Popular brand across the US in early 2000s and 2010s, Abercrombie & Fitch is making a comeback with renewed focus on sustainability. The brand’s debut on TikTok with the hashtag #aberchrombiehaul has already garnered 72 million views. As per a report by a content management company Brightly, Abercrombie & Fitch Co, announced its sustainability goals in 2019. The goals focused on three areas: product development, global home office and global stores. In line with these goals, Aberchrombie &Fitch Co has already sourced 100 per cent materials from Responsible Down Standard certified sources. It also sourced 13 per cent cotton through Better Cotton, and aims to increase this to 25 per cent by 2025.

Failure to achieve 100% sustainability

Many of Abercrombie brands are also involved in fashion resale. They have partnered with thredUP to recycle gently used women’s and children’s clothing items. However, the company is yet to achieve its goal of sourcing 100 per cent linen and wool from responsible sources. It has also failed to increase the use of recycled polyester to 25 per cent and expand workers’ capacity to 50,000.

Reducing food and paper waste

Abercrombie & Fitch Co has also achieved few of its global home office goals. The company recycles 100 per cent cardboard, e-waste fabrics and denim scraps across the board. It plans to reduce waste by 50 per cent by 2025.

Waste reduction goals include reduction in food and paper waste. To achieve this, Aberchrombie & Fitch has partnered a service provider for composting food waste. It also printed 86 per cent less pages during 2021 to curb paper waste. Now, the company is training associates to deal with human trafficking and hopes to achieve 100 per cent success by 2025.

Managing carbon emissions

Operating 730 stores globally, A&F Co aims to recycle 100 per cent garment polybags used in these stores and also 100 per cent of other hazardous waste in domestic stores. The company also aims to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. It has already decreased these emissions from 128,830 metric tons in 2019 to 84,710 metric tons in 2020.

In 2021, Abercrombie & Fitch improved its transparency score to 21-30 per cent in the 2021 Fashion Transparency Index. The company plans to be more transparent in its policies, procedures, and social and environmental goals; though it may not disclose the outcome of supplier assessments. It is also yet to launch an eco-friendly apparel range.

Despite recent sustainability initiatives, Aberchrombie & Fitch continues to be a fast fashion company. The company is slowly transitioning to more eco-friendly practices, such as using recycled materials and working to decrease carbon emissions. However, it still needs to step up efforts to lessen the impact of climate change on our planet.

From brick and mortar stores, fashion retail is moving towards fast and decentralized world of e-commerce. Consumers are opting for new ultrafast sales model as it is faster than fast fashion. Retailers like Boohoo, Asos, Shein and Missguided are gaining traction with their ability to match supplies with changing demands, says a Apparel Resources report. New styles are being launched within days as against weeks earlier.

Online platforms’ score with full inventory display

One factor working in favor of ultrafast fashion retailers is their ability to cater to consumers’ changing demands. Retailers create in-demand dresses within 10 days or a week. Some are also launching new designs in real time. Being online-only channels enables them to show all their offerings at one go. It also enables them to introduce tempting and trendy offers to boost sales. For instance, Asos introduces over 4,500 offers each week. Shein launches around 1,000 styles everyday on its site.

What’s more these retailers use advanced data analytics tools and centralized communication platforms to meet demand. Social media is used productively to meet brands’ goals. AI image recognition tool are being used to study fashion images. It helps retailers collect information about particular components and attributes of these images, and use machine learning algorithms to forecast future trends.

Enhancing connectivity through social media

Influencers are being roped in while advertising on social media channels are done to improve consumer connect. Shoppers’ on mobile apps or online are collected to personalize their shopping experiences. Working on a central platform enables them to get a complete view of orders placed by customers. Through this, they can implement short-term production change more quickly and effectively.

Flexible inventory management enables retailers to produce small batches of inventory and monitor the performance of each style in its catalogue. This data helps retailers know styles most in demand and customize production accordingly.

Nearshoring enables them to deliver products quickly and at affordable rates. For instance, most of Shein’s fabric and garment suppliers are based in Guangzhou, where several thousand manufacturers make clothes. Boohoo also makes most of its clothes in its home country, the UK.

Improving bottom lines

Focus on local manufacturing, on-demand production, inventory management and faster deliveries enables ultra fast fashion retailers to improve profits. Boohoo expects full-year profits for 2022 to reach £125 million as sales have grown 61 per cent from its pre-pandemic levels. Asos also expects FY ’22 revenues to surge 10 to 15 per cent and adjusted profit before tax to range between £110 million and £140 million.

Panned for unsustainable operations

Despite quicker turnaround times, fast fashion retailers continue to be criticized for their unsustainable production models. These retailers are known to dump over half a million tons of unwanted garments in landfills every year. The volume of their garments being thrown away every year has doubled over the last two decades.

Fast fashion retailers are also known as one of the largest emitters of carbon dioxide. They are also often accused of exploiting workers for producing garments quickly and at affordable rates. Given this scenario, how ultrafast fashion retailers perform, remains to be seen.