Rachel G.
Rachel G. works in the garment industry as a senior buyer, responsible for purchasing goods for use in the company. She has extensive experience in the fast fashion industry, having worked in the space for over 10 years, first at Forever 21 and throughout downtown Los Angeles. During her professional experience, she has been exposed to the rise and fall of many trends as well as the shifting racial dynamics and increased environmental awareness in the industry.
*Because of her current position, she has decided to use a pseudonym and does not identify the names of some of her workplaces.
Inclusivity Is The Biggest Trend
Interview by Rebecca Louie
If you wouldn’t mind, could you please introduce yourself and your background in the fast fashion industry?
My name is Rachel and I’m a buyer. I’ve worked in the industry for a little over 10 years. I started at Forever 21, and I was there for about six years. Then I was at another place, and I’m at my current place now. So I have a lot of experience working in downtown L.A. in the jobber district. A lot of my vendor base has been consistent over the past 10 years, so I’m pretty familiar with a lot of the different vendors down there and how they work.
I know you can’t say a lot about where you work currently, but to whatever extent you are able, what jobs have you held in the past, and what have they entailed?
I started as an assistant buyer, and then I kind of worked my way up. My title now is Senior Buyer. I handle all of tops right now, but I’ve handled different categories over the years. But, in terms of experiences working in fast fashion, it’s definitely chaotic; it’s really fast-paced. There are a lot of ups and downs because, with fast fashion, everything could change tomorrow. So if we’ve invested a lot in a certain trend and then all of a sudden it dies, there’s usually a really big rush to get out of that trend, which sometimes can cause some friction with vendors if they’ve already produced something and you’re trying to cancel it or extend it or change the style.
But I would say, above all, that being flexible is the most important thing with my job, just because there’s so much change –– it’s kind of like a roller coaster. Especially in COVID, we learned that even more when overnight, everybody’s business died and then everybody’s businesses magically came back. It’s like a lot of what we call “chasing into a lot of product,” and trying to book as much as possible to make our sales plans, but then of course, if sales plummet, we have to try and get out of all that inventory because we don’t want to be stuck with it.
In terms of specific experiences, we travel a lot and go to different trade shows. One of the biggest ones is Magic, which is in Las Vegas. Pretty much our entire vendor base goes to it as well, and it’s just like thousands and thousands of booths of clothes, and we just walk through it for days and pull product, which ends up being what our future collections are.
We also go to New York for Coterie, which has a little bit more high-end brands there, because at my current company and at Forever 21, we do both private-label and branded, so we’ll buy from brands such as Free People or more mainstream brands that other people know. The private labels are internally developed; we have a product development team and designers that create the product using their own sketches and fabrications.
I was wondering if we could backtrack a little bit to the cycle in the fast fashion industry. You mentioned that it’s very fast-paced and constantly changing. How quickly do designs come and go in your industry?
I would say bigger picture, like every six months, but then there are kind of micro-trends that come into play. We’re always scouring bloggers and influencers, and of course, the runway is important too, but nowadays, social media, influencers, and bloggers are just as important as the runway, especially with fast fashion, which targets a younger generation.
What would an example of a micro-trend be?
I would say right now, for example, there are a lot of two pieces within tops. So maybe you’ve seen sets, like a tank with a matching cardigan, sweater sets — something like that is a trend. And now it’s in knit tops; we’re seeing the shrug with a matching cami and it’s moved into dresses too, so now it’s a three-piece. So it’s something that we’re selling all together as one piece, but people want to wear these matching sets.
It’s something that was strong this year, and I think everyone’s going to be on top of that trend next year, but I think it’s something that will also probably die quickly. It’s not something that has longevity. Then, of course, certain things with print — for example, tie dye was really big the last few years, but then we found that recently it’s kind of died. However, certain prints or colors can become popular overnight and then fade away quickly.
Do the increased scale of production and the fast cycle of trends change the ways that people shop and how the industry looks?
