on Thursday unanimously approved the bill, greenlighting it for the Senate to consider — either to approve it, or to tweak it and send back to the lower house — before it can become law.

Christophe Bechu, the minister for ecological transition, hailed the vote as a historic step toward reining in the “excesses” of fast fashion. The bill will introduce stringent measures, including banning advertising for the most inexpensive textiles and imposing an environmental levy on these low-cost products.

The bill specifically targets fast fashion giants, calling for companies to disclose their products’ environmental impact. This move seeks to pivot the industry toward more sustainable practices, encouraging transparency and accountability.

It’s a measure that promotes environmental protection and aims to safeguard France’s prized high fashion industry. By coincidence, this comes during a week when French President Emmanuel Macron feted luxury giant LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault with the Légion d’Honneur, France’s greatest civilian honor, in a star-filled private ceremony that included Beyoncé.

Renowned for luxury brands such as LVMH’s Louis Vuitton and Chanel , France has seen its lower-end market sectors suffer due to stiff competition from fast fashion retailers like Zara, H&M, and the emerging Chinese powerhouses Shein and Temu.

By imposing these measures, France aims to level the playing field and promote a more sustainable fashion landscape.

However, producers such as Shein have countered the criticism, long arguing that their business model, albeit fast, effectively keeps the proportion of unsold garments very low. This, they claim, contributes to reducing waste—a crucial aspect of sustainability in fashion.

Luxury giants such as LVMH and Kering regularly face criticism for the billions of dollars of unsold inventory yearly.

French supporters of the bill argue it paves the way for future action, including a proposed EU-wide ban on the export of used clothing to tackle the escalating problem of textile waste.

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France’s lower house votes to limit ‘excesses’ of fast fashion with environmental surcharge

Measure is part of package aimed at limiting pollution associated with cheap, imported clothes

France’s lower house of parliament has backed a string of measures to make low-cost fast fashion, especially items from Chinese mass producers, less attractive to buyers.

Thursday’s vote makes France the first country in the world “legislating to limit the excesses of ultra fast fashion”, said Christophe Bechu, minister for the ecological transition. The measures still require a vote in the Senate.

Key measures include a ban on advertising for the cheapest textiles, and an environmental charge on low-cost items.

The French clothes market has been flooded with cheap imported clothes, while several homegrown brands have declared bankruptcy.

But the main arguments put forward by Horizons – the party allied to President Emmanuel Macron submitting the draft law – were environmental.

“Textile is the most polluting industry ,” said Horizons deputy Anne-Cecile Violland, adding that the sector accounted for 10% of greenhouse gas emissions and was a major polluter of water.

France will apply criteria such as volumes of clothes produced and turnover speed of new collections in determining what constitutes fast fashion, according to the law.

Violland noted Chinese company Shein and its “7,200 new clothing items a day” was a prime example of intensive fashion production.

Once the law comes into force precise criteria will be published in a decree.

Fast fashion producers will be forced to inform consumers about the environmental impact of their output.

A surcharge linked to fast fashion’s ecological footprint of €5 (£4.20) an item is planned from next year, rising to €10 by 2030. The charge cannot, however, exceed 50% of an item’s price tag.

Violland said the proceeds from the charge would be used to subsidise producers of sustainable clothes, allowing them to compete more easily.

A measure to limit advertising for fast fashion was also approved, although conservative lawmaker Antoine Vermorel-Marques said “a ban on advertising for textiles, especially fashion, spells the end of fashion”.

An initiative brought by leftwing and Green party deputies to include minimum penalties for producers breaking the rules as well as import quotas and stricter workplace criteria in the industry into the new law was struck down.

High-end fashion is a cornerstone of the French economy thanks to leading global luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Hermes, Dior and Cartier.

But the French lower-end fashion segment has lost ground to European rivals Zara, H&M and, more recently, to Chinese behemoths Shein and Temu.

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Parent item expand the sub menu, willy chavarria lands at maxfield l.a., inside supreme’s first store in china, valentino, pierpaolo piccioli parting ways, lewis hamilton’s ferrari move revs up the fashion industry .

