Finding Enjoyment: An Alternative to Fast Fashion
Why do consumers enjoy fast fashion?
The term fast fashion, refers to a business model that enables for the production of large quantities of merchandise that is perceived as fashionable and in line with current trends, in order to meet consumer demand (1). Consumers enjoy the experience of browsing through fast fashion stores such as H&M due to the positive feelings that are aroused during the “hunt[…] for goods” (2). Consumers are constantly on the lookout to curate merchandise that not only meets their sense of style, (2) but also allows them to create an individual fashion identity (3).
Finding the same enjoyment in second hand clothes?
Consumers are aware that fast fashion encourages a culture where remaining with the current trend requires the disposal of previous trends (4). The clothing fast fashion consumers dispose of have often only been worn once and are still of good quality (4).
Second hand clothing stores such as Vinnie’s rely on donations to have merchandise to sell. The donations of fast fashion items are often clothes that have gone out of trend. Although second hand clothing stores may not sell clothes that would be considered 'trendy', consumers are still able to find items that complement their sense of style and allows them to create an individual fashion identity (4).
Second hand clothes may be vintage as they are no longer in production, and unique as there is usually only one of each garment available (5). Having widespread access to vintage clothes from different fashion trends to browse (6), increases the opportunity for consumers to find something that suits their need to be individual (7), with clothes no one else is likely to have (8). Consumers enjoy shopping in second hand clothing stores as they are able to hunt through unique clothes, and experiment with their unique fashion identity (9).
Article by Caroline Lie
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Reference List:
Karen Tranberg Hansen and Jennifer Le Zotte, “Changing secondhand economies,” Business History 61, no 1. (2019). https://doi.org/10.1080/00076791.2018.1543041.
Megan Zarley Watson and Ruoh-Nan Yan, “An exploratory study of the decision processes of fast versus slow fashion consumers,” Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management 17, no. 2 (2013): 141, https://doi.org/10.1108/JFMM-02-2011-0045.
Watson & Yan, “An exploratory study of the decision processes of fast versus slow fashion consumers,” 150.
Frida Haraldsson and Sonja Peric, “Drivers and motivations for second-hand shopping: a study of second-hand consumers,” International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management(2017).
Watson & Yan, “An exploratory study of the decision processes of fast versus slow fashion consumers,” 144.
Haraldsson & Peric, “Drivers and motivations for second-hand shopping: a study of second-hand consumers”.
Dominique Roux and Denis Guiot, “Measuring second-hand shopping motives, antecedents and consequences,” Recherche et Applications En Marketing (English Edition) 27, no 4 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1177/205157070802300404.
Fabio Marzella, “The second-hand market: the practice of reusing goods in cultures dominated by the new,” Italian Sociological Review 15, no. 1 (2015). https://doi.org/13136/isr.v5i1.97.
“The emperor’s old clothes: a consumer behaviour-based case study on second-hand clothing as a sustainable fashion consumption practice in Italy,” file:///G:/2020/Semester%201/Research%20Methods/Assessment%201%20-%20Literature%20Review/The%20emperor's%20old%20clothes.pdf.