fashionsystem

Understanding The Fashion System

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The Truth Behind Sales & Markdowns

Understanding the fashion system involves exposing the hidden environmental costs of frequent fashion promotions and sales. Aiming for sustainability in the fashion industry is critical to saving the planet.

Sales used to occur at the end of the season only. But now, promotions and markdowns are frequent. What’s changed in the fashion industry? Since fashion became finance and brands became properties of corporations, profit has been the only logic guiding the fashion industry. Corporations use overproduction to maximise profit; sales are part of the game.

The negative impact of fashion sales

Sales apparently are a way to get a deal on clothing and other products. But, they contribute to a bigger problem in our society: the value of clothing and the labour that goes into making it is not recognised. In other words, sales devalued product quality and labour.

Sales perpetuate an unsustainable production cycle that harms our planet. To support this profit-driven system, they fuel impulsive buying, encouraging people to buy things they don’t need. Additionally, when brands play a pricing game with their products, it can call into question their credibility. On the one hand, brands praise the value of their products. But a month later, this value has halved. Who are they kidding?

However, overconsumption and overproduction are two faces of the same coin: capitalism, an economic system that values profits above all else. 

Despite the apparent fascination, thinking individuals should consider the detrimental impact of sales on the planet and people. With overproduction and fashion waste visible from space, the fashion industry significantly contributes to climate crises, biodiversity loss, and environmental degradation. In fact, the recent UN guidelines underscore the urgent need to combat unsustainable consumption patterns.

The call is clear: curbing overconsumption. To do so, we must acknowledge sales and frequent markdowns as symptoms of a profit-oriented system that harms our environment. But, to find solutions, first, we must grasp how the fashion system operates.

The fashion system: who does it work?

Brands pressure retailers to meet escalating budget demands each season (minimum amount or quantity). That leads to excessive purchasing beyond actual retailers’ demand. To ensure profits for brands, retailers buy more than they can sell.
Excess inventory drives up retail prices because high quantities of merchandise are sold only during sales. So, higher prices throughout the season partially cover this loss.
Lastly, overstock forces retailers into a cycle of frequent discounts and promotions, aiming to encourage more purchases from end consumers.

This interconnected cycle of consumption and production cannot be rectified by addressing only one aspect without considering the other. In this context, we cannot trust brands who preach sustainable fashion.

Solutions: sustainable fashion practices

Sustainable fashion practices for retailers: Stop Sales! 

• Reduce the quantities of clothing and accessories ordered per season. If brands do not accept lower orders, do not buy from them. By preventing overstock, retailers can maintain fair prices throughout the year. Both retailers and consumers would benefit from this.
• Refrain from excessive discount events like Black Fridays, promotions, and sales. Customers are no longer willing to buy at the true value of a garment.
• Educate consumers to prioritise quality over quantity, investing in durable, timeless pieces and understanding the value behind their purchases.

What Consumers Can Do: be agents of change!

• Don’t contribute to the climate crisis. Change the system: make conscious choices. 
• Buy less, much less during the season. Take only quality items that complement your existing wardrobe; reuse clothes.
• Avoid trendy items; embrace a timeless aesthetic that transcends fleeting fashion. Remember, quality endures – good design transcends trends. It doesn’t have an expiry date.

Ultimately, sales aren’t sustainable. Understanding the fashion system, how brands’ pressure on retailers drives over-purchasing, inflates retail prices, prompting endless discounts, and addressing both consumption and overproduction, is vital for impactful change.

At suite123, we prioritise good design, timeless fashion, and conscious consumption. And we care about people and the planet. Therefore, we do not endorse sales. 

Let’s make conscious decisions about what we consume, nurturing a sustainable world for generations to come.

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A Quiet Act of Rebellion

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Our Fashion Story Beyond the Beaten Path

Our stance at suite123 is a quiet act of rebellion against the fashion industry’s dominant business model.

The fashion system relies on relentless overproduction and manipulative marketing strategies. Despite mounting evidence of the industry’s devastation on the environment and despite the unmeasurable fashion waste, brands keep making large quantities of new clothes. And shops continue to order endless varieties of clothing from these brands. Likewise, people keep purchasing and discarding clothes. Nothing ever changes. The only thing that changes is labels. Now, garments are labeled as sustainable just to play with illusion.

Fashion rebellion #formodernhumans

So, at suite123, we rebel against corporations that talk the talk but fail to walk the walk.
And we rebel against the masses who follow the carnival barkers blindly, contributing to perpetuating a system that exploits workers. This system, in turn, depletes the masses’ rights, yet they refuse to see it. In fact, despite the information available, most people ignore it and keep supporting the very brands exploiting people and the planet.

We are not a big corporation. On the contrary, we are a tiny independent boutique that operates on a private shopping pattern. An experiment outside the norm in the fashion universe.

Thoughtful design, independent creators, limited productions

Our rebellion lies in endorsing thoughtful design, independent creators, and advocating for limited productions. Also, educating people and encouraging the choice of a select few quality pieces over mindless accumulation. In other words, we advocate for limited quantities of quality garments for a tiny niche of individuals who are free thinkers.

For the new year, our dedication persists in seeking creativity, good design and quality to curate a limited selection that encapsulates true essence. It’s about less, much less, but better. No gimmicks, no endless arrays of clothing, and no false claims of sustainability. Also, no carnival barkers to fill you with pointless stuff. Instead, a meticulous curation of meaningful garments, unwavering in its value.

Rather than conforming to a fashion system that screams, we thrive in quiet working. Being aware of how our model is somewhat revolutionary in an industry flattened by business logic, we persist with our quiet act of rebellion.

