"Fast fashion fuels customer exodus from local stores" (in Korea)

The fast fashion invasion in downtown Myeong-dong has made headlines in recent months, especially since the arrival in late February of Swedish retailer chain H&M. Its entry meant Seoul now has a nearly complete lineup of the top overseas fast fashion brands.

The influx of such brands as Zara and Mango of Spain, Forever 21 of the United States and Uniqlo of Japan and their dazzling success are rapidly reshaping the country’s 27 trillion won ($24.2 billion) fashion retail market and local consumers’ apparel purchasing patterns.

As research into their business model has shown, the advantage of these fast fashion brands is their iron grip on the entire vertical process, from design to manufacture and distribution. They outsource the bulk of production to low-cost countries in Asia, or Morocco, Portugal or Turkey. The efficiency of this system and the strategy of keeping stock low and shifting it constantly enable the companies to keep costs down, meaning lower price tags for customers. The technique was pioneered by The Gap in the United States, and was later called SPA, for “speciality store/retailer of private-label apparel.”


Regular manufacturing and rapid replenishment of small batches of new products, added to cheaper prices, enable fast fashion brands to grab increasingly wider demographics. At H&M, for example, new items arrive once a day. The majority of traditional fashion retailers, on the other hand, place orders for seasonal collections months before those lines make an appearance in stores.


“Korean consumers have been quick to recognize the value of fast fashion - being able to buy the trendiest items at all times,” said Kim Hae-ryeon, chief executive of Interfashion Planning, a fashion consulting firm.