The seven-time Formula 1 champion’s shocking move could have major implications for the fashion industry and speaks to the sport's widespread growth in luxury sponsorships. 

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In Formula 1, there’s no bigger name than Lewis Hamilton . In many ways, Hamilton transcends the sport itself as a massive public figure in his own right. Hamilton is the sport’s first and only Black driver — currently tied with Michael Schumacher for seven-time world driver championships (WDC) — and boasts the record for the most wins and podium finishes (among countless others).

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Unsurprisingly, the sporting world at large was shocked when Hamilton announced (coincidentally, on the first day of Black History Month) that he would be leaving Mercedes-AMG Petronas , his beloved team after a decade, to join Scuderia Ferrari , a team equivalent to religion in Italy for the 2025 season and beyond.

The move sent Hamilton fans and industry insiders alike into a tizzy; Ferrari ’s social media account gained hundreds of thousands of followers and Ferrari’s share prices soared more than 10 percent and the company’s value rose to $10 billion on the stock market (in tangent with a strong earnings reports of 17 percent increased revenue for 2023 by Ferrari, released on the same day).

Representatives for Ferrari declined to comment on Lewis Hamilton until the end of the 2024 season, “out of respect for all parties, teams and drivers involved.”  

Several motorsport insiders told WWD that they were simultaneously shocked and intrigued by the move; Hamilton made a similar move (seen as a gamble at the time) when he left McLaren in 2013 for Mercedes — where Hamilton was expected to end his career. Hamilton is seeking his eighth WDC and to indisputably become the best in Formula 1.

Luke Smith, senior writer at The Athletic, said this move doesn’t compare to any other in his decade-long motorsport reporting career. “There’s no bigger driver in Formula 1 than Hamilton, and no bigger team in Formula 1 than Ferrari. Ferrari has always been the most famous team in Formula 1 with a degree of prestige, history and exclusivity no other team gets close to matching. This will only escalate once Hamilton joins the team.”

Meanwhile, Abby Rakshit, strategy consultant for Fortune 500 tech and auto firms and founder of Racing Forces Media, a thought leadership creative platform for and by women in sports, akins the move to historical sports deals such as Michael Jordan and Nike or David Beckham moving to LA Galaxy.

One big question that remains on countless minds: What does this move to Ferrari mean? As someone deeply intertwined with the fashion industry, Hamilton’s sartorial choices, styled by industry darling Eric McNeal (and previously, image architect  Law Roach ), are the talk of the paddock — with Instagram accounts such as Rashi Gaur’s @hamazinglew dedicated to decoding high fashion choices from  Valentino  to  Louis Vuitton.

“Lewis has one of the strongest personal brands of any public figure worldwide — across any industry, not just sports,” explains Herman. “Several drivers [such as Pierre Gasly, Zhou Guanyu, Alex Albon and future teammate, Charles Leclerc] have already pointed to Lewis Hamilton raising the bar as far as how drivers can become societal tastemakers and cultural icons.”

With more than half of the grid including  Fernando Alonso’s  and  Daniel Ricciardo’s  contracts up after the 2024 season and Audi recently confirmed retain 100 percent ownership of Sauber’s team in 2026, this change spells a massive shakeup in Formula 1 fashion and sponsorship space.

“Similar to Lewis, teams will be thinking about what these individual drivers offer to the overall racing brand versus solely results on the track,” Roby noted. “At the end of the day, drivers need to provide teams with value and attract money and sponsors, and that means having a ‘face.’”

Sponsorships are critical for racing teams to fund their operations across research, personnel, logistics, marketing and facilities — with at least 100 people in addition to the two main drivers and reserve drivers traveling to more than 20 races in all four corners of the globe with company and factory numbers ranging upward of 300 to 1,200 people. Estimates put bigger name teams such as Mercedes, McLaren, Red Bull and Ferrari spending about $400 million per year.