In a world of fashion noise, we choose the quiet revolution of mindful curation and quality over quantity.

We invite you to join us on this journey!

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The retail impasse

Fashion business: the therapeutic obstinacy for an almost-dead patient

The retail impasse and the problems emerging in fashion these days revolve around two main topics: late deliveries and markdown strategies. 

However, both issues are indicators of a fashion system that is basically dead, but everyone pretends not to see it. Or they refuse to accept it. So every operator in the field is on a kind of therapeutic obstinacy for a patient that is almost gone. And which, by the way, has a huge impact on the planet.

Two main points of the retail impasse

One: many stores have received a small percentage of the Spring-Summer pieces, which makes it complicated to assemble outfits. Why does this happen? Top brands monopolise good manufacturers. So smaller brands get materials late (for the same reason) and consequently are left as the last link of the chain. Therefore, they cannot deliver on time.

Two: markdown strategies and how to get rid of the stock in excess that stores keep purchasing. Even though retailers are perfectly aware that the number of people entering a store isn’t the same as in the pre-pandemic time, they don’t stop overstocking. Of course, it gets more complicated to sell discounted items! They are available online and offline throughout the year. Markdowns aren’t attractive anymore. And a discount isn’t the only reason people purchase a product.

The excessive stock policy is harmful to the planet and business. So, we must change it.

Can we find solutions to revive the fashion business?

These solutions need to experiment with new ways of operating the fashion business. 

First: a dramatic reduction in consumption! Let’s face reality: if we do not consume less, much less, we can forget to have a future. So, there’s no point in procrastinating the change.

Second: a shift to artisanal garments and made-to-order clothes and accessories, having the chance to reorder during the season. It’s about choosing tailoring over mass-produced garments – quality over quantity.

If we want to overcome the retail impasse, overtreating fashion with more overproduction will take us nowhere. We need a completely different strategy: it’s a matter of reducing the number of pieces while providing a higher value.
Less but better.

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The luxury inconsistency

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How the fashion system devalues itself

Straight to the point of the luxury inconsistency: top brands stopped representing luxury. When they started the overproduction pattern, triggering the constant need for discounts, they moved in a different direction. And since the diffusion of affordable luxury, a meaningless oxymoron, the fashion industry is doing its best to devalue what little remains of luxury.

Luxury: from exclusivity to mass products

Overproduction and luxury have nothing in common. But the fashion industry promoted this pattern to make more money – in the name of growth and greed.
Some top brands represented the last stronghold of an industry which was transmuting into financial conglomerates. In this new context, fashion went from exclusivity to the masses.

In order to appeal to a wider audience, communication had to develop a different narrative. And it revolves around three points:
1- extremized concepts, just to give something to talk about
2- socialite or fashion bloggers to promote the products
3- frequent markdowns

And so, the industry has lowered standards focusing on branding rather than providing creativity and excellent quality. The byproduct was a crass logo dependency. But, associating a logo with specific lifestyle imagery is different from well-made products. Most importantly, exclusivity and discounts contradict each other!

The luxury short-circuit

Sometimes luxury brands, how they still want to call themselves, release the wrong communication, as in the case of Balenciaga. Consequently, fashion bloggers sell their products for cheap. Can you imagine who paid the full price for those items? They must be happy to see them undersold!

Rising prices: the latest strategy for luxury

Now brands increase prices due to pandemic-related issues and inflation, but that does not mean better quality. They cover their costs. If people accept to pay more, they get mass products in return, not exclusivity.

What masses believe is luxury, it is not. It’s the product of an industry that lost consistency. Without serious critique and questioning, it reveals its short-circuit and inability to change.

Indeed, communication missteps show the luxury inconsistency to everyone. And you don’t even need to be a fashion insider to understand it!

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Limited number of pieces: our fashion alternative

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Why limited quantities pave the way to sustainable fashion

The production of a limited number of pieces represents an alternative in the fashion industry. Indeed, it is a viable approach towards sustainable fashion.

It means producing much less without forcing the market to pursue never-ending growth. The purpose is to limit the impact of the fashion industry on the planet while protecting workers with decent wages. But, at the same time, offering quality and not quantity to consumers.
We are far from the scarcity principle and the fear of missing out, developed to manipulate people’s behaviour. Those patterns fake scarcity to hide a system of overproduction. Because of this massified production, the fashion system needs parallel markets, frequent markdowns and marketing tricks to push people to consume more and more.

The sustainable solution

Garments and accessories made by skilled tailors or crafted by artisans. In the hands of a healthier and more balanced manufacturing chain, those limited production would have a lower impact on the planet. This system includes small reorders and a made-to-order service for retailers. In the end, clients would get real quality pieces made to last rather than disposable fashion.

Unique fashion and sustainability: a limited number of pieces, our retail approach

We have reduced the quantities we buy from each brand we select. Perhaps they are not happy with it, but they cannot deny there’s a new reality, so we must face it and find solutions. Even though some brands come from Japan, which you may consider less sustainable, since quantities are small, the impact is low. Microscopic compared to the fashion supermarkets like big retailers or dept. stores.

Indeed, a limited number of pieces is our commitment to uniqueness and sustainability. Specifically, we are satisfied with Marc Le Bihan, who gave the opportunity of a made-to-order service to those who appreciate his unique designs.

Eventually, we can foster the status quo, pursuing an exploitative system. Or, we can explore alternatives.
We chose to work for a different possibility, an evolution, a change for the better. And a limited number of pieces is our commitment to unique fashion and sustainability.

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