How do you define fast fashion?

Yesterday Vestiaire Collective made a splash when it announced it would ban the resale of fast fashion items from its platform, adding brands like H&M, Zara and Urban Outfitters — raising questions around what defines fast fashion.

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What exactly determines whether a garment is “cheap” or “low quality”, for instance — where is the line between cheap and decently made, affordable clothing?

And, does a brand automatically qualify as fast fashion if it has short production times — what if they are turning to an on-demand model, with the intention specifically of eliminating overproduction?

In a statement, H&M said the company respects Vestiaire’s decision, but shares “the same viewpoint as Vestiaire when it comes to driving collective change towards a circular fashion economy”, a spokesperson says.

Despite its sustainability credentials, a report last year from The RealReal suggests shoppers are behaving in a similar manner to full-price and fast fashion collections, with a focus on trends, newness, high churn and overconsumption. That’s troubling sustainability experts, who are raising questions about the growing category’s environmental impact, even if customers are more mindful of a product’s lifecycle and keen to keep products in circulation instead of throwing them away.

To try to delineate boundaries across these and a number of other grey areas, the Vestiaire Collective team met twice with a committee of nine fashion and sustainability experts (including Vogue Business) to come up with a clear definition of fast fashion. Discover them here.

At the upcoming Vogue Business Fashion Futures event in London, Vestiaire Collective’s chief sustainability officer Dounia Wone will hash out the decision and the company’s stance with Liz Ricketts, the co-founder of the Or Foundation, a non-profit working to bring equity to the fashion waste problem that has landed on the beaches in Ghana and across the Global South. Save your place now to join us.

Vestiaire says the aim is to shift shoppers away from buying low-quality or disposable garments in the first place, by cultivating a marketplace that promotes both quality and affordability (making it easier for customers to buy products secondhand that they may not have been able to afford if purchased new).

Will the decision to upscale affect both buyers and sellers who use the platform?

Elsewhere in the industry this week:

• Times remain tough for US consumers, but that’s not stopping European brands from ramping up their North American expansion. Execs share why they’re bullish on the market.
• Glossier aims to disrupt beauty retail a second time with the newest London pop-up.
• Your Bitmoji avatar can now dress up in Valentino, thanks to a new partnership with Snap. But it won’t come for free.
• Can Dove boost representation in the gaming world?
• Inside plans for Harry Styles's Pleasing ahead of its fragrance launch.

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