Drivers of Globalisation in the Fast Fashion industry
The fast fashion industry is highly globalised because its business model depends on international consumer markets, interconnected supply chains, cost-efficient manufacturing, digital distribution channels and cross-border competition. Brands such as Zara, H&M and Uniqlo operate across national boundaries, combining international sourcing with global marketing strategies and local market adaptation. However, the extent of globalisation varies between companies. While multinational fashion retailers coordinate production and sales across multiple countries, Indian direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands such as Bewakoof.com have historically relied more heavily on the domestic market.
Yip’s (1989) framework of globalisation drivers provides a useful theoretical foundation for analysing this industry. It identifies four major drivers: market globalisation, cost globalisation, competitive globalisation and government globalisation. Applying these drivers demonstrates that fast fashion is strongly globalised at the industry level, although individual businesses differ in their international reach and operational integration.
Recent evidence reinforces this assessment. According to the European Environment Agency (EEA, 2025), global textile production and consumption involve extensive international trade, with the European Union importing substantial quantities of textile products from China, Bangladesh and Turkey. Meanwhile, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP, 2025) estimates that the textile sector generates approximately 92 million tonnes of waste annually. These developments highlight the international scale of the industry and the environmental challenges associated with its production and consumption.
1. Market Globalisation Drivers
Market globalisation refers to the extent to which consumer preferences, purchasing behaviour and distribution channels create opportunities for companies to serve customers across different countries (Yip, 1989). In fast fashion, this driver is particularly important because consumers increasingly seek affordable clothing, contemporary designs, convenience and frequent access to new styles.
International brands such as Zara, H&M and Uniqlo have developed recognisable brand identities that appeal to consumers across multiple markets. Digital platforms, social media and international e-commerce have further expanded their reach by allowing consumers to discover and purchase fashion products beyond their domestic markets. The EEA (2025) reports that the share of turnover generated by online sales of clothing and other textiles in the EU more than doubled between 2009 and 2022, increasing from 5% to 11%. This demonstrates the growing importance of digital distribution in expanding access to fashion products.
Nevertheless, global consumer demand should not be interpreted as completely homogeneous. Although affordability, quality and attractive designs are widely valued, preferences regarding clothing sizes, cultural expectations, climate, colours and styles vary across markets. Consequently, successful fast fashion businesses combine standardised branding and product development with local adaptation.
2. Cost Globalisation Drivers
Cost globalisation occurs when businesses distribute production and other value-creating activities across countries to reduce costs and improve operational efficiency. According to Yip (1989), companies can benefit from economies of scale by coordinating manufacturing, purchasing, logistics, marketing and other activities across international markets.
Fast fashion companies frequently rely on internationally dispersed manufacturing networks. Production locations are selected according to factors such as labour costs, manufacturing capacity, supplier expertise, access to raw materials, transport infrastructure and delivery times. China, Bangladesh, Turkey and other manufacturing centres play important roles in international apparel supply chains.
H&M Group illustrates the extent of this integration. Its 2024 annual and sustainability report identifies production supplier factories across 47 countries, with approximately 1.45 million workers employed in its Tier 1 and Tier 2 production supply chain (H&M Group, 2025). These figures demonstrate that the company’s manufacturing operations extend well beyond its home market of Sweden. Its supply chain enables it to access specialised production capabilities, coordinate purchasing at scale and serve customers across international markets.
However, cost globalisation involves more than finding the cheapest labour. Companies must also consider inventory management, product quality, transportation expenses, supplier reliability and the risk of delays. Producing garments far from their intended markets may reduce manufacturing costs but increase lead times and exposure to international disruptions. Fast fashion companies therefore balance low-cost sourcing with responsiveness to changing consumer demand. Consequently, cost globalisation is a significant industry-wide driver, although the degree to which an individual brand benefits from it depends on its sourcing strategy, operational scale and geographic reach.
3. Competitive Globalisation Drivers
Competitive globalisation arises when competition in one country affects a company’s strategic position in other markets. Multinational companies compete internationally through pricing, product innovation, brand recognition, supply chain efficiency and the speed at which they respond to fashion trends (Yip, 1989).
The fast fashion industry demonstrates this interdependence clearly. Zara, H&M and Uniqlo compete across multiple markets, meaning that product launches, pricing decisions and supply chain improvements in one region can influence competitive expectations elsewhere. International expansion also allows companies to spread marketing expenditure, develop stronger supplier relationships and benefit from a larger customer base.
For example, H&M’s extensive supplier network enables the company to coordinate manufacturing across countries and support its international retail operations. The disclosure of production factories across 47 countries in its 2024 reporting illustrates how global supply chain integration supports a multinational competitive strategy (H&M Group, 2025).
Digital commerce has intensified this competition. Indian fashion brands can compete with international companies for online consumer attention, while global brands can reach Indian consumers through their own websites, applications and third-party platforms. Social media further accelerates the circulation of fashion trends, increasing pressure on businesses to offer attractive products at competitive prices.
