Zara is undoubtedly one of the most popular fast-fashion retailers in the world. Founded in 1975 by Spanish billionaire Amancio Ortega, the first Zara store was initially named ‘Zorba’ before changing to its current name. It offered low-priced replicas or products that were identical to those of expensive, high-end fashion brands.
Starting from small store locations in Spain, Zara entered the American market and was able to gain mass popularity in a short time due to its innovative business model. It quickly recognizes new and upcoming fashion trends, takes design elements from runway shows and top fashion houses, and quickly produces its own version at much lower prices.
One of the reasons behind Zara’s global success is its highly integrated supply chain and production network. It allows the company to cut down lead time (the total time between order placement and its final shipment) and, thus respond to consumer demand changes much faster and more efficiently.
It won’t be wrong to say that Zara came up with the ‘fast fashion’ business model as we know it today.
While everyone is obsessed with Zara (rightfully so), there are some other fast fashion brands and retailers that offer more or less the same experience and are worthy of your time. Below is our list of 15 stores that can be your alternative to Zara.
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15. Reformation
Area Served: The United States
Reformation is one of the fastest-growing fashion brands in the U.S offering high-quality clothing products with a strong emphasis on sustainable growth. Every item in its store is made of deadstock fabrics, repurposed clothing, and other low-impact materials.
Reformation uses a data-driven feedback approach to design and launch new products on its platform. The company introduces new limited edition collections in small amounts every week or so. Depending on customers’ responses, it decides whether to keep producing an item or discard it.
At Reformation, you get a wide range of clothing options, from a variety of tops and bottoms to dresses and fashionable knitwear. It also features popular third-party brands such as Mara Hoffman and For Love & Lemons. In recent years, they’ve expanded into activewear and footwear.
Image Courtesy: Reformation
Reformation currently operates about 27 stores across the U.S. and Canada and two additional stores in London, U.K. The fast-fashion retailer has shown remarkable international growth in recent years, mainly due to its acquisition by private equity firm Permira in 2019.
Pricing
Reformation clothing is definitely pricier than most other fast fashion clothing stores. A pair of high-rise straight jeans at Reformation costs as much as $128, though it can go up to $198 for premium items. You can find t-shirts for less than $40, but the most eye-catching tops come at a steep $128 to $148 apiece.
While ordering online, you have to watch out for sizes as all sizes are U.S. standard. For most international orders, customers have to pay taxes, duties, and other customs fees in addition to shipping charges.
14. Eloquii
Area Served: The United States
Eloquii is a one-stop destination for plus-size fashion needs. It focuses on fashionable clothing for women between sizes 14 and 28. It has everything from tops and dresses to outerwear in plus sizes. You can depend on Eloquii for your casual as well as party and professional wardrobe basics.
The items at Eloquii usually fit true-to-size. However, you should refer to size charts to ensure your purchase.
Eloquii recently launched an apparel rental service – ELOQUII Unlimited. For a monthly fee of $79, it allows customers to rent a maximum of four clothing pieces at a time, return them, and repeat as much as they want. You only have to pay the monthly fees, which means no shipping charges and dry cleaning charges.
Image Courtesy: Eloquii
Pricing
While Eloquii clothing items are mostly affordable and value for money, issues with its customer service and return policy can cause problems with your shopping experience.
At Eloquii, you can get a midi dress as low as $89, a suit blazer at $99, and wide-leg pants at less than $100.
13. Sabo Skirt
Area Served: Australia, Worldwide
Sabo is an Australian brand that offers exclusive clothing collections for women worldwide. Sabo clothing items are usually of high quality and have unique designs. If you’re looking for something cool and unique for your wardrobe, then you should definitely try Sabo Skirt.
All the products are designed and produced in-house and are sold exclusively on its website. The company operates two boutique stores in Australia and readily ships its products to most countries.