James Vowels, team principal at Williams Racing, explained during their car launch at the Fifth Avenue Puma store in early February the importance of these partnerships to his team. “The first phone call I made when I joined the team was to Puma. I really like what they stand for as a brand and I wore their trainers for many years. The sponsors we are working with have meaning to us and to the world as well.”

When Formula 1 drivers move teams, it’s not always set in stone that sponsors will follow suit — especially as Ferrari carries its  heavy weight of luxury brand sponsors :  Giorgio Armani ,  Ray-Ban,   Richard Mille  and  Ferrari Style .

“Naturally, Hamilton brings interest from brands in the U.K.,” explains Rakshit. “Ferrari hasn’t had a title sponsor in a while, but I wouldn’t be surprised if a big tech or finance company aligns with Ferrari moving forward. Title sponsors historically costs $50 million to $100 million a year. It will be much easier for Ferrari to get sponsorship conversations within that range with Hamilton now.”

Notably, during Hamilton’s championship-winning streak,  Tommy Hilfiger  reentered the space in 2018 as a sponsor of Mercedes. The eponymous brand previously worked with Hamilton’s future team, Ferrari, in a four-year apparel partnership from 1998-2002.

The brand selected Hamilton to be an ambassador and  design several capsule collections , which set a major precedent within the industry’s intersection. Mercedes’ watch sponsor since 2013, IWC Schaffhausen , has also collaboratively designed limited-edition watches with the champion.

IWC issued a statement to Instagram thanking Hamilton, an indicator that the two will be parting ways next year: “We would like to thank Lewis for his outstanding contribution as a brand ambassador and member of the worldwide IWC Schaffhausen family.…We look forward to another exciting season together. For his future endeavors, on and off the racetrack, we wish Lewis all the best.”

After reentering the motorsports world as a partner to Mercedes in 2018, Hilfiger has seen the rise in popularity between fashion, motorsport and entertainment. “The world of racing is developing at an incredible pace, and we are excited to be at the forefront in our continuing partnership with Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team,” Hilfiger told WWD. “We are excited to accelerate on this legacy into the 2024-25 season.”

While plans for the brand’s future with Hamilton remain under wraps, the brand has continued to double down on its Mercedes ties. The company named both Mercedes driver, George Russell, and his long-term girlfriend, Carmen Montero Mundt, ambassadors last year. WAG culture and power couples have been a major part of pop culture; interest in Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce and Victoria Beckham and David Beckham has never been higher.

Over time, Hamilton helped turn the paddock into a version of the red carpet, similar to the NBA and NFL tunnels . Hilfiger said the company will continue to explore this crossover within the fashion and entertainment space; the brand is a partner to the upcoming Formula 1 feature film starring Tommy Hilfiger menswear ambassador, Damson Idris.

As for what’s next on the horizon for Hamilton? Joshua Robinson, European sports reporter at The Wall Street Journal and coauthor of the non-fiction book, “The Formula: How Rogues, Geniuses and Speed Freaks Reengineered F1 Into the World’s Fastest-Growing Sport,” foresees Hamilton’s name and image on top of “an already timeless brand like Ferrari” will lead to “unprecedented reach for a Formula 1 driver.” Moreover, Robinson notes that the combination of Hamilton and Ferrari will equate to a “compelling package” for new and returning sponsors as they both “represent the pinnacle of the sport.”

The “Lewis Hamilton effect” is an indicator of the rapidly changing tides in sponsorship space and what it means to be a Formula 1 driver today. Medland explains, “Lewis is looking at life after Formula 1 as well as his racing career and will not have moved to Ferrari if it restricted him from tackling the other projects he already does. For a long time now, Lewis has shown he performs at his best when he’s allowed to dedicate time and energy to his other business and fashion ventures too — and that has already helped other drivers get the opportunity to do similar.”

Rakshit points to the rumors of a joint investment fund set up by Ferrari’s parent company Exor N.V. with a $250 million contribution to act as “Hamilton’s personal private equity or venture capital firm to invest as he sees fit.” If proven true, the move would be a much bigger scale feat than recent news of  Tiger Woods’  ownership stake and partnership in his namesake-branded TaylorMade golf apparel.

