Gap's collaboration with Victoria Beckham, M&S's London Fashion Week catwalk show featuring Joan Collins and gen Z Gallaghers, and Topshop's placement in 30 John Lewis stores—these are the headlines of high street fashion's attempted resurrection. The strategy is clear: borrow from luxury's playbook to win back consumers who abandoned affordable fashion for either ultra-cheap alternatives like Shein or the secondhand market. But beneath the celebrity endorsements and AI stylists lies a fundamental problem these brands have yet to solve.
The numbers tell part of the story. M&S reports a 16% year-on-year increase in under-35 shoppers following their fashion week appearance and 'more fashion-informed seasonal collections.' Asos, which saw sales drop 12% last August before announcing a 50% profit growth this March, has appointed Hollywood stylist Law Roach as stylist-in-residence and added AI stylists and virtual try-on tools. Vanessa Spence, Asos's executive vice-president of brand, notes that 68% of consumers say they need to know how to wear something—hence the 'Buy the Look' feature allowing customers to purchase complete outfits at once.
Yet these innovations sidestep a damning reality: a garment is on average worn seven times before being thrown away. For all the talk of longevity and building wardrobes customers 'will wear and love for longer,' as M&S's Lisa Illis claims, high street brands remain trapped in the business model that created this waste in the first place. Even Asos's Adaptive collection, working with disabled consultancy Tilting the Lens and founder Sinéad Burke to offer customizable pieces under £65, cannot change the throwaway culture these retailers helped establish.
Fashion commentator Andrea Cheong observes that gen Z and millennial customers—70% to 80% of her audience aged 25 to 35—are 'really jaded' and shopping secondhand, with resale app Vinted now the UK's third biggest retailer. They're also acutely aware of quality differences. 'However much they try to elevate what it is, it is not the same fabric that they use at, for example, Dior,' Cheong notes, pointing to the human-made fibres in collections like M&S's catwalk range.
The uncomfortable truth is that high street brands staging a luxury comeback are attempting to rebrand rather than reform. Styling services, celebrity collaborations, and fashion week theatrics are marketing tactics designed to make affordable fashion feel aspirational again. But savvier consumers recognize the difference between aspiration and substance. Until these retailers fundamentally reckon with their role in creating disposable fashion culture, their comeback will remain surface-level—another trend destined for the bin after seven wears.