is the fashion industry heading for collapse?

I wish I could agree on people wanting to stand out... but agree that customization is the next big frontier for fashion. More and more people (therefore $) are invested in clothes that fit them and make them look good, as well as sustainable supply chains.

you can say that with most any art form now, movies, music, wall art, merch, ads, stories, ect.

Excellent analysis of the probable collapse of fast fashion as brands implode. The return to individualized style reminded me of being a child in the '60s and a teenager in the '70s. Everyone had at least one denim jacket, and many people customized theirs to tell their "story". Patches, embroidery, paint, pins, and maybe even rhinestones were carefully placed, each a symbol of significance to the wearer. No two were alike! Any of these gems that survived should be preserved and treasured!

I think much depends on how rapidly and dramatically climate change is going to continue. Which is impossible to predict. This is just one of a whole host of related issues, after all. General water scarcity, droughts, floods, wildfires...who knows what the world will even look like in a decade or two and how that will affect clothing production and prices. Who knows, how our relationship to China will develop. And so on and so forth. There are loads of factors, that are mostly out of our control.

But who knows. Customization is an interesting avenue to explore. Make people more attached to individual pieces of clothing. More interested in owning 'favorite' pieces, they will wear over and over again.

I've been looking into sewing and as I was going through pinterest deeper into sewing techniques, I realized how duped we are. We're cheated into believing that we only deserve these very simply sewn stretchy clothes, but there are so many ways to sew interesting designs. And it's not even that inaccessable! If you're interested in sewing, a lot is achievable.

I really appreciate your channel. The depth of data and analysis you provide is valuable.

I was pondering on that and I agree that some kind of mix between made to order catalogue style ordering and customizations is the only way to proceed

Very interesting video again.
I totally agree on the customizing. Maybe we even go back to the roots of local tailors. (Then I could finally have the job I trained for)
My first fashion event was a disaster, as I love quality, quality fabrics, techniques, cuts. Therefore my pieces where understated and couldn’t compete with flashy trendy branded ones. Also the industry is highly competitive, and I wasn’t ready for it then.
But many people, especially young ones turn to thrifting and upcycling and have pieces altered to fit their vision. I think that’s great and we should keep to that path.
But at the same time many people don’t want to think about their fashion that much, which is fair but unfortunately helps fast fashion along.

Just today I had a conversation with my mom about how the internet, and the internationalization of style, has put a lot of very creat local manufacturers out of business. Which is a shame, as these local pieces are those we still like and use after 20, 30 years.

i wish it was easier to find local people who make custom clothes! i can only find tailors or a few creators via social media who are popular and often completely booked. i’ve tried to customize my clothes and make them from scratch but it is clearly not my calling lol. i can design but i dont have the technical skills needed for creation

Not sure if you’ve heard of it, but I think the founders of Indyx are on the nose with a strategy to re-invent the fashion industry. Highly recommend you check them out and particularly podcasts with the founders.

I heard Uniqlo already customise items. Not sure if they are considered fast fashion (I've never been there or shopped there), but I think fast fashion retailers will do the thing that makes them the most money.

I don't like the blame the consumers/customers, but I think fast fashion will only end when there isn't a demand. The only way I can see the demand lessening is if we swap clothes with each other. You know like how some communities have collective power tools that you can borrow? Maybe something like that.

I loved eShakti's customizations (both based on my measurements and adding pockets and bra snaps). Unfortunately, my last order there has been missing-in-action for 3 months now. Standard sizes just don't fit well.

I'm a lolita/in the egl fashion community. I trust NO Piece under 80 euros (and no dress or skirt under like, 120). Good quality clothes matter even more when there's so many parts (lace and beads and ribbons and ruffles and...etc.).

I tend to get my pieces from Etsy from genuine handmade fashion creators, because there's a bigger chance imo that it'll be made to order and with love and care.