Competitive globalisation therefore affects both multinational and domestic brands, but their strategic responses differ. Multinationals can leverage international scale and diversified markets, whereas domestically oriented businesses may rely on local consumer knowledge, distinctive branding and operational flexibility.
4. Government Globalisation Drivers
Government globalisation drivers include tariffs, quotas, trade agreements, customs procedures, foreign investment rules, labour regulations, environmental requirements and other public policies that influence cross-border business activities (Yip, 1989).
Although fashion companies operate in international markets, their supply chains remain subject to national and regional regulations. Tariffs on imported garments and textiles can influence sourcing decisions, retail prices and the competitiveness of exporting countries. Preferential trade agreements may provide certain producers with better access to overseas markets, while customs delays and regulatory differences can increase operational costs.
India illustrates the importance of these policy conditions. According to India’s Ministry of Textiles, the country accounted for approximately 3.9% of global textile and apparel trade in 2023. India was also identified as the world’s sixth-largest textile and apparel exporter that year (Press Information Bureau, 2025). These figures demonstrate India’s substantial role in international textile trade, while indicating that significant opportunities remain for expanding its global market share.
More recent government data show that Indian exports of textiles and ready-made garments, including handicrafts, totalled approximately US$37.76 billion in FY2024–25 (Press Information Bureau, 2026). The United States and the European Union remain important export destinations. However, export competitiveness depends on more than tariffs: production productivity, input costs, logistics, product quality, market access and compliance with destination-country requirements also influence performance.
Trade policy is dynamic. Changes in tariffs, bilateral agreements and sustainability regulations can alter the relative attractiveness of different sourcing countries. Businesses must therefore monitor the applicable rules in each market rather than assume that historic tariff differences remain unchanged.
Government policy consequently acts both as an enabler and a constraint on globalisation. It can facilitate international trade, but it can also create additional costs and encourage companies to reconsider where they manufacture and sell their products.
5. Environmental and Regulatory Challenges to Globalisation
The globalisation of fast fashion has created economic opportunities but also environmental and social challenges. International production networks can make clothing affordable and widely accessible, yet their environmental impacts extend across the entire product life cycle, from fibre production and dyeing to transportation, consumption and disposal.
UNEP (2025) estimates that the textile sector generates approximately 92 million tonnes of waste each year. Its 2025 assessment also reports that only 8% of textile fibres came from recycled sources in 2023, while less than 1% of the total fibre market consisted of textile-to-textile recycled fibres. These findings highlight the limited circularity of current textile production systems.
The EEA (2025) also identifies substantial environmental pressures associated with textile consumption. In the EU, textile consumption ranked among the five largest household consumption categories for environmental and climate pressures in 2022, considering raw material use, greenhouse gas emissions and water and land use.
These concerns are increasingly relevant to global fashion companies because environmental standards, supply chain transparency and waste management requirements can affect market access and operating costs. Businesses may need to invest in more durable products, traceable sourcing, recycled materials, improved production processes and take-back or resale schemes.
For fast fashion brands, these developments create a strategic tension: the traditional model encourages frequent purchasing and rapid product turnover, while sustainability policies and consumer expectations increasingly favour longer product lifetimes, repair, reuse and recycling.
Therefore, globalisation should not be evaluated solely through sales growth or the number of countries served. Its long-term sustainability also depends on how effectively companies manage environmental impacts and social responsibilities across international value chains.
Conclusion
The fast fashion industry is highly globalised because it combines international consumer markets, cross-border manufacturing, global competition and government policies that influence trade and investment. Yip’s (1989) framework demonstrates how these four drivers reinforce one another: global demand creates opportunities for expansion, international sourcing supports cost efficiency, multinational competition encourages strategic integration, and government policies shape the conditions under which trade takes place.
Recent evidence from H&M Group, the European Environment Agency, UNEP and India’s Ministry of Textiles confirms the international scale of textile production and trade. However, globalisation is not uniform across all fashion companies.
References
1. European Environment Agency (2025). Circularity of the EU textiles value chain in numbers. Available at: https://www.eea.europa.eu/en/analysis/publications/circularity-of-the-eu-textiles-value-chain-in-numbers
2. H&M Group (2025). Annual and Sustainability Report 2024. Available at: https://hmgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/HM-Group-Annual-and-sustainability-report-2024.pdf
3. Press Information Bureau, Government of India (2025). India’s share of global trade in textiles and apparel stands at 3.9%. Available at: https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2089508
4. Press Information Bureau, Government of India (2026). Export of readymade garments/textiles/handlooms. Available at: https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2237706
5. The Economic Times (2022). Lifestyle brand Bewakoof crossed Rs 250 crore sales mark during FY22. 1 July. Available at: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/services/retail/lifestyle-brand-bewakoof-crossed-rs250-crore-sales-mark-during-fy22/articleshow/92597599.cms
6. United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) (2025). Transforming the Textile Industry: Learning to Manage Waste, Better. October. Available at: https://wedocs.unep.org/entities/publication/44b5ed72-939d-4db5-8b3c-7e306c13208d
7. Yip, G.S. (1989). ‘Global strategy … in a world of nations?’, Sloan Management Review, 31(1), pp. 29–41.