Fashion companies of the 21st century are constantly under the pressure of society to keep up with the latest fashion trends. To society, whatever the runway produces in the fall and spring seem to become necessities, but from a moral standpoint, this greed only promotes fast fashion. Characterized by its emphasis on quick response to consumers, fast fashion often overlooks values such as worker empowerment and environmental effects. One prominent factor that affects these fashion companies’ values and overall behavior is their status as either a private or public company. Lazy Oaf, a private company, exemplifies the benefits of private company status in upholding a good reputation and avoiding fast fashion, while ASOS shows the disadvantages …show more content…
Lazy Oaf, a private company, utilizes their small but mighty workforce and overall company size to create “a fine-tuned collection that's really clear and has something to say” (Shin). As mentioned earlier, Lazy Oaf’s private company status allows them to cater to their own desires for designs instead of conforming to the trends like many public companies in the garment industry do. CEO Gemma Shiel ecstatically stated that “[she] can carry on doing the really nutty stuff that [she] love[s] doing” because of both the integrity of the brand and the support their company status gives to her design values (Shin). On the other hand, ASOS, a large public company owned by ASOS Plc., had trouble controlling the size of their company and the amount of garment factories due to their disregard of workers. ASOS was reported to “treat workers as “commodities” rather than human beings” due to the vast amount of items they are expected to produce as a public company (Rodionova). Lastly, ASOS is pressured to target young women, the infamous victims of fast fashion, by keeping up with the latest trends and having no true brand identity. While some public companies do not develop on fast fashion, most are pressured to, and like ASOS, usually give into the cruel hands of fast