Is Hot Topic Fast Fashion?

  • By: Tiffany Peris
  • Time to read: 8 min.

For many years, consumers were mainly concerned about the quality and price of the clothing products they planned to purchase. However, how a business carries out its operation is now a significant factor in determining whether consumers will buy from the business or not. When planning to purchase clothing, you are likely to ask whether Hot Topic is fast fashion.

Hot Topic is fast fashion since it manufactures most of its products in countries with low production costs. In addition, the company releases new trendy designs featured on fashion shows, regularly sells products at low prices, and uses synthetic fabrics to manufacture garments.

In this article, the reasons why Hot Topic is fast fashion and why it is not fast fashion are discussed. In addition, the article has also explained where Hot Topic shirts are manufactured.

Definition of Fast Fashion

Fast fashion is a term that describes clothing designs that are made to move quickly from the catwalk to stores and are purposed at taking advantage of trends. As such, fast fashion designs are new trendy designs that have been featured on weekly fashion shows are have been worn by celebrities.

Fast fashion can also be explained as quickly imitating high fashion design trends into cheaply priced garments and accessories through mass production at low costs.

Characteristics Of Fast Fashion Brand

From the different definitions of fast fashion, it is evident that different factors will make a fashion brand be considered fast fashion. Here are the main features of a fast-fashion brand.

Price

Fast fashion brand sells their products at relatively low prices. The low price is made possible by imitating the latest fashion designs instead of designing own designs, mass production, synthetic fabrics, and production in countries with low production costs.

Trendy Designs And Regular New Product Releases

Fast fashion brands sell the latest trendy designs that have been featured on weekly fashion shows or have been worn by celebrities. Indeed, it is common for fast fashion brands to release new products within 2-4 weeks.

The regular release is possible because fashion brands do not have to design their designs. Instead, they imitate high fashion brands that have already spent vast amounts of money creating new designs.

They Do Not Replenish Stock

Fast fashion brands do not replenish stock to keep demand for new trendy products high.

Instead, new products are introduced in the retail stores so that when customers come to the store and do not find a previous design that they wanted to purchase, they end up buying new and trendy designs.

Fast Fashion Products Are Not Durable

Fast fashion products are meant to be used for a short period. However, the whole idea of fast fashion is to ensure that customers constantly purchase new trendy products marketed by fast fashion.

To ensure that customers continue buying fast fashion products regularly, fast fashion brands ensure that the products they sell do not last a long time.

A study on young fashion consumer disposal habits found that fast fashion products are intentionally made not to last more than 10 wears.

Mainly Use Synthetic Fabrics

When manufacturing fashion products, the manufacturers can use natural or synthetic fabrics. Fast fashion brands use synthetic materials since they are cheaper than natural fabrics.

Synthetic fabrics such as polyester, lycra, spandex, elastane, and nylon are cheaper since, compared to natural fibers, they are made from raw materials, and their production is highly efficient.

For instance, nylon and polyester are made from petroleum by-products in large volumes at low costs.  

Have Ethical Concerns

Most, if not all, fast fashion brands are accused of unethical business practices. The fact that the companies have the objective to sell high-end fashion designs at low prices implies that they have to knowingly or unknowingly use unethical practices to ensure that they remain profitable.

Over the years, the unethical practices common with fast fashion brands have been prevalent in various overseas factories where the companies have outsourced the actual production of the clothes and other fashion accessories.

The unethical practices involve using child labor, overworking the employees without paying them overtime, and subjecting the workers to work in unsafe working conditions.

Manufacturing In Countries With Low Production Costs

To remain profitable, fast fashion brands have a high percentage of their products manufactured in countries with low production costs.

Some countries with low production costs where fast fashion brands prefer to manufacture their products comprise; India, Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia, China, India, Bangladesh, and Turkey.

The products are manufactured in these countries and then shipped to the dispatch centers of the different fashion brands in other cities worldwide.

In some cases, fast fashion brands like Zara have an advanced supply chain system that makes it possible for products to be shipped from manufacturing facilities to specific stores in small batches.

It is important to note that even if some fast fashion brands might want to portray the image that they mainly manufacture their clothes in their home countries, that is never the case. In most cases, the production in home countries is less than 50% of the entire production.

In most cases, the headquarters of fast fashion brands are only responsible for marketing and supply chain management functions as production is undertaken in foreign countries with low production costs.  