Another thought from the egl fashion viewpoint: I feel like a lot of sustainable clothes are kinda...same-y. Vintage and maxi dresses are not my thing. When I'm not getting dressed up in lolita wear, I'm just wearing clothes to cover up my body really. Because there's nothing interesting and cute to me but I refuse to buy fast fashion

This is why I love the rise of sites like Vinted. I've bought a few items on there now, all like-new quality, all fit perfectly, all quite stylish, all complement my wardrobe well, and without ethical/sustainability implications of buying new. Capitalism is a cancer and it is destroying this planet. Anyway, great video I've just subscribed!

Every time I hear about something wrong somewhere it always boils back to shareholders, and wall street. I think the solution is getting rid of shareholders and wall street. That's rich people nonsense and we normal regular people don't need it.

What if in future you can print your customised clothes

Converse already allows your idea! Pretty mich from all the basic models you can choose on how you want them to look!

I want mass hyper-nichety to take over. I've been wanting to break into the fashion industry but I don't like how it operates. I loving sewing, customizing things and making 1/1 items. I really hope the market expands and become more like this so I can be a successful designer.

You should watch Rian Phin's video 'the futuristic fashion vs. sustainability debate' she mentions that sometimes brands doing customization isn't always a good thing and consumers can't always communicate their needs well or know the difference between what they like and what they want to wear :)

I just attended an African fashion festival called Afrodyssee in Switzerland. Many designers used clothes and unused fabrics that get dumped on the continent from Europe and the US to create new things and original reuse (old football jerseys chopped up and used to stuff toys) it was fascinating talking with these creators who use our innate creativity to counter the harm caused by western lead consumerism 🎉 Ms. Koko in Liberia and only2sewing from Switzerland are also brands who use fabric remnants and discarded new products found all over Africa for the former and size inclusive adjustable and customisable clothes made to order in limited quantities for part of the year only.they are fairly new on the scene but I got a skirt and jacket combo from O3S and the interfacing is made from old hospital sheets! No fusible interfacing. The buttons on my skirt are from Caritas. Ms Koko uses discarded cardboard to make handbags and re-dyes second hand clothing embroiders them and all sorts to create something new. They keep their prices low (for now?) because fashion is not their day job...yet. Hopefully with the shift you predict...observe these small African and Afropean creators will find the space to thrive

This is why I started knitting. I was already thrifting most things in my wardrobe, however, I was still consuming clothes at such a fast rate that it was as though I was still being governed by the principles of fast fashion. Knitting is such an antidote to this, as it takes a really long time and effort to knit an entire jumper or cardigan, but every step of the process is so enjoyable.

Getting inspiration from other knitters or seeing someone on the street wearing a cute cardigan and saying 'I could knit that'. Planning which yarns you will end up using. And then the actual process of knitting is so calming and fun, and feels so nice in your hands. And also, in a way, the garment acts as a time capsule for the time of life you made the garment. For example, when I go on a trip, I try to bring along something to knit, and then when I wear the garment later, I will remember the trip. Or, I often binge a show or listen to audiobooks while knitting - when I wear the garment, I remember the show as well and how much I enjoyed it.

It can take months to knit a garment, but at the end, because you've put so much effort and have spent so much time with it, you grow attached to it. Now I rarely buy clothes, new or second hand, because my craving for new clothes is satisfied with knitting. I feel as though I've redirected by energy from thinking about buying new clothes constantly, to now thinking about the garment I'm currently knitting, or planning what garment I'll knit next. I highly recommend trying out knitting, crocheting, or making your own garments if you are like me and love thinking about clothes all the time lol! but want to try be more sustainable.

Loved this video. As someone who in the last couple of years has been so frustrated with shopping (spending ours at diff shops and not finding anything unique, or that fits properly or is of good quality for price) this was validating. I would love to start making my clothes unique by picking up a skill like sewing, if only to tailor things properly or create something new. Thanks for the great analysis

I literally cannot believe the state of fashion & its low-quality. It has never been this bad. I agree with everything you said plus you've offered some solid solutions. The issue is greed. Greed is killing everything slowly....

im so glad im into alternative fashion and i know how to sew

I wish we could go back to a time where clothes were about quality and not about the bottom line. It seems like execs are just greedy and profit-hungry and don't really care about the products they produce being good or not. It's not just clothes either. It's mattresses, purses, pots and pans, toys- everything is so much worse quality than it used to be so that profits can be higher. All we can do as consumers is vote with our wallets and the businesses that should fail, will eventually.... right?

