(Thomson Reuters)
A woman inside a Zara store in Madrid.
Fast fashion has become popular largely because of its signature cheap prices.
Stores like Forever 21 and H&M churn out affordable runway knockoffs, which are particularly appealing to cash-strapped teens.
But now Refinery 29 is reporting that these retailers are abandoning the very thing that made them so successful: being cheap.
Instead, the retailers are selling items that are priced more in line with Nordstrom.
Refinery 29 points to Topshop's Unique line, which sells pricier dresses. One dress from the line goes for $435.
A more obvious example might be H&M's collaboration with Balmain, which sold out instantly. Items were reselling on eBay for thousands of dollars.
The clothing was already pricier than H&M's standard disposable fare, but it was still markedly cheaper than Balmain's offerings.
This is ultimately an ingenious way for fast-fashion companies to cement their grasp on shoppers, whom the companies hope will have less of a reason to graduate to shopping elsewhere.
(Getty Images)
Balmain designer Olivier Rousteing, center, with his star models, showing off the Balmain and H
"They're making it easier for people to never leave them, you know, and ... not have to make that transition away," Gesina Gudehus-Wittern, a consultant at Vivaldi Partners Group, told Business Insider.
"It's a perfectly normal transition as consumers become more affluent, and at a certain life stage that they're going to develop a certain understanding of quality and maybe want to transition away" from fast fashion.
This strategy hopes to keep consumers from growing out of stores like H&M (which has more "grown up" counterparts Cos and & Other Stories) and Zara. That strategy could arguably be hurting traditional retailers, which are struggling as it is.
In the past, shoppers might have moved on from fast fashion to stores like Ann Taylor, Banana Republic, and J. Crew. Now these shoppers can stay with their fast-fashion companies, which have an opportunity to maintain customers rather than just pick up new ones — thereby contributing to even more growth.
Banana Republic has been trying to compete with stores like Zara. In February, it will sell some of the styles appearing on the runway at New York Fashion Week online immediately.
Much of the fashion community has been scrambling to keep up with fast fashion, with social media giving everyone easy access to the runway.
"We have designers, retailers and everybody complaining about the shows. Something's not right anymore because of social media, people are confused," Diane von Furstenberg, chairwoman of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, told Women's Wear Daily.