Are Not Sustainable

Fast fashion brands produce millions of garments every year. However, most garments are made with synthetic fabrics that negatively impact the environment since they do not decompose, implying that fast fashion brands are significant polluters.

During the production of fast fashion products, a lot of water is used in garment production. The contaminated water is then disposed of in waterways and ends up in the ocean.

Even if some of the fast fashion brands have recycling programs where customers can dispose of their old clothes so that the fabrics can then be recycled and used to make new garments, the majority of the fast fashion brands do not have any recycling programs.

Why Hot Topic Is Fast Fashion

The previous section discussed the different characteristics of fast fashion brands. This section looks at different elements of Hot Topic operations that make the company categorized as fast fashion.

Low Prices

Hot Topic products are cheaply priced. For example, most of the company’s tank tops are priced from $9.59 to $30. Considering that similar tank tops sold by Lululemon are priced from $45 shows that Hot Topic products are relatively cheaper.

To sell the products at low prices and still make profits, Hot Topic uses the fast fashion model. As will be explained later in the article, by using synthetic fabrics and having production in countries with low production costs, Hot Topic can sell its products at low prices and still make profits.

Frequent New Product Releases

Hot Topic releases new products regularly. As a matter of fact, the fashion brand releases various new product designs at least 3 – 4 weeks. Thus, you will find that new products are stocked at Hot Topic retail stores every week.

The frequent product releases of trendy designs indicate that the company is a fast-fashion brand. The regular releases aim to appeal to new and existing customers to buy the products.

Products Are Not Restocked

When Hot Topic products get out of stock, they are not restocked. Instead, the company introduces new products to the market to replace the out-of-stock products. This is a clear indicator that Hot Topic is a fast fashion as fast fashion brands are known to introduce new designs instead of restocking old designs.

It is important to note that some products might be classified as out of stock on Hot Topic’s online store and could, later on, become available. This is because the products become available to online customers after being picked up from the remaining stock in some of the physical stores as the company replaces old designs with new ones.

Hot Topic Manufactures Products In Low-Cost Countries

Even if Hot Topic has a production facility in the USA, most of the company’s products are manufactured in countries with low production costs.

By manufacturing the products in these countries, Hot Topic keeps its production costs low, making it possible for the company to earn profits even when selling low-priced products.

Hot Topic shirts and other garments sold by the company are mainly manufactured in the USA, China, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India.

Use Of Synthetic Fabrics

Hot Topic mainly uses synthetic materials in making different clothing products. As already discussed, synthetic fabrics are popular with the fast-fashion brand since they are cheap, and as such, they make it possible for fast fashion brands to make profits when selling products at low prices.

Most of the clothing sold by Hot Topic is made of polyester, rayon, spandex, and nylon, which are all synthetic fabrics. Wool and cotton are the two natural fabrics commonly used by Hot Topic.

Ethical Concerns – Low Employee Wages

Hot Topic has in the past been in the limelight due to low wages paid to the employees. Thus, the fact that Hot Topic has been accused of underpaying its employees can be argued to be an indicator that the company is indeed fast fashion.

In late 2021, Hot Topic employees walked out of the company and left a note in one of the company’s Minnesota stores. The employees noted that they could no longer work for the company since the low wages they were being paid were not enough to support themselves.

Why Hot Topic Is Not Fast Fashion

Fast fashion products are meant to last a short time. However, most Hot Topic products are durable and last a long time.

Indeed, from reviews given by people who have bought Hot Topic products over the years, the customers agree that Hot Topic products are of high quality.

The durability of Hot Topic clothes can be attributed to the synthetic fabrics used in the manufacturing of the clothes since synthetic materials are usually more durable than natural fabrics.

Conclusion

The fast Fashion model provides fashion brands an excellent opportunity to increase their sales revenues and profits. However, the approach has a devastating impact on consumers, the environment, and even those manufacturing clothes as they are paid low wages.

In the article, it has been shown that despite Hot Topic offering quality and durable clothing, the company is still fast fashion. Low prices, new product releases, use of synthetic fabrics, paying employees low wages, and having production in countries with low production costs are the factors that make Hot Topic a fast-fashion brand.

In addition, the fact that Hot Topic has not clearly stated how it ensures sustainability on its website can also be said to be an indicator of how the company is fast fashion. Compared to J.ING, a fast-fashion brand, there are different similarities between the company and Hot Topic.

References

Investopedia

Fast Fashion Definition(opens in a new tab)

The Fashion Law

Med City Beat

International Journal Of Consumer Habits