Yeah, I think so. I think a lot of it is based on demographics, like age group. Obviously, Forever 21 and fast fashion are marketed towards a younger group of people who don’t have as much [money and resources] to invest in something that they’re going to keep for longer. But that being said, right now there’s such a big trend, not only in fashion but everywhere, to use environmentally-friendly fabrications and just be more conscious of the environment and the impact on the world. So we’re seeing a lot of new fabrications that are made from recycled plastic bottles and things of that nature, which are starting to become really popular and, especially with Gen Z, I think that’s gonna be really critical in the future. Not that we’ll see fast fashion die, but I think that there’s definitely going to be more importance on being accountable for your footprint.
How is that impacting brands like Forever 21 and other ultra-fast fashion companies? Have they shifted their practices?
A lot of the vendors that we work with, because they’re so in tune with these trends that are happening, are already showing us fabrications because people are starting to ask for them. We’re asking for these kinds of fabrications, and other people are asking for them too; so if you ask them, they’re gonna start producing them, and the more important it becomes for people, the more factories will focus on it, and the more our vendor base will focus on it. So I think that makes it more competitive in the marketplace.
Right now, we’re seeing that the cost is really high on these kinds of things, and so it’s hard for a company, especially one like Forever 21, to buy into those kinds of fabrications and designs and then keep their margin. So I think in the future, we’ll probably see costs go down on those, and it’ll be something that’s just the norm, like everybody uses these fabrics, which are great because they’re made from recycled yarns.
Shifting gears from the global impacts of fast fashion and its changing landscape. Can you tell me about the internal runnings of these different companies? What does it look like inside the companies’ design rooms? I’ve heard that there could be some secrecy around designs, so what does that look like on the inside?
There definitely is. I would say that at any retailer, outside people are not allowed inside. There’s definitely a contract with vendors where they cannot share designs and developments that we’ve created with other people. At my company, we call it exclusivity. So if we’re making something and they agree to it, then they’re not allowed to share it with anyone else. Forever 21 was — I can’t speak for it now, but it was incredibly private when I worked there. High security. Nothing was supposed to leave the company, and nothing was supposed to come into the company that wasn’t supposed to. It was definitely very controlled.
In fast fashion, it’s super competitive, so it’s like, who gets the trend first? Because she’s [the customer] not going to want it from 10 people, she is going to want it from the first person who shows it to her. So I think it’s a matter of who can get it to the market first. Everybody copies everybody, and so as soon as they see it, someone else is going to do it, so I think that’s why there’s so much secrecy in my industry.
In your last sentence, you said, “She isn’t going to want 10 different copies.” Fast fashion is predominantly marketed toward women, correct?
Yeah, I would say so, or that’s been the case in the past, at least in the worlds that I’ve worked in, that’s been the case. There’s a growing market for young men and everybody. At Forever 21 specifically, I never worked with men’s fashion, but I know that it is growing very quickly. Obviously, it’s not just women who shop; men shop too, and they’re shopping online and they’re going to the stores, so it’s just as important at the end of the day. But in terms of mainstream fast fashion, I still feel like it primarily targets women as opposed to men.
Is this also represented inside the companies? Have you found that women in the fast fashion workforce are a larger population than men, or is it equal?
It’s interesting because I would say, as a buyer and in design, I’ve primarily worked with only women my whole life. But with our vendor base, I would say a lot of the brands and third-party vendors that we work with are actually male-run, male-owned, or there are male employees. So I would say it’s probably 50/50 with our vendor base.
While we’re on the topic of the workforce inside the fast fashion industry, have you ever noticed any racial conflicts, especially between a hierarchy of races? I know in our program we discussed that while certain ethnicities tend to be business owners, others might make up the workforce. So what are your thoughts or observations on that?
