Metz: Podcast Segment 1

Fast fashion emerged during the Industrial Revolution with the invention of the sewing machine, allowing for mass production of clothing. This led to the rise of ready-to-wear brands and department stores. In recent years, there has been a 60% increase in clothing production, focusing on easy-to-produce items like sweatshirts and leggings. Profit maximization has become the main goal for fashion designers, and social media, particularly Instagram and TikTok, has played a significant role in promoting fast fashion trends. Celebrities like Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian have influenced fashion trends through their posts, leading to the creation of their own fashion brands. TikTok has even launched its own store, where influencers promote cheap alternatives to luxury brand items. The advent of smartphones and online shopping has forever changed the fast fashion industry. Alright y'all, so for the first segment of this podcast, I'm going to do a deep dive into the history of fast fashion. The term fast fashion was first used by the New York Times in the 1990s when they were trying to describe Zara's system of getting clothing from the design step to on the shelves in stores within a two-week period. Before the Industrial Revolution, people only owned like a few pieces of clothing and they were really good quality and they were expensive. So clothing had to be hand-sewn because there was no sewing machines at this time. So it made the process very labor-intensive and that resulted in the high price. So only the wealthiest families were able to buy new clothes often. So if you were part of the middle or lower class, you either wore secondhand clothing or you had to make your own. During this time period, the fashion trends were a lot of fancy gowns and skirts and corsets and blouses, but these items were definitely not easy to produce since they were being hand-sewn. In the 1830s, the Industrial Revolution hit and there were many technological advances and the sewing machine happened to be one of them. Fashion designers were not able to produce a mass amount of clothing in a short period of time and by the end of the 19th century, ready-to-wear clothing brands were emerging and the first department store was created. With that, the doors opened for the start of what we now know as fast fashion. Within the past 15 years, there has been a 60% growth rate in the amount of clothing that has been produced. This pushed clothing trends to alter to items like sweatshirts, leggings, jeans, and sweaters because they were easier to produce at mass rates with universal sizing. As fashion's role in society has progressively gotten larger over the past few years, designers have opted for a new main goal and that is profit maximization. Economies of scale tells us that the cheaper you can produce a product of demand, the more of it you will sell. So when fashion designers and clothing companies decide the best route that they should take to get profit maximization, fast fashion is one of their top choices. In addition to that, the role of social media has also really had an impact on the way that we see fast fashion. Many trends have been set by celebrities just because they've posted a picture of their outfit on Instagram. So for example, celebrities like Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian, they have helped push the trend of shapewear and bodysuits into the fashion world. And these posts, they've accumulated millions of likes and views and that has translated into big business opportunities. So both Kim and Kylie have created their own fashion brands. New apps like TikTok has pushed the idea of fast fashion to a whole new level. Recently, TikTok opened their own store and as you could guess, it is called TikTok Shop. So on the platform, there are a lot of influencers who do advertisements or create content to get viewers to buy products off of TikTok Shop. And most of the items that are sold on there are cheap alternates or dupes to luxury brand items. After the creation of smartphones and online shopping, fast fashion crossed the Rubicon and knew that it would never be the same.