Pre-Order might be the solution. I see it with indie cosmetic brands. They don’t produce until they get the orders. It’s like needing to wait until Christmas to open up the presents.

I totally agree with you. Why does Chanel need to do 10 collections per year. I think 5 would be plenty. I read an article several years ago that showed all the fast fashion ending up in landfill in Ghana. Once I read that article I started buying second hand and I no longer buy from Zara, H&M, etc…My ratio of second hand to new is now 60/40 and I never bought second hand prior to that article. I also not longer buy man made fabrics. Only natural fibers…it might not be much but I think if we all make a few subtle changes it send a message to the industry and its great on our wallets.

Mass hyper-nichety reminds me a lot of the harajuku street fashion mentality from the 1990-2000 (I think it started earlier, but that's the era I'm familiar with). The whole idea is that your clothes should reflect your individuality, there's a big focus on repurposing items (like using pants as sleeves, or smaller skirts as neckwear), diy's, mixing and matching clothes and fabrics that wouldn't regulatly be paired together, etc. It almost dissapeared a couple years ago but it's slowly getting more traction with the neo-decora movement.

the fashion industry rn is the perfect example of how we've reached the end of american capitalism and doomsday is coming lmao

This is such rubbish! Fashion has never been an art form at all — it’s always been the most capitalistic of capitalist production.

Good analysis! I agree, we should go back to having clothes individually tailored and done in good material quality. Brands like Son de Flor already do this. I have ordered custom with them, paid a little more, and I am very satisfied. Unfortunately, I fear we have become so accustomed to cheap clothing that it will be difficult to convince the majority to pay more and own less. And we shouldn't forget that there are people who are so poor that they will not be able to afford that.

Thanks for sharing. I agree with you.😊

About five years ago I taught myself how to sew and have been making my own clothes. I spent so much on clothes and still looked like a slob because nothing really fit. Things fell apart quickly too, and they were also not cheap. Sewing patterns sizes fit me like a glove, so I am a standard size, there is something wrong with the sizing used by clothes manufacturers. I know a lot of people sew because they can’t spend the entire day clothes shopping and find nothing that suits them or fits. I miss people dressing nicely, it is an art form.

There’s no incentive for large brands to do this. The bottom line is they are driven by profit and share price, they’re not driven by sustainability, ethics or anything else. Unfortunately that means nothing will change beyond a bit of tweaking around the edges and greenwashing.

What fashion industry?
I could wear fashions from 20 years ago and they look the same as stuff in the shops today.

Thank you! ✨ you’re so right, I feel like everyone thinks they like fashion but they want to just feel good and look good on their clothes. That’s why they try to replicate others style hoping to look the same.
I learned to sew bc my grandma was a seamstress, and I’ve experimented so much with my moms, aunt and grandmas clothes. But now I also feel that fashion fatigue from so many trends on social media. I started to think I should fit in an aesthetic so I started buying clothes and now I want to throw everything and start again 😢 but I don’t want to waste so I’m renovating all my pieces one by one 🥵🫡
I know not everyone can do this so my advice to everyone is to check their body type (ALL the features not just overall shape), colour season and hairstyles for your face shape. And that’s it ✨✨ everyone would feel good and comfortable and beautiful 🫶🏽
Btw I always have your videos in the background while sewing 🫶🏽✨

I thrifted a black velvet t-shirt from Zara, I believe, from the year 1999 and the quality of the velvet and construction was so much better than modern Zara.
Last year I bought some velvet pants still with tags that seemed to be recent based on the logo, and I wore them once and the fabric started to ripe on the seams. It wasn't because they were too small for me, but it was the quality of the fabric. I just needed to pull the fabric a little bit and it would ripe apart very easily, because the velvet was very thin, especially when compared with the velvet t-shirt.
I can see the difference in quality with other older pieces of clothing from other brands, but these two velvet items shocked me even more, because there was such a stark difference within the same brand. So it seems that even fast fashion from 25 years ago is much better than fast fashion nowadays.

