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
usually hyphenated when used before another noun
fast-fashion chains/retailers

Examples of fast fashion in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Across sectors from heavy industry to fast fashion, corporate lobbying continues to resist reforms such as tougher building codes, plastics treaties, and textile standards. Felicia Jackson, Forbes.com, 17 Sep. 2025 In 2021, the fast fashion giant Boohoo acquired it out of administration, and turned it into an online department store. Tianwei Zhang, Footwear News, 17 Sep. 2025 Many of these items are fast fashion—made quickly, sold cheaply, and in style for too short a time because the industry relies on novelty to keep consumers buying. The Editors, Scientific American, 16 Sep. 2025 That goes for fast fashion, of course. Corey Buhay, Outside, 15 Sep. 2025 See All Example Sentences for fast fashion

Word History

First Known Use

1975, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of fast fashion was in 1975

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Cite this Entry

“Fast fashion.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fast%20fashion. Accessed 3 Oct. 2025.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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