Sabo caters to your clothing needs for every occasion. It offers everything from basics and party dresses to bridal wear. Their merchandise also includes a large collection of jewelry, bags, and other accessories. Although a bit expensive, it is easy to fall in love with the brand due to its unique style, superior quality, and equally good service.
The company is progressively working towards reducing its carbon and plastic waste footprint. Over the last couple of years, Sabo has reduced paper usage throughout its HQ by 90 percent and replaced most of its packaging with recyclable materials.
Image Courtesy: Sabo Skirt
Pricing
While you may find Sabo products at fairly reasonable prices, the shipping charges for international customers can make them slightly expensive. Moreover, in case of a return, you have to pay extra, though the entire process is smooth. Sabo charges about $20 AUD extra for a 2-5 day express delivery to a U.S. address.
12. Lulus
Area Served: Worldwide
The fast-fashion brand for women, Lulus has an interesting history. The brand initially started out as a vintage clothing store in California in 1996. Lulus went online in 2005, and by 2008, it had closed all its brick-and-mortar stores to become an exclusive online fashion brand.
However, due to customer feedback in recent years, the company decided to go back to the traditional ways with physical stores, all while bolstering its online presence.
Lulus is a popular destination for wedding dresses, with an entire section of its website dedicated to women’s clothing needs for wedding occasions. Since quality is always an issue, you can find a suitable dress at affordable prices with multiple tryouts due to its easy return policy in the United States.
It sells everything from casual dresses and office suits to t-shirts, denim, and other essentials. One of the highlights of Lulus main website is that it is organized in a way that allows customers to easily navigate clothing based on style, occasion, and trend.
Image Courtesy: Lulus
In 2021, the company went public with an IPO. Lulus’ current market value is slightly above $460 million.
Pricing
Depending on your choices, a piece of clothing from Lulus can be expensive. Lulus also requires a higher one-time purchase amount than its competitors to be eligible for free shipping.
11. Madewell
Area Served: The United States
Madewell is your go-to store if you love denim wear. It focuses on fast fashion trends around denim, including casual t-shirts and other accessories for men and women. Madewell is renowned for its superior quality and durable products. Some of its best-selling basics are high-rise skinny crop jeans, vintage jeans, broadway cardigan sweaters, and Caldwell Double-Breasted Blazers.
As a quality-oriented clothing retail store, Madewell products are quite expensive compared to other similar retailers. Thus, we would strongly urge you to wait for sale offers to buy your favorite denim clothing.
Madewell shoes and its other accessories, including bags and jewelry, have a fan base of their own. They are fashionable, convenient, and quality products that are priced reasonably.
Pricing
I have seen many first-time Madewell customers asking, “why Madewell jeans are so expensive”? The answer is simple: they are the best in the market. A pair of popular high-rises would cost you $128 without any offers. Though there are slightly cheaper options, you’ll not find anything below $98.
10. Garage Clothing
Area Served: The United States and Canada
Garage clothing is one of Zara’s biggest competitors in Canada, with more than a hundred physical stores across the country. It also has a considerable presence in the United States. The brand is owned and operated by Groupe Dynamite, a Canadian clothing company established in 1975.
One of the strengths of this fast fashion brand is that it has a thorough understanding of its customer base. Garage has a huge collection of chic clothing for 20-something women, from party dresses and crop tops to all-occasion trousers. It also regularly updates its stock.
If you like what you see here, you can also try Dynamite Clothing, another fashion retailer owned by Groupe Dynamite.
Image Courtesy: Garage Clothing
Pricing
While most items on Garage Clothing are of above-average quality and affordable, some of the things can be quite expensive. At Garage, you can buy tops for as low as $10, jeans for $35, and a variety of dresses for $30.
