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H&M, Zara, and Forever 21 are locked in an arms race for customers — and there could be big consequences

Forever 21, H&M, and Zara are focused on speed, and that can sometimes mean that mistakes go unnoticed.

  • Fast-fashion retailers such as
  • Prioritizing speed can mean fewer checks and balances. It's one of the reasons that clothing with potentially offensive slogans or images can sometimes slip through the gaps.
  • Both H&M and Zara have introduced new systems to prevent these incidents from happening.

The race to bring a product from the design board to stores and online has intensified in recent years.

The former pioneers of fast fashion seem like dinosaurs in today's world as newer online companies such as ASOS, Boohoo, and Misguided swoop in and cut their supply-chain processes down to as little as a week. Last week, UK-based retailer ASOS said it would be investing more in technology and logistics to be able to continue staying ahead of the curve. Similarly, a supply-chain overhaul is at the forefront of H&M's 2018 strategy.

But while getting the hottest trends into stores as quickly as possible may be a top priority, it's also leaving fast-fashion retailers vulnerable to error.

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Prioritizing speed means fewer checks and balances, Adheer Bahulkar, a retail expert at the consulting firm A. T. Kearney, told the New York Times.

"When you have two hours to approve a line versus two months, things go unnoticed," he said.

In January, H&M came under fire for using an image of a young black boy to advertise a hoodie that bore the words "coolest monkey in the jungle" on the front. Singer The Weeknd, who had a collection with H&M, tweeted that he would be cutting his ties with the company.

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H&M apologized and later removed the item from its website.

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While these incidents are still rare relative to how many products are churned out by fast-fashion retailers, they are not infrequent.

Zara has come under fire several times for creating potentially offensive products in the past. In 2014, many said that one of its t-shirts resembled a Holocaust prisoner uniform.

Retailers are now coming up with new ways to prevent these incidents from happening but rarely say that the pressure of fast-fashion production cycles is to blame.

H&M has taken similar steps recently. In the wake of the hoodie saga, it appointed a diversity and inclusion team that includes employees from different departments of the company.

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