Ultra fast fashion news and archive

Why fast-fashion is harming second-hand – and what we can do about it

June ended with yet another blow to Europe’s struggling post-consumer textiles sector: Texaid Germany filed for insolvency. This is a significant setback for the group and for the broader reuse and recycling ecosystem. Just as European policymakers begin to treat textile waste with the seriousness it deserves, the very infrastructure needed to...

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Business

France: intelligent protectionism faced with ultra fast fashion

Paris - Will protectionism become a condition for the survival of the French fashion industry? As the Trump administration relaunched its trade offensive against China in April 2025, imposing massive tariffs on imports, Europe braces for a shockwave that could hit its own market hard. Earlier this week the Fédération Française du Prêt à Porter F...

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Business

The Rise of Temu: Disruption, convenience, and the hidden costs of hyper-consumerism

In an era of digital marketplace transformation, Temu has emerged as a lightning rod for both economic innovation and critical scrutiny of contemporary consumption patterns. The platform's meteoric rise — achieving a 53 percent year-on-year growth in monthly active users in the United Kingdom — represents more than a digital success story; it...

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Fashion |Opinion

Most consumers know cheap fashion isn’t sustainable—so why do they keep buying it?

Despite growing awareness of the fashion industry's negative impact, consumers continue to purchase affordable, trendy clothes from fast fashion brands and retail giants. Why is that? How can these two realities coexist? The inspiration for this piece comes from a recent article published by Dutch investigative journalism platform De...

The Gen Z dilemma: eco-conscious but addicted to fast fashion

One of the most-read articles on FashionUnited in October was about unauthorised Shein outlets -- pop-up shops that pretend to be by the Chinese internet giant but are simply riding on the brand's popularity. Pop-up shops opened in Dutch cities such as Arnhem, Utrecht and Rotterdam, offering clothes at extremely low prices. These shops have been...

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Retail

Amazon's foray into ultra-fast fashion will be a seismic shift in e-commerce

The e-commerce giant Amazon is poised to disrupt the ultra-fast fashion market, a sector currently dominated by Chinese powerhouses Shein and Temu. This strategic move marks Amazon's entry into a burgeoning market segment characterised by rock-bottom prices and direct-from-China shipping models. With Shein and Temu reportedly dispatching up to 1...

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Business

Greenwashing, ultra fast fashion slowing down progress on eliminating fossil fuels from textiles, finds new report

The good news is that fashion companies are making progress when it comes to reducing emissions, phasing out coal and transitioning to renewable energy. The bad news is that greenwashing and ultra fast fashion are undermining these efforts. These are the findings of the “2024 Clean Energy Close Up” report by environmental advocacy group...