It's all on a continuum, but what fast fashion changed was the structure of fashion seasons. When new models are developed and released on an industry agreed sc

It's all on a continuum, but what fast fashion changed was the structure of fashion seasons. When new models are developed and released on an industry agreed schedule (2 or 4 times a year), then there are clear benefits for planning, forecasting and managing the supply chain. Having a cycle that cannot be planned and offers a short window to profit, creates strong incentives to compromise on these relatively stable systems. This is compounded by the vast majority of fashion brands outsourcing production, and often design, sourcing, etc. So if a new item appears to be about to become extremely popular: - Don't have time (or want to maximise margins) to design an item? Copy someone else's. - Don't have time to find a new factory? Offer the contract to one you know that doesn't have capacity to produce it safely. Or quickly pick a new one without doing any supply chain checks. - Don't have time to source materials? Let the factory pick what they want without oversight. - Factory owner doesn't have time to source additional labour? Secretly outsource to a cheaper factory with worse conditions to keep the margin. They might never get another contract anyway. - Factory owner has an unrealistic price per unit to achieve? Just reduce the quality. The lack of stability means that there are just no incentives for anyone to anything "right".