Seasonal Fashion

Clothing used to be dictated by seasons. Starting in the early 1990s, companies like Gap introduced one for each of the four seasons, still within the definition of what the phrase season actually means. This then led some companies to introduce and supply six or eight seasons. This can be explained, in part by the fact that a clothing trend can be popularised by a simple photograph of Kate Moss or an equivalent celebrity in a particular outfit, or magazines like Grazia proclaiming a certain jackets is a must have item. When this happens, retailers and their sourcing teams know what to do. They embark on a desperate scramble, ringing around their suppliers to see what the mills have on shelves. If a willing supplier is found they are asked to turn around 100,000 glittery tops or minidresses in two or three weeks.

The large clothing retailers puts pressure on the supplier to reduce the lead time. Because to retailer has so much buying power, they always get their own way. The large clothing retailers and suppliers both know what allows them to survive the demands of fast fashion. This is an expendable, underpaid and overworked labour force in poor countries.

Garment manufacturing has been on the decline in Europe and the US over the last 15 years. In the EU employment in the textile industry fell by over 1 million from 1995 to 2005. A further 1 million job losses are anticipated over the next five years. Instead, over the past 5 to 10 years, employment has been concentrated in China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India and Mexico. More than a quarter of the world's production of clothing and textiles is in China alone.

The issue of Europe's shrinking textile manufacturing industry was highlighted recently with the closure of Burberry’s British factory. The number of jobs in the Welsh textile manufacturering industry has fallen from 13,000 to fewer than 4000 since 1991. The plant for Burberry was moved to China, where Burberry could get the 600,000 polo shirts produced for four pounds a piece, instead of the £11 it takes in Wales, making them an extra £2 million in profit.

Should we blame Burberry where all across the high Street, the average garment industry worker receives just .5% of the retail cost of clothes?