Likewise, Tim Malachard, marketing director at Richard Mille , told WWD that Hamilton transcends Formula 1 as being a multiworld winning champion in the sport. In joining Ferrari, Malachard anticipates deeper involvement from Hamilton in the Italian fashion scene as major houses get ready to roll out the red carpet for him.

“Drivers are followed by millions on social media and can’t just depend on their performances at Grand Prix races,” Malachard said. “Fans follow their lives daily. All teams and sponsors are now very sensitive to the image portrayed by each driver.”

Smith has also seen how the landscape of Formula 1 fans has changed over time. “We’re increasingly in an era where fans — especially the younger fans flocking to the sport — follow drivers and personalities, not necessarily teams. It’ll be curious to see how fans react to their loyalties being tested.” To that end, companies will also be much more aware of how to properly craft their deals to ensure they get the best driver and/or team that aligns with their brand identity.

Like Hilfiger and IWC with Hamilton, the brand relationships drivers keep can often run deep. Richard Mille has sponsored Leclerc since his go-karting days more than 10 years ago and sees him as a part of their family; Sainz has also been a Richard Mille watch wearer since his time at McLaren.

While Richard Mille executives have yet to meet with Hamilton, the formal announcement between the exclusive Swiss watchmakers and Hamilton is inevitable. Malachard said that while it’s too early to comment on the state of ambassador contracts after this season finishes, they noted that they will continue to remain in contact with Sainz.

“Lewis is a superstar in every way and extremely sensitive to creativity in fashion and lifestyle,” Malachard said. “We look forward to meeting with him and that he will enjoy joining our family of partners. We are sure many creative ideas will emerge from talking to each other.”

“Lewis is the quintessential 21st-century sports star — who crosses over easily into other worlds — from culture to fashion to music,” Robinson said. “Meanwhile, Ferrari truly [represents] racing heritage. Sponsors will see plenty to like with Ferrari and Lewis complementing each other’s images. By bringing some much-needed diversity and outspokenness to the team, Lewis gives Ferrari a modern edge that it hasn’t always had.”

Representatives for Lewis Hamilton declined to comment on this story and referred WWD to his statement on Instagram: “The time has come for me to start a new chapter in my life, and I will be joining Scuderia Ferrari in 2025.…I now have the chance to fulfil [sic] another childhood dream. Driving in Ferrari red.”  

For More WWD Formula 1 News

Rokt Goes Racing With Red Bull’s F1 Academy Driver Hamda Al Qubaisi

Reiss, McLaren Collaboration: For On and Off the Formula 1 Racetrack  

Formula 1 Goes All-in on Its Future in the United States

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Media Decision US

17 Fast Fashion Brands That Aren’t Worth the Cost

Posted: March 23, 2024 | Last updated: March 23, 2024

In recent years, the “fast fashion” trend has heavily influenced the clothing industry. Shockingly, around 100 billion clothing items are produced every year, a 50% increase from 15 years ago. Fast fashion is the largest contributor to this growth, with no signs of slowing down. 

While prices for these items are visibly lower, the quality is often sub-par, and the clothes are less durable. Additionally, fast fashion’s environmental impact is a growing concern. In hopes of mitigating this trend, we will explore 20 fast fashion brands that are not worth the reduced cost.

Primark is a popular Irish fashion retailer that operates across Europe. The store offers an array of collections, including home decor, electronics, and clothing from well-known brands like Disney. The company outsources its manufacturing processes and sets strict regulations for its factories to ensure they abide by a specific code of conduct. However, reports of poor working conditions in their factories surfaced in the media in 2014, with some customers finding messages written by Chinese employees on Primark clothing.

Despite these issues, Primark is a member of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition and has been donating unsold clothing to charities. They have also clarified on their website: “55% of Primark’s clothes sold this year contained recycled or more sustainably sourced materials, up from 45% last year. ” Even so, the company needs to take steps to minimize its environmental impact.

