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

In June, the French Senate passed a bill that would ban ads for ultra-fast fashion brands, fine influencers who promote them and add an environmental tax of up to 10 euros per garment by 2030. —NPR, 28 Oct. 2025

However, China — home to ultra-fast fashion players such as Shein and Temu — has been lagging significantly behind on social responsibility. —Martino Carrera, Footwear News, 24 Oct. 2025

And according to 2023 data from the United Nations Environment Program, the fashion industry contributes to 10 percent of global emissions each year, much of which are generated by the proliferation of fast fashion. —Jennifer Bringle, Sourcing Journal, 14 Oct. 2025

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

Word History

First Known Use

1975, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for fast fashion

• compassion
• ashen
• passion
• ration
• aurignacian
• internation