In my experience, I’ve usually been the minority (as a white person). Like when I worked for Forever 21, which was Korean-owned. So it was like being immersed in that culture. It was really interesting because I was a minority and they spoke Korean, and I don’t speak Korean. So I’d be in all of these different meetings and interactions with the owners and leadership, where I didn’t know anything that was going on but had to try and figure it out, which I’m sure on the reverse side for a Korean immigrant in the United States, obviously, that’s something they’re used to — but I’m not. I felt like it was really interesting, and I loved being part of that company because of that.
We would always joke that I knew what people were saying even though I couldn’t understand them. I would answer sometimes just because of the context, and I was really close with my boss by the end of it. She was like a mentor to me. So, yeah, they would always joke that I understood what they were saying, and I learned many different Korean words, and I enjoyed that experience.
Was the workforce and manufacturing at Forever 21 also predominantly Korean?
Yeah, it was primarily Korean. I would say that over the course of the time that I worked, there was more diversity towards the end of it. But for the most part, when I started working there, it was mostly a Korean workforce, with almost 100% Korean leadership.
How does that compare to other brands in the industry? Are they predominantly American-based, or are they predominantly Korean?
I think there’s a mix. In terms of most of the vendors they work with, almost all of them are Korean. I would say most of my vendor base is also Korean, and then I do work with brands that are white-owned. But in my experience, that’s kind of like what I’m most familiar with.
This is shifting gears a little bit, but in terms of the shifting racial dynamic perhaps, and the shifting environmental aspect, where would you say the industry is headed?
I would say it is definitely evolving in the right direction. In terms of things like race and gender, and when it comes to product sizing, I think inclusivity is the biggest trend that I’m seeing. We’re not making products for just one person; we’re making them for all sizes, races, and genders. I think that’s a huge factor, and I think it’s really important, as we’ve seen in the last year. I think it’s been really important for my company and a lot of other companies to take a stance on that and make sure they’re taking the right steps. In terms of environmental impacts, I think that one of the biggest trends in fashion right now is sustainability and transparency when it comes to what factories people are working with, what’s their footprint on the environment, and how they are treating the workers in the factory. I know that that’s something that’s really important to my company. In the future, I don’t think it’s going to be tolerated as much not to be accountable for that as a company because it’s really important to the younger generation, and at the end of the day, that’s who our customer is.
Where do most of these companies manufacture? Is it in the United States or outside of the United States?
Almost everybody manufactures in China for the most part, but we do have domestic products. There are a lot of knitting factories and domestic factories right here in the U.S.; I would say primarily that is for knits, and Mexico also produces knits. Then, if you want something that’s more of a special construction, like a woven blazer or a tailored pant, almost all of that is going to be produced in China. At the end of the day, it all comes down to cost, because producing it here would be too expensive.
Why is it less expensive to produce in China?
The cost of labor in China is just less expensive, which I think isn’t just with fashion; it’s across the board. So there’s the cost of, you know, the workers in the factory and then there’s the cost of sewing. Then there’s cutting, there’s dyeing; there are all these different factors, and when you add them up, it’s just cheaper to produce in China, depending on the design.
Do you think that most manufacturing that’s done overseas is done ethically, in general, in the fast fashion industry?
From my experience, just with us being really transparent, from what we know and the communication we have with our vendors and who they work with, it is done ethically. If we were to find out otherwise, we would definitely cut ties with that vendor; we would never work with a factory if, to our knowledge, something was not right with it. But if you’re speaking from a broader perspective, there’s obviously been lots of, you know, media and news around certain companies and potentially factories that are not following the rules about how they’re treating employees and workers. So I definitely think that when you’re producing in mass production and having to be overseas, you don’t have full visibility into it, and I think that there’s definitely a risk of that. I just hope that brands will continue to get the transparency that they need to make sure that nothing bad is going on.
Do you think people tend to turn a blind eye, or do you think that companies are pretty active and checking in on the manufacturing process, the factories, and the workers?
I think it probably depends on the company. Sadly, I don’t think every company does that, but I think more should. And I personally wouldn’t want to work at a company at this stage in my career that wasn’t cognizant of issues like that.