Chinese brand Shein has quickly gained fame on social media, amassing over 20 million followers on Instagram. The brand offers 500 new products on its website every day at cheaper prices. But Shein’s low-cost, trendy clothes are hit or miss when it comes to quality. 

Also, their fast-fashion business model contributes to a throw-away culture that is harmful to the environment. To address this issue, Shein has committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 25% across its entire value chain by 2030. Despite this pledge, concerns have been raised about the fair compensation of Shein’s workers, given the brand’s low prices.

3. Victoria’s Secret

Victoria’s Secret has been the leading lingerie retailer in the U.S. for many years. However, the brand’s popularity has suffered lately due to sluggish sales, criticism for its lack of model diversity and size inclusivity, and the emergence of new trends and the rise of online shopping.

Additionally, the brand has been accused of child labor. In 2011, Bloomberg reported that the company purchased cotton from farms that used child labor. Moreover, between 2016 and 2018, its market share in the U.S. fell from 33% to 24% as some shoppers complained that the quality of its underwear had declined.

4. Forever 21

Forever 21 is an American fashion retailer that sells very affordable clothing for women, men, and children. The company’s Social Responsibility page on their website reads: “Forever 21 also shares the goal of eliminating child labor and forced labor.” But in 2016, the U.S. Labor Department investigators made allegations that workers were getting paid around $4.50 an hour to put labels and other finishing touches on blouses for one of the retailer’s suppliers. 

According to Forbes , Authentic Brands Group (ABG) has signed a deal with Shein Group to cross-sell merchandise in Forever 21 stores.

Founded in 1984 in Hiroshima, Uniqlo is known for its affordable, everyday fashion. The brand markets itself as a cool place to shop that makes casual, easy-to-wear clothing that stays in style, unlike other big brands that come up with new styles every week. 

In 2023, however, fresh allegations of human rights abuses in Xinjiang and other China-based facilities were brought up in a new lawsuit filed by The European Uyghur Institute in Paris. Additionally, it scores just 41-50% on the Fashion Transparency Index .

British fashion retailer Boohoo has grown significantly in the last decade; however, following a BBC Panorama documentary, the company has faced criticism for alleged poor purchasing practices and worker conditions in its supply chain.

Though the company has claimed to take action, a report from the University of Bath titled What happened after the Boohoo scandal? suggests that Boohoo has only made surface-level changes. Additionally, the report includes interviews with workers, manufacturers, and civil society representatives in Leicester who have experienced the closure of hundreds of manufacturing sites, resulting in thousands of job losses, particularly affecting South Asian migrants.

7. Hot Topic

Hot Topic started in 1989 and was the first store to bring alternative apparel and accessories to malls across the U.S. The store has officially licensed merchandise and clothing, from band tees to anime merchandise. Their merch was in especially high demand during the emo fashion trend of the 2000s. However, some not-so-hot things happened, too. For example, in 2021 , workers at the Hot Topic store in Rochester, Minnesota, protested low wages and poor working conditions by walking out.

8. Pretty Little Thing

The Pretty Little Thing brand became a big deal real quick, especially after modeling superstar Noami Campbell designed a collection for them. The brand did well in the pandemic with affordable night-out sets and dresses delivered incredibly quickly to your door.

Prices here are lower than luxury brands, but some dresses can be higher than $50. However, reviewers online say that Pretty Little Thing’s size chart is a major issue. The brand also only scored 24% in the 2023 Fashion Transparency Index , which means they don’t really show how they impact the environment and human rights in their supply chain. Although they encourage their buyers to return used clothing for discount coupons, there’s no proof that they’re reducing greenhouse gas emissions, which is what they said they’d do.

This online shop is where you can find tons of clothes, shoes, and accessories. They sell around 900,000 items every day, with some clothes as cheap as just one dollar. For less than $20, shoppers can purchase headphones or a soundbar. But will those products last, for that price?

