Obsolescence of clothes: a fashion trend?

For many years, the apparel industry has experienced steady global growth, briefly interrupted in 2020 with the COVID19 pandemic, with production doubling between 2000 and 2015 . Various industrial and commercial strategies, such as ready-to-wear and, more recently, "fast fashion", have enabled more and more people to access fashion by buying new clothes on a regular basis. The evolution of the highly competitive apparel market has also driven companies in the sector to cut costs across the entire value chain: from raw materials to distribution, including labor and manufacturing processes. Against this backdrop, the lifespan of clothing has become shorter and shorter, for emotional, affective, psychological or technical reasons. On the one hand, the constant renewal of low-cost product collections is accelerating consumption by users . On the other hand, the use of low-cost production techniques, raw materials and labor has reduced quality and led to rapid product deterioration. These strategies generate very strong negative impacts on environmental and societal aspects. It is therefore becoming essential to quantify and estimate a product's lifespan in order to inform and guide decision-making by consumers and manufacturers alike. Whatever the reasons for a garment's end-of-life, emotional or technical, it corresponds to the moment when the product no longer meets the consumer's needs. This inadequacy can be seen as a form of obsolescence from the customer's point of view [H 7 000] .

Given these factors, it appears that garment obsolescence is a concept that depends on many factors, and is difficult to define and estimate. The aim of this article is to clarify the concept of obsolescence in the fashion industry...