Theory of Planned Behaviour and Fast Fashion

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INTRODUCTION

I never considered myself to be a shopaholic but after recently going through the clothes in my cupboard, I believe I might be one. I own way too many clothes than I need or even wear. The back of my wardrobe is filled with clothes which I wore once or never even removed the tag from. Keeping a track of the latest fashion trends is so much easier with social media platforms like Instagram and the presence of numerous fashion influencers on there today. It has sort of almost become a ritual for me to check the posts by some of the most popular fashion bloggers before I go to bed every day. But what is this recent phenomenon called that has led me and others to now buy more clothes than ever?

Fast Fashion.

Fast Fashion can be described as a model where there is high speed, high volume and high consumption.^[1]Fast Fashion can be described as the new production and consumption phenomenon in the Fashion industry. It is reducing the production lead time i.e. manufacturing, distribution etc. and delivering it to the market as fast as possible.^[2]  The styles/trends seen on the runway are being delivered to the market faster than ever to fuel the consumers desire of keeping up with the latest fashion trends. Some of the biggest players in the Fast Fashion industry are Zara, H&M, Forever 21, Uniqlo etc.^[3] These brands have been successfully able to provide its consumers with the same looks as the more expensive brands like LV, YSL etc. but at a cheaper and faster rate. These brands have been successful in producing very low stock for each batch and creating a sense of ‘fresh’ products for its consumers.^[4] 

They hardly restock so that they can lure back its consumers with a motive to find the only one piece of the latest trendy clothing!

This influx of cheap but trendy clothing causes consumers to buy impulsively in order to keep up with these trends. Social media is playing a big role in shaping people’s views about Fast Fashion. According to Oliver Tan, the ‘wear it only once’ mindset is a big result of social media platforms like Instagram, Snapchat etc. where people do not want to be seen or clicked in the same outfit more than once.^[5] 

According to Market Line, the yearly rate of growth for the apparel industry has been 4.78%.^[6]  This growth in the industry means that an average consumer is buying almost more than double of they did in the past. Fast Fashion is still fairly a new concept with limited research on the topic but its latest emergence has been costing our environment way faster than anticipated.

Fashion industry is now second in line for being the biggest polluter of the planet after the Oil industry.^[7] According to a study, an average shopper in the UK only wears 70% of