Cider Fast Fashion has become one of the most popular clothing brands on TikTok and Instagram this year, offering a mix of Y2K and hyped street styles at extremely budget-friendly prices.
However, as the brand became more and more popular, an inevitable discussion started focusing on whether or not Cider is considered fast fashion.
This guide will explain why Cider is fast fashion, how its business compares with other similar companies, and what implications this has for consumers who are considering making a purchase.
Cider’s popularity stems from a need to distinguish itself from other retailers in its niche, which is why it is essential to understand its position before examining whether or not it meets the criteria of fast fashion.
Unlike traditional “fast fashion” retailers such as Zara and H&M, which have been using physical stores as their main sales point, Cider is essentially a social media-native platform, which was designed to promote and sell its clothes through online channels.
Therefore, almost everything about this brand, including its customer base and even its financial practices, is deeply intertwined with its existence on social media.
Moreover, many environmental sustainability researchers have criticized the company for its lack of transparency. Hence, despite Cider’s “smart fashion” positioning, its similarities with fast fashion retailers are evident.
Smart Fashion: Is Cider Fast Fashion?
As previously mentioned, Cider has been considered part of the fast fashion industry due to its similarities with brands such as Shein and H&M. The brand has even received the lowest possible mark for environmental sustainability from Good On You.
Nevertheless, there are some significant differences between the two companies, as Cider has attempted to rebrand itself as “smart fashion” over the past few years and is much more focused on high-quality social media marketing than raw supply chains management.
In fact, some researchers argue that this strategy has made its impact on the company. With that being said, the similarities outweigh the differences, as most aspects of operations are essentially the same.
Main Characteristics of Fast Fashion and Their Impact on Sustainability
Product Launches Follow the Trend, Not Lead the Trend
Cider follows the traditional “fast fashion” business model, as it focuses on a continuous supply of trendy and inexpensive products. In the case of Cider, the demand drives the supply, as the company is essentially testing its clothes in real-time and trying to predict future trends, instead of committing to specific collections that will stay in stock until a certain time period ends.
This approach has significantly changed the dynamics of the fast fashion industry, as a single piece of clothing can now stay in stock for much longer than in the past due to the ability to react to the market. However, in reality, this is the result of continuous pressure to deliver more products at lower prices, as the traditional fashion retail model is no longer compatible with modern consumer behaviors.
Massive Sales Volume Helps to Achieve Low Prices
When it comes to the price range, most Cider products fall below $40, with many of them being closer to $10 or $20 per piece. Such prices automatically place the company in the “fast fashion” category because they can only be achieved through a high sales volume and using cheaper materials, which are then produced in high volumes in overseas factories.
Essentially, this is the main feature of all fast fashion retailers, including Shein, H&M, and Zara – their low price ranges are the result of exploiting cheap labor and a massive scale, which allow the companies to offset the costs.
Synthetic Fabrics Are Used Exclusively
The vast majority of clothing items produced by Cider are made of synthetic, petroleum-based fabrics that do not biodegrade, but ultimately become hazardous waste when incinerated or buried in landfills. One of the main reasons why fast fashion retailers tend to use such materials is the fact that natural fibers, including wool, hemp, and cotton, are much more expensive.
Therefore, the decision to rely on synthetic fabrics has been made exclusively to reduce production costs and ensure that the final price remains within the budget range. In reality, this is the key characteristic of fast fashion that differentiates it from traditional fashion retail.
Products are typically made out of low-quality, machine-washable materials, which are much cheaper and easier to care for than garments from traditional fashion retailers.
No Information or Transparency About Environmental and Social Sustainability
One of the most important characteristics that sets fast fashion retailers apart from other types of clothing manufacturers is the lack of information about operations. Unlike traditional fashion retailers, which have a long-standing presence in the market and have already established a strong public image, fast fashion companies such as Cider and Shein do not have a transparent supply chain, and provide little to no information about their manufacturing processes.
In fact, Cider does not even have published information about its approach to environmental sustainability, which makes it challenging to assess the company’s impact. According to multiple researchers, this is an essential issue that must be addressed, as the current level of transparency is significantly below the standard set by traditional fashion retailers.
The same concerns also relate to labor rights, due to the fact that fast fashion companies rely on inexpensive, non-unionized workers in third-party factories.
Smart Fashion: Can Cider Really Compete With Fast Fashion in Terms of Sustainability?
When positioning itself as “smart fashion,” Cider claimed that it is not actually fast fashion, due to the fact that it produces small batches of clothes in response to consumer demand. This claim has caused controversy among sustainability researchers, as they believe that the company does not perform many other actions necessary to ensure social and environmental responsibility.
For instance, while using biodegradable packing peanuts and offering a limited range of garments made out of Global Recycled Standard-certified fabric, the company does not have comprehensive policies in place to address the sustainability of its major operations, such as supply chains management or emissions.
Additionally, researchers have reported that many “eco” collections offered by fast fashion retailers, including Cider, are made out of synthetic, non-biodegradable materials. While these companies may include “eco” or “regenerative” in the product description, most of them do not commit to creating products out of purely recycled materials.
Instead, they produce a larger volume of traditional clothing items and only add a small selection of more sustainable pieces, which is considered misleading by many researchers.
Ultimately, as stated by multiple sustainability researchers, the vague language around certain collections and the selective implementation of eco-friendly policies is not sufficient to rebrand as “smart.”
In fact, the phrase itself is seen as a way to mislead consumers into believing that there is more being done than there actually is to address major concerns. The term “smart fashion” has been classified as yet another instance of greenwashing, which is a common practice among fast fashion companies.
Most of these firms implement a similar strategy of listing a few sustainable collections alongside a much larger variety of traditional clothes, produced in larger volumes, using more hazardous materials.
In fact, Cider is not the only fast fashion company that has attempted to rebrand itself recently. Traditional fast fashion retailers such as Zara, H&M, and Shein have launched their own sustainable ranges, which have seen considerable success in terms of marketing.
However, sustainability researchers have reported that all of the three companies have a significantly smaller percentage of eco-friendly collections, as well as little to no transparency about their overall impact.
Why Has Cider Chosen This Particular Approach?
The main reason why Cider decided to rebrand itself as a “smart” fashion retailer is because, unlike traditional fast fashion brands, it was always positioned as a social media-native brand.
Therefore, when compared to traditional fast fashion retailers, there is not much keeping Cider in the fast fashion category apart from name. However, the changes it has implemented are still largely superficial, as most of them do not address major concerns, including the continuous use of synthetic materials, reliance on third-party, low-cost factories, and extremely high production volumes.
Essentially, the company follows the same production rules as other fast fashion retailers, while promoting itself as “smart” to emphasize its differences from the competition. One of the most prominent arguments in its favor is the ability to operate on a smaller scale and only produce what is necessary to meet current demand.
Cider’s Strategy Versus the Traditional Fashion Retail Model
According to many researchers, there is no significant difference between fast fashion and traditional fashion retail, when it comes to the impact on the environment. Both of these business models lead to an increase in overall waste levels, as well as an excessive burden on landfills, due to the fact that most of the clothing items are made out of synthetic materials.
Additionally, both of these models rely on third-party, low-cost factories, which produce garments in large-scale, using low-cost and non-renewable materials and resources. Even the traditional fashion retail model, which has been operating for over a century, has failed to address the issue of waste.
As the demand for fast fashion continues to grow, the researchers predict that the situation will only get worse in the future, as this type of clothing is typically produced in much larger volumes.
