Fast Fashion To Slow

The Financial Times suggests that the increasing awareness by consumers of ethical, social and environmental issues could lead retailers to source more local suppliers with higher costs. They say:

“On an overall basis there are reasonably limited gains [still to be made] … Over the past five to 10 years retailers have squeezed the supply pipeline as hard as they can,” said Neil Saunders, author of the Verdict report…

Increasing awareness by consumers of ethical and environmental issues, in-cluding poorly paid garment manufacturers and long-distance sourcing, could lead retailers to source closer to home in more expensive countries. But they are unlikely to abandon cheap suppliers while the signal from consumers is mixed.

FT.com / Companies / Retailing & leisure – ‘Fast fashion’ of cheap clothes set to end (sub reqd)