Slow fashion foibles: understanding consumer behavior and reticence to purchase slow fashion items

There has been a pivot towards slow fashion brands and items resulting from the mounting backlash against fast fashion and the harm it causes to societies and the environment. Slow fashion has always been present in the industry, and for some shoppers it has remained a sign of distinction to favor slow fashion over fast fashion brands. Think white cotton t-shirts, blue jeans, and a simple jacket as an iconic slow fashion style – something which in timeless and suitable for most occasions. It will not set a party alight, but nor will it result in comments over being last season or out of fashion. Slow fashion by default transcends fashion trends. More recently, in the last decade, slow fashion brands have begun to tap into an additional avenue of revenue generation. Sustainability has long been a divisive element of fashion brands. Whilst many major brands have attempted to benefit from cheap labor and materials to drive down costs, those slow fashion brands which have championed well-made goods have sought to produce high quality but reasonably priced products. This has become an additional element to their offering – products which remain fashionable, which are well made and last, and do not harm people or the environment.Slow fashion, therefore, has become the inadvertent battle ground of fashion sustainability, pitching itself against the perceived destructive impacts of the fast fashion industry. The damage caused by fast fashion peaked for most during the latter stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Building up to that point, fast fashion brands, best typified by firms such as ASOS, Boohoo, and Primark, had been focused on pumping out hundreds of items each fashion season at the lowest possible cost possible. For online brands such as ASOS and Boohoo, there was the additional principle of free shipping and returns in order to boost sales and generate demand. There were several key elements here which eventually caused irreparable harm to their business model. First, their stock never ran out, so there was never an element of exclusivity or desire to their products. Consumers could always find the size and color they wanted. This meant that markets because saturated with their products, but also that they lost their appeal to consumers rapidly. This fed into their second issue, that being releases of new products half way through seasons, creating 8 release periods in a year rather than the usual 4 (Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter), or even two for the most high-end brands (Spring/Summer, and Autumn/Winter). As such, there was always something new about to be released to convince consumers to keep shopping when they became uninterested in the products released most recently.This intense cycle, however, created the third issue, that being an endless amount of stock either not sold, because a new season drop had been released, or because of the volume of returns. As such there was a huge amount of waste created with minimal options for repurposing due to the low quality of the products (an issue caused by the prioritization of cost cutting). Finally, the impact of free shipping and returns meant that most sales ended up losing money when, inevitably, most products bought were returned as the free system encouraged consumers to buy multiple items and sizes to see what they preferred, and return the rest. This also compounded the waste issue as items returned usually did not make it back to sales warehouses in time to be relisted online before a new half season release was dropped.The fast fashion concept became unsustainable during the COVID-19 pandemic as the lockdowns forced more people to shop online, costing the brands huge amounts in free deliveries and returns, as well as storage costs to hold returned items which could not be sold because they were either out of season or due to concerns about spreading the virus. Most fast fashion brands have subsequently closed or been forced to dramatically rebrand and change business model – most notably Boohoo suffered huge backlash when it had to introduce a fee for returns due to the financial damage free returns was causing. Primark, once an icon of fast cheap fashion, is now a pioneering firm in the circular economy and sustainable fashion, seeking to change the industry for the better.After a period of manic expansion, the fast fashion industry has been forced to consider its position and impact on the world, and as such, slow fashion brands have stepped in to show a better path. Their products typically appeal to those who want simple and long-lasting clothing, but they have now become favored by those consumers seeking to shop more ethically and discerningly. Benhissi and Hamouda (2024) indicate that much of this could be due to a backlash over the relative hedonism of the COVID-19 pandemic purchasing craze and post-pandemic spending boom where those who had continued earning but were unable to spend during the pandemic created a fleeting Roaring Twenties in the 2020s. Yet the reality is that consumers are now concerned with the social and environmental impact of their clothing in great enough numbers that they are specifically seeking slow fashion brands. This, however, raises another issue, in that not all slow fashion brands are as adept as those such as Sézane, Everlane, or Arket when it comes clear information and advice. Consumers are entering a new world of ethical purchasing where they require details of country of origin for both manufacturing and textiles, environmental impact and emissions, and the waste generation of the brand. For some brands, such as those above, this is clearly outlined for each product. But for others newer to this industry there remains a long way to go towards being clear and informative about their products. As such, Benhissi and Hamouda (2024) caution slow fashion brands against failing to provide these details, as their research indicates that slow fashion consumers are quick to dismissing brands and products where these sorts of details are not readily available. Slow fashion is building, but it remains on unstable ground as its role in the fashion industry grows. Brands needs to seek transparency and reliability in order to stand out from the crowd and enjoy the new wave of slow fashion consumers.This review is based on “Investigating consumers’ slow fashion purchase decision: role of lack of information and confusion” by Maali Benhissi and Manel Hamouda, published in the European Business Review.