going bankrupt. Forever21 in Europe, Topshop in the US...

big names that are suddenly in big trouble. So does it mean that the

so-called golden era of fast fashion is over? What are the options for you as a

consumer, as a shopper, wherever in the world you are? That's the discussion that

I would like to start in today's video. And before we do that, let me very

quickly define what fast fashion actually is, to make sure that we're

talking about the same thing because it's not a word commonly used everywhere

in the world what is fast fashion in a nutshell fast

fashion is a concept created for rich countries if we're honest a fast fashion

brand will have clothes produced in a less less rich country then production

was so cheap that they can afford to ship the clothes all the way to Europe

for instance where the living standard is and the costs are higher and then

they can sell these clothes in an expensive store somewhere in London

where the rent is expensive the salespeople are expensive everything is

more expensive so the business model works because the production costs in

the first place were insanely low it works because there are people buying in

rich countries and people producing in less rich countries it's a system based

on inequalities internationally and even then the margins for the fast fashion

brand are really low because the price tags are kept so low to attract

consumers even on a budget so if you're a fast fashion brand you will have to

sell incredibly high volumes in order to be profitable at all now if the

production costs start to increase for instance workers in Bangladesh get a law

that says that they have to be paid a living wage (it's not the case right now,

they work for a salary that they cannot live off of) let's assume their salary

increases (still not a high cost factor for the brand in the end, and we'll come

to that later) or the shoppers in said store in London are starting to demand

higher quality better ethics sustainable sourcing as a fast fashion brand you

will immediately lose your margin which is small and you will go bankrupt so

it's a very unstable system with very little buffer in case

something happens and something in the equation changes that it's just the

summary of how it works if you want to know more about how fast

fashion how the business model really functions from beginning to end I

recommend that you watch this video which I did previously

it's linked here and down below as well in there I explain among other things

the breakdown of the retail price of a t-shirt as an example how much the

government worker who saws it gets paid the retailer the transport the brand etc

if you new to that topic I have to warn you it might blow your minds but now

back to this video I want to move on to forever 21 which is the topic in the

title and it's absolutely a hundred percent a fast fashion label what

happened is that forever 21 failed at its own business model which is quite a

thing the American brand forever 21 filed for bankruptcy they are closing

about 350 stores worldwide out of 800 approximately they are practically

leaving Europe and Asia they are giving up their their remaining active in North

and South America but shrinking big time so it's really a setback for brand that

once was major they thing is the way they filed for bankruptcy doesn't mean

that they have to shut down the business it just means that they are freed of

their debts they don't have to pay the creditors so the supply chain people the

production people the suppliers won't get paid and if you know what I stand

for and what I talk about generally speaking on this channel you would know

what that makes me feel I'm mad when things like that happened I think it's

so unfair for the people who are before before that in the supply chain like

they always have the poor cards at the end of the day forever 21 was once known

for trendy fashion and very very low price tags

the problem is trends pass and once you've lost your cool competing on price

is not smart because it will never save you

if you're not cool people don't want to shop at your stores anymore

so forever21 is victim of the business model that they contributed to

establishing their brand was never really unique they lost the edge price

is irrelevant at the end of the day so they have to start over

does that mean that we're witnessing the beginning of the end of the first

fashion era unfortunately not quite yet Primark on the other side of the

Atlantic Ocean in Europe is still doing well

Primark is uk-based and currently leading the market for very very very

very cheap clothes directed mostly out of there a young target group teens

young adults dirt-cheap really we're talking about in British pounds 10

pounds for a pair jeans 250 for a bra 25 for coats if you think about it for a

minute you wonder how they even do it if you know the price levels in Europe it

seems so low that it's hard to be true I said cheap but I should say blood

cheap instead Primark is one of the brands that was having clothes produced

in the sadly famous Branagh Plaza building factory in Bangladesh that

building collapsed in 2013 killing over a thousand people and somehow Primark

and others got away with it Primark targets teens and young adults

how by relying heavily on the latest trends there's another UK former

flagship retail brand that's called Marks & Spencer where everybody in the

UK used to shop they didn't set enough on trends things Primark and they lost

their relevance because teens and young adults didn't want to shop well their

parents and grandparents were shopping so Primark is really trying to stay

relevant by going for the very very very young people and releasing new

collections all the time but now teens and young adults in Europe and

everywhere in the world are becoming more and more environmentally conscious

that's the greatest Wenberg effect and suddenly they're starting to research

and to question the way the fashion three works so a strategy question for

the future Primark how are you going to do in three years from now when your

exact target group is going to be a lot more aware and demanding in terms of the

clothes they're buying maybe they will turn towards more sustainable more

ethical brands and you will lose your relevance as well? Primark is aware of

the danger which is why recently they started the so-called sustainable line

which means that they source organic cotton what they don't tell you though

