Fashion’s Biggest Sellout; You?

So here’s the big question; are you a sellout?  In the fashion industry what qualifies as a sellout anyway?  Fashion as art and the ideals of haute couture are often the gold standard.  So is anything less than high fashion selling out?   Once designers would have been appalled by the idea of their brand selling in the mass-market, today it’s commonplace.  When H&M brought designer capsule collections to the masses, we all rejoiced.  And when Isaac Mizrahi broke down the barrier with his diffusion line at Target, he found renewed success.  With fewer and fewer consumers being able to afford luxury goods, and designers and manufactures flailing in this economy, going mass-market seems to be a win, win situation.

While there certainly are financial benefits in this direction, what are the costs of selling out? Obviously, by cutting costs so a line can reach mass-market price-points, the end product will be “less than”. What that means depends of course on the item, but generally, quality will suffer. The quality of fabric, construction, even design will be lost. Additionally, as we often discuss here, the domestic production element is gone. An item produced in NYC will be replaced with an item made in Sri-Lanka.  With many of these overseas factories the environmental cost can be quite high not to mention the poor labor conditions. There is also the cost to the brand’s name and image. Designers like Pierre Cardin have diffused their names to the extent that it holds no cache anymore and they eventually lose their core business.

We generally believe the Walmartification of America to be a sign of Armageddon; however, we can see an upside to it.  The average US consumer spends less than $65 a month on clothing, which is a far cry from stocking your wardrobe at Bergdorf’s.  So, for designers and manufacturers to stay afloat and look out for the best interest of their employees, going mass-market may be their only salvation.  Additionally, if you are one of the many Americans who are unemployed during this current recession, being able to cloth your family on the cheap is a necessity.  While buying American is ideal, truthfully (and this is the root of our country’s manufacturing problem) most Americans cannot afford what we produce.

• Are you a sellout designer? As a designer, have you seen your standard of creative expression go by the wayside in exchange for a fatter paycheck?  And if so, is that really a bad thing?  Currently, Target, Sears, Federated/Macy’s, Nordstrom, Barneys, JC Penney, and Saks altogether brings in less revenue than Walmart.  The result is obviously less jobs in high fashion for designers.  In our current recession with hundreds of designers out of work in NYC, is being unemployed really that noble?  Living in the most expensive (and most fabulous) city in the country will cost you, and you can’t pay rent with sketches.  Selling out may be the lesser of two evils for now, and in the future you can always return to your true aesthetic.  Perhaps this is an opportunity to work from the inside in improving quality and even working conditions of a mass-marketer.
• Are you a sellout consumer? Are you a Forever 21 shopper? Do you love Targey? Do most of your labels say, Made in China?  Being fashionable and stylish surely should not be reserved for the elite.  Discounters provide the average American the ability to look fashion forward without breaking the bank.  We can even argue that looking fashionable on a budget takes more creativity and ingenuity than if money were no object. At the same time, do you the consumer not have a moral or ethical obligation to think about the products you buy? When you are buying a heavily embroidered knit top for $12.99 at Walmart, you must wonder in what working conditions was it made. Especially as women, we should consider what labor conditions fellow women are sewing away in and how little they are being paid for the long hours needed to get the newest knock-off trends in stores fast enough for you.  Not too mention when money is tight, perhaps the answer is to become less of a “bargain” shopper and more of a smart shopper. Buying quality over quantity is always the smarter choice.
• Are you sellout fashion blogger? Seems like an odd question as you are not actually producing or purchasing clothing, but still you have an influence. For every post promoting “get the look for less” are you not encouraging your readers to sell out and reward cheap imitators with buying dollar? What does a “what I wore” post featuring a Forever 21 dress say? When promoting a product from a company known for sweatshop labor and exploiting women, is that the message you really want to send?  At the same time do we really need more runway, high fashion centric blogs?  Fashion blogs are a great place to hear from real women (and some guys) regarding their shopping habits and general fashion musings.  If we only wanted to read couture and the lifestyles of the nauseatingly rich and unrealistically fabulous, we could simply pick up the latest issue of Vogue.

So what’s the prognosis, are you a sellout?  And if so do you care?  Should it even matter?  Clearly there are many sides to this argument, and regardless of what side of the fence you fall on, we hope this post inspires you to think more next time you design, shop, or blog.

Original post: 39th and Broadway