In today’s fashion trends, fast fashion brands are popular with consumers for their fast updated styles and relatively affordable prices. fast fashion giants such as H&M, Zara and Uniqlo replicate runway trends with amazing speed, allowing countless fashion enthusiasts to embrace the latest fashions in no time at all. Behind the scenes, the quality of knitted fabrics has become a corner that is easily overlooked!
Introduction to Knitted Fabrics
Knitted fabrics, with their unique textures and comfortable feel, are favoured in many fast fashion items. It has excellent elasticity, can perfectly fit the human body curve, whether it is a slim knitted dress outlines the elegant posture, or loose knitted jumper to create a lazy casual style, can show a unique wearing charm, to provide consumers with a comfortable and beautiful wearing experience. Moreover, knitted fabrics are breathable, allowing the skin to breathe freely, even in sports or high-temperature environments, it is not easy to produce a sense of stuffiness, always keep fresh and comfortable. Its soft texture also gives the clothing skin-friendly characteristics, reducing the friction on the skin stimulation, intimate care of every inch of skin.
However, the fast fashion that the pace of the race against time, but to the quality of knitted fabrics has brought a lot of variables. According to relevant data, fast-fashion brand product update cycle is extremely short, Zara average every fortnight on the shelves of the new models, the number of new models launched a year up to more than 20,000 models; H&M is also not willing to weaken, new products such as the tide like a steady stream. Such a rapid pace of new, so that the fabric suppliers have to open full throttle, in a limited period of time to provide a large number of knitted fabrics, which makes the fabric production process of quality control is facing a huge challenge. Some knitted fabrics may be dyed in a hurry, resulting in poor colour fastness, which makes them prone to fading when consumers wash them after purchase; or details may be overlooked in the textile process in order to catch up with the schedule, resulting in a less than even texture, which affects the wearer’s experience.
Fast fashion brands’ disadvantage for knitting
Cost considerations are also the most important factor affecting fabric quality for fast fashion brands. In order to provide consumers with affordable goods, these brands often tend to choose inexpensive knitted fabrics when purchasing fabrics. An H&M jumper, for example, can be sold for as little as a few tens of dollars, which inevitably limits the quality of the fabric. Cheap knitted fabrics may be in the softness of the big discount, wearing will be prickly; breathable performance may also be poor, so that the skin is difficult to breathe freely, especially in the hot summer, easy to give consumers a feeling of hot discomfort.
The pursuit of fashion is never-ending, and fast fashion brands are the trendsetters. They are constantly pursuing unique and innovative designs, which also affects the quality of knitted fabrics to a certain extent. In order to present a distinctive visual effect, designers often choose knitted fabrics with special processing. For example, knitted fabrics with metallic luster or special textures, these fabrics may be complicated and not yet mature in the production process, resulting in reduced stability of the fabric, prone to deformation, wrinkles and other problems. Certain fashionable knitted garments from Uniqlo may lose their original shape after a few washes, with slack necklines and deformed hemlines, significantly shortening the aesthetics and wearing life of the garments.
Fast fashion brands’ advantage for knitting
Of course, we have also seen some positive changes. As consumers’ environmental awareness and quality requirements continue to rise, fast fashion brands are also trying to adjust their strategies: H&M has launched the ‘Environmental Consciousness’ series, which uses organic cotton and other sustainable knitted fabrics to reduce the negative impact on the environment; Zara is also increasing its investment in the research and development of environmentally friendly fabrics, and is trying to use new knitted fabrics such as recycled polyester. Zara is also increasing its investment in the research and development of environmentally friendly fabrics, trying to use recycled polyester fibres and other new knitted fabrics, and gradually improving quality standards while enhancing the environmental performance of fabrics.
Conclusion
Fast fashion brands in bringing us a fashion feast at the same time, but also in the quality of knitted fabrics left some puzzles to be solved. But we have reason to believe that, with the attention and efforts of the brand, as well as the rational choice of consumers, the future of fast fashion and the quality of knitted fabrics will be able to find a more harmonious balance between, so that we can enjoy the charm of fashion, but also have a high-quality wearing experience. And with the development of technology, the use of recycled fabrics in the market will continue to improve.