Wish’s sale of counterfeit and illegal products has raised serious concerns. The BBC reported that “ dangerous products remain for sale on Wish,” prompting Wish to release a statement on and take legal action.

This Montreal-based retailer has been in business since 1975 and has 190 stores across North America. It recently launched its new GARAGE FOR ALL collection, which is focused on everyday basics and novelty pieces. The collection is unisex and targets customers who are typically 16 to 25 years old.

However, the brand faced heavy criticism in 2021 for its email campaign that urged female recipients, including pre-teens, to “send nudes.” A group of parents in Toronto even spoke out against the campaign.

11. Nasty Gal

The story of Nasty Gal started in a small apartment in San Francisco with an eBay account. Fast forward ten years, and the brand has expanded tremendously, offering clothing, shoes, and accessories. However, it’s worth noting that most of their products are made using synthetic materials.

According to Forbes , the same factory supplying products to Nasty Gal was paying its workers as little as £3.50 per hour, which is well below the minimum wage of £8.72 per hour for those aged 25 and over in the U.K. It’s also concerning that this factory was operating during the lockdown in Leicester amid the coronavirus pandemic.

12. Missguided

Missguided is a UK-based online retailer founded in 2009 by Nitin Passi and known for delivering over 1,000 new styles every week to millennial women. The company has seen rapid growth since its launch and has expanded into various countries, such as the U.S., Australia, France, and Germany.

However, according to the Australian fashion ethics watchdog Good On You , Missguided has a “very poor” environmental rating because of its weekly release of up to 1000 new products. The transparency of the company’s labor practices is also questionable. Additionally, Missguided has been accused of disregarding intellectual copyright laws. In 2019, the brand was ordered to pay Kim Kardashian £2.1 million in damages for using her name and image without permission.

13. Fashion Nova

As the saying goes, you get what you pay for. Many customers have reported that online retailer Fashion Nova’s quality isn’t up to par. In addition, there are some serious concerns about the company itself.

Fashion Nova, LLC has been accused of blocking negative reviews and was recently ordered to pay a $4.2 million settlement due to Federal Trade Commission allegations. It’s always important to be informed about where you’re shopping and what you’re buying.

14. Old Navy

Owned by Gap Inc., Old Navy is an American clothing retailer with more than 1,000 stores across the world where you can find affordable clothing in all sizes. However, some reviewers have expressed that the quality could be better, while others complained that the company doesn’t update their plus-size collection often.

On top of that, a class action suit filed in 2023 claimed that Old Navy sent promotional emails with fake discount expiration dates. According to Plaintiffs Roxann Brown and Michelle Smith, Old Navy sends emails that “mis-state the duration of given promotions, in an apparent effort to drive sales by creating a false sense of urgency.”

15. Peacocks

Peacocks is a fashion brand that was founded in the United Kingdom in 1884. Today, the brand has expanded to many countries in Europe and sells clothes, shoes, and accessories. However, the quality of their products is poor, and there have been allegations of hundreds of ex-retail staff affected by layoffs.

Peacocks follows a fast-fashion business model, as evidenced by the fact that it offers several thousand styles on its website, with t-shirts retailing for as little as $2.50.

16. Topshop

Topshop, a British fast-fashion company that specializes in women’s clothing, shoes, and accessories, has been in the news lately . 

However, what concerns us is the company’s fast fashion business model, which could be more sustainable. Topshop does use some materials that have less impact on the environment. However, the company focuses more on following trends that may last only a short time instead of creating classic designs.

A fast-fashion brand founded in 2010 promotes a culture of hyperconsumption by encouraging customers to “discover new things you didn’t know you needed.” However, this business model raises ethical and sustainability concerns. Romwe’s low prices and poor-quality products make it clear that the company focuses on quantity over quality.

Customers have consistently complained about the sizing being entirely off, delivery times taking months, and clothes falling apart quickly, putting them on the Federal Trade Commission’s rada r. Additionally, their customer service could be more present, and getting a refund is nearly impossible. As consumers, we have the power to make informed choices and support ethical and sustainable brands.

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