America's "Fast Fashion" Trend Loses Consumer Base

Elena Karpova said American consumers are increasingly concerned about " Fast fashion "Cheaper clothing has a higher replacement rate. They will buy these garments in a few weeks. ElenaKarpova, assistant professor of clothing, education research and hotel management, Iowa State University (ISU) reports that the US apparel industry responds to its products.

However, according to a new study (Karpova and ISU graduate student Juyoung Jill), the fast fashion focus of American industry has led to a diminishing share of market share, both domestic and overseas.

Karpova said: "these findings confirm scholars' speculation all the time. In 1980s, Garment industry And interest groups have been very effective in pushing American consumers to buy "made in America" clothing. The reason for this industry is that American consumers can support industry. But they did not support industry. They compare the quality of American clothing with imported garments and do not look at the price at all. "

"The demand for clothing in the United States and Japan is: the impact of industry competitiveness," the study said. Fashion Marketing And management magazine. ISU researchers used data from the US and Japanese governments for 1995-2004 years of trade and consumption in the analysis.

Price sensitive consumers decide the US market

Based on the calculation of price and income elasticity, they report that the US price sensitive consumers constitute the domestic market of American Apparel, and the key is to maintain low prices, rather than improving quality, in terms of relevant prices. They found that American consumers were mainly concerned about prices when purchasing clothes. In contrast, Japanese consumers increased the number of purchases of high quality clothing and domestic clothing, but reduced the purchase of low quality imported garments. During this period, the prices of imported garments increased.

Census data show that the domestic output of American Apparel Manufacturers decreased by 40% from 1995 to 2004, even if the overall market expanded, mainly because of the 50% increase in imports. Meanwhile, the Japanese market has shrunk by 50%, but Japanese clothing companies have kept the domestic market share in the past 10 years. Of the country's clothing suppliers, the United States now ranks third.

The researchers stressed that the American apparel industry focused on low quality and low cost clothing and tried to compete with cheap imports, which is one reason for the weakening of industrial competitiveness in the booming US market.

Karpova said, "I think it is because American consumers have been paying attention to prices, and they have contributed to the overall trend of so-called" fast fashion "in the industry. American consumers need fast changing styles. They almost want to see new products and affordable prices every week in their favorite stores. This means that American companies need to produce low quality products for a relatively short time.

Japanese consumers prefer high quality clothing.

The study found that Japanese consumers were more willing to purchase higher quality high-end clothing, and their choice encouraged domestic manufacturers to concentrate on producing such products. Therefore, the products of the Japanese clothing industry are different from the low quality imported garments, so the Japanese apparel industry has maintained the domestic market share.

Li believes that the study has amplified the cultural differences between the US and Japan's clothing market.

"The most interesting thing about the Japanese market is that they do not think young people are rich and the elderly have disposable income," Li said. "He lived in Japan from 2008 to 2010. "So there are many advertisements on the elderly to buy beautiful fashion clothes on TV, which can not be seen in the US. All department stores are also full of clothes that appeal to the elderly. "

Karpova said the study should also give some thinking to American apparel manufacturers because they need to move on.