Victorian Fast Fashion? The Truth about the History of Disposable Clothing

The term Fast Fashion is all over the news lately, but what exactly does it mean and how far back can we trace it? The history may surprise you! Generally, fast fashion is thought to be clothing that is made rapidly, cheaply, and trendy in style. It's meant to be design, produced, and sold at incredible speeds and the result is usually that it is also worn and tossed just as quickly. The quality and style are unable to stand the test of time. So it seems like it must be a modern issue, doesn't it? Most articles give a passing reference to the 1800s as an era where clothing was still made custom and was deeply treasured, as most people had so little. Instead, the rise of concept of fast fashion is credited to the post-WWII rise in production and the term itself supposedly only started in use in 1990. But with the massive global economy quickly moving around the world by the 18th century and the industrial revolution in full swing as of the 19th century, the opportunity for fast, trendy styles was already there. And it wasn't ignored. In reality the idea that fast fashion as a term wasn't invented until 1990 is an easy myth to debunk. The phrase is in regular use by the 1970s, coinciding with the birth of major clothing brands who found their success using the idea of fast fashion as a business concept. As for the origins of its practice, it goes far further back than the mid 20th century. With mass production in full swing in the Western world 200 years ago, there was plenty of opportunity to make anything they could cheaper and cheaper. But in order to sell the cheapest goods to more than just those who could afford nothing more, they had to be stylish. So stylish that their disintegration only a few months in wouldn't matter. Nor would the concerns over sweatshops and ethics. It was a society where being even a few months out of fashion was painfully obvious, but the quality of your clothing was harder to see. Expensive silks prints were replicated in cotton, l