The cunning high street and how to use it sustainably

Britain is famed for its flourishing high street, with numerous stores offering customers a huge variety of clothes at affordable prices. Affordability is a fantastic thing but it can also trick you into thinking you’re saving money when you’re not. The high street actually has the innocent customer in a tight chokehold as cheaper prices come at the cost of poor quality products. And so we are drawn into the vicious circle of buying more clothes, more often, to replace those that are falling apart.

The high street also increases our accessibility to catwalk trends by providing various interpretations (or often exact copies) at extremely low costs. Customers are becoming increasingly infatuated with the latest must haves and bargain prices allow us to freely indulge in these fickle trends. We no longer seem to enjoy love affairs with our clothes, but instead brief flings and awkward silences.

Last week I tagged along to a Geography lecture recommended by a friend to hear about the perils of the fast fashion industry and the inner workings of fast fashion extraordinaire Zara. A few statistics show just how easily we fall into the trap of treating our clothes as temporary, disposable items.

Zara’s success plays upon its ability to respond very quickly to the latest trends. They can produce a new line of clothing in as little as three weeks as opposed to the industry average of nine months. 85% of in-house production happens after the season has started so as to mimic runway trends and quickly offer customers designer looks at affordable prices. It is anticipated that pieces will only be worn about ten times, so by the time the seasons up, so is the extremely short life span of the clothes.

With regards to sustainable fashion, for the foreseeable future at least, the high street will remain somewhat of a question mark. Affordable clothes will of course remain a necessity, but what needs to change is the disposable culture they promote. As the customer, you can change the way you use the high street; avoid the cheap flimsy pieces that you know will fall apart after three washes. Instead, seek out the mid-range quality staples that the British high street still excels in, and that will last you multiple seasons.