fast fashion

noun

: an approach to the design, creation, and marketing of clothing fashions that emphasizes making fashion trends quickly and cheaply available to consumers

For many shoppers, Primark has an irresistible offer: trendy clothes at astonishingly low prices. The result is a new and even faster kind of fast fashion, which encourages consumers to buy heaps of items, discard them after a few wears and then come back for another batch of new outfits.

—The Economist

Competition is fierce at every end of the fashion spectrum from luxury to fast fashion.

—Nedra Rhone

In 1985, we bought roughly 31 clothing items per year; now [in 2012] we snap up twice that many thanks to "fast fashion."

—Azeen Ghorayshi

The allure of fast fashion makes sense in times of economic hardship. People still want to dress up, feel good and express their creativity.

—Shama Nasinde

—usually hyphenated when used before another noun

fast-fashion chains/retailers

Examples of fast fashion in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The afterlife of fast fashion is hard to ignore in Panipat. —Ayushi Shah, CNN Money, 9 May 2026

Runway is under fire after shilling for fast fashion, and Andy is there to credibility-wash the mag. —Bethy Squires, Vulture, 30 Apr. 2026

According to Lu, sourcing from these areas can provide greater speed to the European market, aligning well with its fast fashion business model. —Kate Nishimura, Footwear News, 29 Apr. 2026

And a scandal that sees Runway fooled by (LOL) a fast fashion brand with sweatshop ties as tarnished the mag’s sterling reputation. —Kate Erbland, IndieWire, 29 Apr. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1975, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for fast fashion

• compassion
• ashen
• passion
• ration
• internation