Fast Fashion Beware Of Criticism

This is a street fashion caught by fashion reporters in Paris.

Street fashion is also the source of inspiration for big names.

There is a fashion model, which has been criticized at the same time.

This is "fast fashion".

According to the "Chinese language network" April 2011 18 report: "

Through ZARA and

The success of ZARA and H&M was first because they changed the economic mode of the fast fashion industry.

The clothing industry can be divided into two categories: one is the top luxury brands such as LV, GUCCI and Versace, which are located at one end of high value, their core assets are brands, and one is Gap, Baleno and so on.

ZARA and H&M have created a strange mixture between the two: they are closer to the brand in the brand image, but have the economies of scale as well as the latter.

The difference is that the economies of scale of Gap are based on "less money, more quantity" and cheaper routes, while the economies of scale of ZARA and H&M are based on "fast, small and diversified".

ZARA launches tens of thousands of garments every year, and its style is synchronized with fashion, and pricing is closer to the high-end brand.

To observe the ZARA mode, it is important to look at the operating system behind the "fast, small, diversified" system.

In the clothing industry, there is a professional word, leading time, which refers to the time required for a garment to be sold from design to sale.

ZARA greatly shorten the lead time. It can be completed from two days to the fastest time from design to production. The lead time is 12 days. Compared with Gap, the design period is two or three months.

Clothing is rapidly depreciating over time, devaluing 0.7% per day, and computer products 0.1% per day.

Therefore, shortening lead time has multiple advantages. The faster the lead time, the faster the clothing company can respond to the market trend. This can not only improve the value of clothing, but also make the company do not need to do a lot of ready-made clothes in advance, reduce the cost of inventory and inventory risk. In addition, shorter lead time can also reduce the prediction of the trend and avoid producing clothing that is not welcome by customers, thereby avoiding the company's hoarding of clothing due to the estimation error and avoiding the loss caused by discount sales promotion.

ZARA and H&M did not try to be fashions, but rather fast fashion fads. "When fashion trends just come up, we can identify and quickly launch corresponding clothing styles to respond quickly to the trend."

The advantage of this is that "no need to speculate on fast changing fashion trends, and reduce the risk of inventory, shorten the incubation period of design."

Fast mode requires fast supply chain.

ZARA and H&M do not behave the same way.

ZARA has some characteristics: the fabric purchased is dyed undyed, but dyed according to real-time demand.

ZARA chose to make their factories only work highly automated, using high-tech production equipment to do dyeing and tailoring, and outsourcing human intensive jobs.

In order to respond quickly, ZARA's procurement and production are in Europe. Only 20% of the most basic styles of clothing are produced in low cost areas like Asia.

ZARA has a high-tech automatic logistics distribution center, which can be guaranteed within two days in Europe. In the United States and Japan, ZARA even uses air freight to speed up the cost.

The rule of H&M focuses on using IT technology to compress time in every link.

With the opportunities brought by the financial crisis, "fast fashion" is no longer satisfied with the two or three line market of the two or three tier countries, and they are aiming directly at the forefront of fashion.

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In March 2011, Spain Inditex bought a $324 million building on Fifth Avenue in New York, and set up a ZARA flagship store. While Japan's Fast Retailing Co. signed a 15 year lease agreement with more than $300 million, it plans to open a new UNIQLO store in the autumn.

The two companies will live close to high-end brands like Tiffany (Tiffany), Bottega Veneta and Prada (Prada).

The streetscape of Fifth Avenue reflects a trend that consumers want to save the most basic living expenses so that they can buy luxury goods in large quantities.

The so-called "high and low doping" shopping mode was born in the economic downturn of Japan in the past 20 years.

In the recession triggered by the financial crisis, this shopping mode has also taken root in Europe and the United States.

But in many big cities, luxury shopping areas are still independent.

Jo Sitte, President of Real Estate Company Thor Equities, said that many retailers in the US were reluctant to go global when ZARA, UNIQLO and H & M became the global brands of the mass market.

Thor Equities bought a building in Fifth Avenue last year for $142 million.

SETRA said: "they (non US brands) have more executive power than retailers in the US.

Now they are coming to the United States. "

Real estate agencies said that the stores that sold 40 dollars a pair of jeans and $10 a T-shirt did not devalue Fifth Avenue, but enhanced their attractiveness to shoppers, pushing up the rental of the street in a depressed retail real estate market.

At the end of last year, the average rent for shops in the most prosperous sections of Fifth Avenue (between 49 and 59 streets) at the end of last year has risen to $2367 per square foot of the financial crisis, from $1400 per square foot at the worst of the financial crisis, according to the Real Estate Board.

UNIQLO's chief operating officer, Yasunobu Kyogoku, said UNIQLO wanted to enter Fifth Avenue because "it is a landmark in the world".

ZARA has opened a smaller store in Fifth Avenue.

H&M opened a store in Fifth Avenue as early as 2000.

"There is a synergy between Luxury Retailing and fast fashion," said Joanne Podeur, executive vice president of real estate brokerage.

A H&M T-shirt can look cool with a Armani jacket.

People no longer have prejudice. "

The most dazzling brand in Fifth Avenue is still Tiffany.

The 1961 classic Hollywood movie "breakfast of Tiffany" made this jeweller famous.

Across from Tiffany is the American youth clothing store Abercrombie & Fitch, famous for its deafening music and staff's cool clothes.

Faith Consolo, director of retail leasing department at Prudential Douglas Elliman, said luxury brands would not look down on cheap neighbors: "customers who buy small gifts bring passenger growth.

Tiffany did the most business was the key ring, not the wedding ring.