is that sustainable doesn't mean ethical it's a lot easier and a lot cheaper to

source sustainable materials for your production than to pay the government

workers properly and they say nothing about that it's completely untransparent

actually if you really want to do things right you need the sustainable sourcing

and you need fix in terms of how you do your production so it's really just a

marketing stunt meant to buy themselves an image of an ethical brand when really

it's actually one of the dirtiest players out there let me be really clear

about that and also this sustainable line is just a tiny part of their sort

and all the rest of what they sell all the basics is still sourced and produced

the way they used to do it and trust me it's not clean their sales keep

increasing yes they're doing fine for now but it's artificial growth it's

because they keep opening new stores overall it seems that the fast fashion

business model is starting to feel out of breath is overheating htm' has been

having difficulties it's one of the leaders in the market they launched a

new brand which is positioned as a more ethical sustainable we don't really know

thing Topshop is bankrupt in some parts of the world as well so it's really it

looks like it like a downward trend for most players so they're all looking for

solutions if consumers shoppers start to demand higher quality and higher ethics

is the solution than to shift to the other extreme and go luxury?... Barneys New York

is bankrupt as well if forever 21 and Primark are down here in terms of

pricing Barneys is is a it is the the epitome the most luxurious

high-end expensive department store chain in the US I studied in New York so

at my school they will always say that the holy grail for young fashion

designers starting out is to get into Barneys there was a professor who said

once in class getting to Barneys is the highest sign of recognition that you can

get from the industry if you get your clothes to get sold at Barneys together

with Vuitton Gucci Chanel etc it means that you've made it in fashion but you

know what I looked into it the conditions to get into stores like

Barneys as a designer or ridiculous they negotiate the prices super hard they

have you design special things special colors variations just for them they put

you on a rack there they won't promote you so unless you do the heavy lifting

no one will even know that you're being sold at Barneys and at the end of the

season if they haven't sold everything they force you by contract to buy your

inventory back so 100% of the risk and of the cash flow problems potentially is

on the side of the young designer and I always thought before I go knock on the

doors of big retailers like Barneys I'd rather sell my clothes directly the

fixed cost and the financial risk is a lot lower for me and the price tag will

be a lot lower so my clothes will also be more affordable for customers for

shoppers and this system seems like a much better option for everyone doesn't

it you would think that barn is selling high price high and high high things

would have huge margins and then also huge profits because it's the opposite

of what fast fashion is doing and yet behind that facade of the most luxurious

fashion experience they have bankrupt as well so where is the solution fast

fashion brands can't seem to be able to last on the long run it looks like the

system is overheating but on the other hand traditional retailers look like

they can't sell enough to survive either so that's that

so problem somewhere in the equation and that brings me to a question or I should

say an affliction that I get every time I talk about the topic of fast fashion

on this channel Justin you're saying that fast fashion is bad but you know

not everyone can afford Chanel and designer brands and I have a problem

with that argument because Primark is five dollars or pounds or euros whatever

shannon is mm are you telling me that you see no option in between because for

me the option is clearly in between it can't be the price of Primark because

that's not sustainable that's not ethical and I think that's not okay it

has to be more expensive than that and in Western countries we can afford more

we did afford more before the fast fashion labels existed and nobody was

going around wearing new clothes you know what I mean and then it doesn't

have to be as expensive as Chanel there is a lot of buffer in between and lots

of brands that are tackling different aspects it can be a safer more

sustainable sourcing system with Fairtrade labels it can be local

production it can be an ethical production based in Europe there are

plenty of options in between and I think the option is definitely in between now

I'd like to send a question back to you how much is in between how much are you

willing to pay for what more specifically and regardless of the brand

new looking up I'd love to know how much you would pay let's say for a cotton

t-shirt basic made in China how much would you pay for a t-shirt in

organic cotton made in Europe how much would you pay for a t-shirt in recycled

cotton made in China do you look at the tag does the origin or the material

influence the price that you're willing to pay are you willing to pay more for

organic for garment workers paid properly protected by European law for

instance are you willing to pay more because it's recycled or because it's a

new technology called development and you know it will be better for the

environment and why or why not I will read all your comments under this video

I will try to summarize all the inputs and the arguments you're writing down

and I will present the results of this little survey to you in a future video

so here really your opinion matters if you feel like you want to know more

about how the fashion industry works here and down below I have linked two

videos the first one is the one that I mentioned earlier about how the system

works and the price breakdown for a t-shirt and the other one is a video

where I explain how you can find out yourself if a brand is part of the fast

fashion system or not because spoiler forever 21 and Primark are by far not

the only ones out there and you have several fast fashion brands in every

country you can think of. Thumbs up if you watched until here! I will see you very soon in a new video, that's all from

me for today :-) Until next time, take care, bye!