A perfectly normal Tuesday morning in Oslo. Inside the shop doors of the Spanish-owned clothing chain Zara, people are buzzing. It’s not just grabbing a blouse on the first floor and then taking the escalator up to the fitting rooms. There is a long queue there. The store is packed with teenage girls on a city trip, tweens dragging their mothers, three generations of northerners on holiday in Oslo and mothers of young children with large prams. Zara owner Inditex is a major player in the huge market for what is called “fast-fashion”. In 2023, Inditex, which also owns several other clothing chains, increased its total sales by 10 percent. Lots of new, all the time Fast fashion is really exactly what it sounds like; clothing stores that produce new and fashionable items at record speed. The goal is to constantly be able to keep up with the rapidly changing desires for the newest of the new. They often produce so-called “dupes”, i.e. garments that are similar to clothes from far more expensive brands such as Chanel or Miu Miu – two luxury brands that are very popular at the moment. Creating good look-a-likes is much of the key to success for the far cheaper fast fashion chains. Barbie hitchhiking Among Zara’s biggest successes in 2023 was a Barbie dress for around NOK 1,000, which was part of the collaboration collection with the monster hit Barbie film that came out last summer. Among the outfits was also a replica of the cowboy outfit that Barbie actress Margot Robbie wore in the film. Clothes inspired by Margot Robbie’s wardrobe in last summer’s Barbie movie were among Zara’s most popular pieces last year. Fast forward to summer 2024, and the clothes don’t feel as updated anymore. Photo: Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures Zara, which has been a player in the market for decades already, has had a new wind in its sails in recent years, despite a worldwide cost of living crisis. Rapidly rising prices and higher interest rates have given people far less to mess with. If there is less left in the account, it has been seen that people choose cheaper goods in the grocery store, such as First Price and Eldorado, but also cheaper clothes. That may be part of the explanation for Zara’s rise. Tough for the niche stores In Norway, the niche stores have had extra hard time, due to the weak krone. The weak krone has made all imported goods even more expensive, and combined with poorer advice, it is no wonder that people turn to the cheap chains to meet their needs. “It’s never been this bad before. It’s absolutely terrible”, a shop owner at Frogner told me earlier this summer. Around him hang blouses for NOK 3,000 and T-shirts for just over a thousand. I am the only customer. Most of the niche stores, which typically take in slightly different brands that you don’t get everywhere, find that people no longer have the extra money “on top” to treat themselves to that little extra. The winter has been hard on the bones. The summer sale has started earlier than ever. Shopping figures for Norway nevertheless show a surprisingly strong rise in the turnover volume in the retail trade. The rise is 3.2 per cent from April to May. We have to go back to the pandemic to find an equally big jump. Grocery stores and clothing stores stood out clearly. Much points upwards It is difficult to say anything absolutely precise about why the numbers are so strong, but it is easy to point to a couple of things. Firstly, this year’s wage settlement of 5.2 per cent was very strong, which means that most people will be paid an extra couple of thousand every month after tax starting with their July salary. In addition, the holiday money comes in June, which many people already start using a little in advance. Another important factor is that it seems that we will not get any more interest rate jumps, which gives people a better overview of their financial situation going forward. This contributes to the fact that Norwegians are now more optimistic about their economic future than in a long time, recent figures for consumer confidence show. Price becomes the most important question Whether the shift from more expensive quality garments to cheaper fast-fashion is here to stay is a difficult question to answer. It is understandable that people have become more careful with their money after a few tight years. The animal age seems to have led to price once again becoming the most important thing when shopping. More important than realizing the greater consequences of buying clothes that are perceived to be out of date almost as soon as you take them out of the store. Because what do you do with your summer dress after you’ve worn it once at a summer party? A polyester dress for NOK 499 is worth about zero on Tise, and the path to the Fretex container is extremely short. So, up there and away with it. It will probably end up on a rubbish heap in Africa eventually. Enormous costs Fast fashion is not only known for lightning-fast production and low prices, but also poor working conditions and environmental impact. Production takes place in low-cost countries, where frequent collection changes and massive marketing contribute to an enormous consumption of resources. The environmental costs are high; water consumption, chemical emissions and textile waste are just some of the problems. Garbage pile in Ghana. Photo: URIX Back at Zara on a normal Tuesday morning, it’s easy to understand why it’s so popular. Low price and lots of new clothes every week is fun! I even itch my fingers when I move between the racks. “This one perhaps?” I send a snap to a friend. The jacket is a copy of another jacket I want, but which is far too expensive. It is in some mixed material, where plastic is one of the main ingredients. The jacket is nice, and looks similar to another – more expensive jacket Photo: Cecilie Langum Becker Thumbs up back: “Very nice!!” But I’ll let it go, as I’ve mostly done for the last couple of years. I try as often as I can to get back to the disgusting feeling I used to get after a round in the Fretex container because my apartment is overflowing with cheap crap. That way I stifle the impulse. The trips to the container are getting fewer My trips to the container are getting fewer and fewer. I have friends who still don’t believe me when I say that I’ve long since stopped bulk shopping, but I’m excited to bring out the quality pieces I’ve collected over the years. Clothes delivered to Fretex Photo: Kristine Ramberg Aasen / news Perhaps the next time you stand in line to try on a blouse, you can ask yourself: Do I really need this? And if the answer is yes, perhaps you should rather buy a garment that you will realistically want to own for a little more than two weeks. Think of last year’s Zara bestseller, the pink Barbie dress, and think of the fashion scene this summer. Never in the world if you had used it now. Published 14.07.2024, at 19.04
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Cheap and lots of new things every week, it’s fun! – Speech