Since it’s been years since I left the corporate world and have had to pick out my own wardrobe for work - I now work in an industry in which jeans and t-shirts are my staples - I have not kept up with the fashions out in the marketplace. However I recently had to shop for a wedding that I was attending and had a hard time finding anything that I liked enough to spend money on. It just so happened that around this time, I really started to lose some weight, and ended up fitting into all my old clothes that I thought I would never wear again and had considered donating or giving away. I basically was able to find party clothes from my old wardrobe that, guess what, were better quality than what I was able to find in the stores or online. This has made me fall in love with all my old clothes again and interested in looking at clothing in the secondhand marketplace and in off-price stores, where I used to shop for my wardrobe all the time.😊

GIRL. I love your videos, your thoughts and your eloquence. But please please please, I can't really deal with the simultaneous talking and the newspaper headlines, pictures or tiktok screenshots that are only visible for a split second. PLEASE allow us viewers just a bit more time to read those, if you actually want us to understand the videos. Just pause for one to two seconds, and then continue speaking. That would really increase the quality of the videos. Right now I have to pause your videos MULTIPLE TIMES because I didn't catch the headline you were trying to show because you showed it way too shortly (and I'm actually a really fast reader!!) AND you were talking at the same time so we have to try to listen and read at light-speed simultaneously, which is impossible!!! Pleeeeaaase! Thanks a lot for considering to change that in future videos. <3

It would be really cool if it could stop. Maybe instead of getting new clothes in hauls, custom clothing will be created on demand on a schedule like every few months , like how often people get a hair cut or maybe at half that frequency. i remember as a kid i really only got new clothes maybe 3 times a year: christmas, (winter clothes and gifts from relatives) easter (spring and preparing for summer clothes) and back to school season (fall clothes) and if you wanted a special outfit for summer or halloween, it was usually a DIY thing because kids and teens dont have tons of money..

Honestly, I think a temporary legal bandage might be forcing brands to take responsibility for disposal of the clothes they make.

Especially if that’s coupled with rules around waste disposal, I could see it being a pretty strong incentive to make clothes that can be recycled or disposed of easily—so no more blends of synthetic/natural, and maybe some priority to natural fibers and environmentally friendly dyes (since natural matter burns a lot better than plastic).

No…..people are too lazy now for hyper nichety to take off. Art form, yes it was. There was also appreciation and respect. Those perceptions don’t currently exist for clothes. It’s about “comfort”. It’s about throwing out and ‘’’donating’’’. There’s no discernment, no critical thinking, no true self evaluation for what’s proper for oneself.
Loving your content. Thanks for taking on these themes.

Hi Katie, I just found your channel and I’m really enjoying your commentary! I wanted to mention something I thought of towards the end of the video when you mentioned mass hyper-nichety; this already exists in fandom! Sooo many of us will thrift and/or buy clothing and then alter it to make it reminiscent of a character by embroidering, styling, altering, adding embellishments, pins etc etc. and that coupled with nerdy knitting and crochet projects can make some wonderfully unique outfits! For example I just finished knitting a pair of socks with the LOTR fellowship leaf pin motif on them (or mallorn leaves to use their name!) and have a green hoodie I’m planning to embroider because it reminds me of Legolas :D I also once thrifted a maroon tunic that reminds me of Aragorn and I often style it with other LOTR-esque accessories to really give off that feel. I know this isn’t exactly mass marketable or appealing to the mainstream but it’s so fun and I feel like the fandom corner of fashion is a really fun and incredibly creative place to be!