The impact of fast fashion

Supre specialises in cheap, quick-turnaround fashion. Picture / Carolyn Robertson

One local designer, who shall remain nameless in this instance, can walk into a chain store like Portmans or Max and feel like crying. "I look at some of the clothes and I can't believe how well some of them are made," says the designer whose own gowns cost several hundred dollars.

"I look at something and see two and a half hours' worth of beading in there and the whole dress only costs $49.95 or something."

Why do tears come to her eyes? Because sometimes, she worries about how she's going to compete with what some have described as fast fashion.

Fast fashion involves the kinds of clothes you'll find at chain stores like Portmans, Jay Jays, Glassons and Sussan. As soon as a certain style of clothing becomes popular or a trend hits the international runways, the chain stores ensure that a version of the look is in their stores.

Some chains work on a seasonal basis - they'll send buyers overseas to shop in boutiques and department stores several times each season. The buyers bring back clothing they think will sell here and the pieces are re-made in their hundreds for local buyers.

One of the newest fast fashion stores on city blocks is the Australian-based chain, Supre, which has been here for around two years. It has 140 stores throughout both countries. Entering one of these places is a bit like walking into a blue light disco or maybe a party at Britney Spears' place, pre-baby and naughty husband.

You'll be dazzled by the colours, beading and lurid drapery, deafened by pop music and accosted by a selection of giggling, pouting shop assistants with a fervent passion for fashion.

Having said that, if you can find your way between the garish tropical prints and teeny-weeny denim cut-offs, even grown ups will be rewarded. Supre is as good a chain store as any for an adult to get a quick fashion fix - to pick up the trendiest of the trendy, something that you won't be wearing for longer than six months, for less than thirty bucks. Ch-ching! Bargain!

"For our older customers, who are perhaps more aware of the fashion business, yes, we are fast fashion - we're somewhere to get the latest fashion, colour or garment," agrees Marcella Orellana, head buyer and designer for the chain, who's based in Sydney.

"But for our younger customers we're a lifestyle brand. It's about the experience of coming and shopping here with their friends."

The thumping disco and pink carrier bags are part of a cunning plan and probably why Supre is proving immensely popular here - they're adding another floor to their Newmarket store shortly and opening a new 500sq m flagship store on Queen St early next year. Another explanation for Supre's success may be that its fashion is simply faster on the racks than the rest.

Orellana and her team are not focused on anything happening on runways nor do they concentrate on seasonal collections. Instead they keep a close eye on popular culture - much as their young client base does.

"We look at what celebrities and rock stars are wearing, we read trashy magazines, we watch the latest music videos and check out what the teenagers on the street have on," explains Orellana, who always takes a camera out with her at night in case she sees something worth turning into a frock.

Which means that almost as soon as the design team spots something they think will do well in their stores, it's on the production floor.

"It depends on stock but we can get things into the store within a week."

And if they want it in the stores really fast, then it can be there within three days.

The speed at which this occurs does seem incredible when you consider how high fashion labels like Kate Sylvester, Tanya Carlson or Zambesi work to produce one carefully thought out collection a season.

Looking at Supre's rapid turnover it feels positively old fashioned to wait several months for new clothes to arrive at your favourite store.

Interestingly, when it comes to the ideas behind it all, there are similarities between labels like Supre and Zambesi. Both are a brand in that they're selling more than clothes, and have a distinctive philosophy. Just as there's a 15-year-old Supre girl dressed in bright pink, so there is a sophisticated 30-something Zambesi woman in black. Both do everything from design to manufacture to retail. It's just that Supre does it faster than Paris Hilton swaps Greek boyfriends.

So will fast - and even faster - fashion change the way we buy clothes? Should our top designers be worried about those working at the other end of the frock shoppers' spectrum?

"No, you don't worry about that at all, because I think the differences are pretty clear. And there's enough room for everyone. I think of those kinds of labels [like Supre and Portmans] as being relatively disposable whereas we sell investment fashion and I guess you choose what you want," says Kate Sylvester.

"Anyway, it's great. It's fun when fashion's speedy," continues the designer who's popping down to Glassons any minute to get herself some espadrilles.

"It's about the fit," argues Dunedin-based designer Tanya Carlson, who's known for her fantastic tailoring and exquisite dresses.

"If you're a skinny teenager then those standard sizes will look fine.

"But if you're more figure conscious then you may prefer designer clothing because the fits and fabrics are better."

While the best local labels know that there are huge differences between their clothes and those at the chain stores, they are also careful to maintain those differences. This is not because they're worried about the likes of Supre - it's really just good business.

For instance, most top New Zealand designers get fabric specially made and printed to ensure exclusivity and often their garments are so complicated or so distinctive, they're impossible to copy well. There's a focus on quality and creativity rather than speed and price.

"In fact, it's not those top-end guys who should care about fast fashion creeping up on them, it's the designers in the middle market who should be worried," says Orellana.

She tells the story of a sequinned skirt she found in Los Angeles, bought back and made for the Supre crowd - it sold for $25 - only to find that another, fancier Australian label had the same thing in their shop window several months later for around $600.

"They're in these semi-designer roles yet they're knocking off the same looks we are so, I think they look pretty foolish," says Orellana.

Our top end designers will just keep doing what they've always done - the creative, interesting and beautifully different - while the producers of fast fashion only have eyes for those cute teenage girls with twenty bucks in their purses.

But if you can get that pretty, sequinned skirt from India for $25 (and you know you're only going to wear it this summer), why would you pay $600 for it?