Research: How Fast Fashion has affected the High Street

I want to look at whether the increase of fast fashion can be linked to the death of the high street.

This article says that fast fashion is the 'go to approach' for brands as it gives the best profits. The majority of high street fashion brands have become fast fashion. It also said that fast fashion has made the high street more like an online store as speed is the most important thing for consumers. This was useful as it shows how the high street has changed because of fast fashion.

As a contrasting view, I then read 'How fast fashion could save the high street'. This was written by a company that are 'specialists in retail and fashion recruitment' so it was quite biased towards presenting fast fashion as a positive as it would befit from this opinion. I found that this article wasn't very useful as it didn't really address fast fashions effect on the environment, however it did show the positives of fast fashion for some companies which is useful for other aspects of my project.

'The Rise of Fast Fashion: High Street vs Online Fashion Retailers' discusses how high street stores are continuing to close while online fast fashion brands thrive. It says that while House of Fraser and New Look were announcing store closures, Boohoo was announcing increased sales. The article also mentions that online performance isn't necessarily what makes a good brand, it is the focus on what the target audience wants that makes brands like ASOS and Boohoo more successful (inclusivity, personalisation, integration with social media). It also offers tips on how in store brands can improve their performance including quick payments, utilising technology, exclusive in store deals. At the end, it says that the high street doesn't have to die, brands just need to be more innovative to keep up with online brands. This article was useful as it showed how online fast fashion can harm the high street but also how in store fashion brands are able to combat this.