We all want to look like Kate…and if we can’t have her body, at least we can have her knock-off clothes. That’s what Consumer expert Lucy Siegle, a regular on the BBC’s The One Show, says that we are doing in her new research.
Bulging Closets
The average woman, apparently, buys as much as half her body weight in clothing each year! This means that women now have four times more clothing in their wardrobe as they did in 1980, and it means that they have approximately 22 items hanging in their closet that they’ve never worn.
These startling statistics have been attributed to the idea of “fast fashion,” where women are enjoying buying knocks offs of their favorite celebrity items – at knock-off prices. Miss Siegle’s research comes after studying research that was conducted by Cambridge University on textile imports.
Factors Involved in Fast Fashion
She attributes this rise to many factors, including celebrity obsessions, a decade-long fall in clothing price tags, the rise in online stores and more.
Miss Siegle said, “Before, we were only really interested in what celebrities wore on the red carpet and when they were at a film premiere. But we became obsessed with what Britney Spears wore when she drove her car to a drive-in cafe. It spawned a whole subgroup of day wear called luxury loungewear. At the same time we are consuming at such a rapid rate and throwing so much out you end up with a wardrobe that is devoid of both style and elegance and wearability.”
However, with the austerity measures in place, many say that this fast fashion trend isn’t going to last. Sarah Peters, a senior retail analyst at Verdict Research, said “There are signs that the trends for disposable fashion are beginning to slow. People have less money and there is a bit more focus on price structure and on ranges that show quality and design.”