The store has four shipping options, which you can choose depending on how quickly you want to get your hands on your stuff. They are –
- Standard (orders above $50) – Free shipping
- Standard (orders up to $49) – $9 extra charge
- Express – $10 shipping charge
- Priority – $20 shipping charge
9. Oak and Fort
Area Served: The United States and Canada
Oak+Fort is another well-known Canadian fashion retailer that offers tons of clothing choices for any occasion. Like most fast fashion stores, Oak+Fort focuses on women’s clothing. While it does sell menswear, there are not many options.
At Oak-Fort, you can easily find stylish and quality apparel that is also affordable. With a wide variety of clothing options and accessories, including jewelry, it’s easy to build an entire wardrobe with the retailer. It is an ideal store for fashion basics.
But despite its popularity, Oak+Fort’s customers have mixed feelings about its services. More often than not, customers have product durability issues. Another common issue with the retailer is its unsatisfactory or below-average online shopping experience.
There are often reports of customers facing problems with Oak and Fort’s return process, especially during a sale event. Moreover, there are often discrepancies between items available online and offline.
Pricing
While you can find some relatively cheap clothing at Oak and Fort, the overall store is quite expensive. At Oak and Fort, you have to spend $100 for a pair of denim and between $70 and $90 for a linen blazer. It would easily cost $200 or more to put together an entire outfit.
For online shoppers, anything above $78 makes you qualified for free shipping. You also get the option to pick up your order from one of their outlet stores.
8. ASOS
Area Served: Worldwide
ASOS is one of the places where you can find almost anything related to fashion. While ASOS is not as huge as Zara, the company owns about 17 brands, accounting for roughly 40 percent of its total sales worldwide. Some of the best-selling brands by ASOS include Collusion, ASOS Design, and Topman.
Like Zara and other popular fast fashion brands, ASOS focuses on-trend items. Over 40 percent of its stock is replaced within three months, and thousands of new products are introduced weekly. ASOS’ collection includes third-party fashion brands such as H&M’s Weekday and Pull and Bear. The retailer has something for everyone.
ASOS is a great place to stock your wardrobe for essentials, especially if you’re on a budget. Under its ‘multipacks’ option, ASOS offers an excellent selection of everyday essentials, from tanks and tops to socks and knickers, which you can buy in multiple pairs. While many multipack items are ASOS branded, you can easily find products from top brands such as Adidas, Levi’s, and Tommy Hilfiger.
ASOS also has a great section of men’s clothing. For easier navigation, men’s and women’s clothing sections on the website are on completely different tabs.
One important thing you have to keep in mind while shopping at ASOS is that not all its products match U.S. standard sizes, which is always a headache. One solution to this issue is to carefully read the brand’s sizing measurement guide before buying.
Pricing
Shopping at ASOS can be both expensive and cheap. It depends on your choices. Due to the wide range of clothing and accessory brands available on ASOS, you can buy items for as low as $10 and go up to $400 or more.
ASOS is usually not expensive unless you’re looking for premium products. Needless to say, the retailer has regular sales, which include hand-picked items they’ve chosen to offer at discounts.
7. Aritzia
Area Served: The United States and Canada
Aritzia is another everyday fashion brand you can try. You can never go wrong with Aritzia if you’re looking for clothing that is on-trend and yet affordable. First established in Vancouver, Canada, in 1984, the brand is on its way to reaching one billion in annual sales after achieving more than $850 million in 2021. By FY 2023, its revenue reached $2.2 billion.
Apart from a robust online platform, Aritzia also has a strong physical presence with over a hundred boutiques across the United States and Canada, which has contributed significantly to its recent rise in popularity.
Its clothing selection ranges from everyday basics and casual wear to formals, evening gowns, and a variety of fashionable outerwear items, such as coats, jackets, and trenches. Most of the items on its website are from its in-house labels – TNA, Babaton, Sunday Best, Wilfred, and Super World. Having most of the items from its own labels allows Aritzia to have a better grip over product quality, in which it surely excels.
Aritzia is known for producing fashionable, higher-quality items that are also not so expensive.
Image Courtesy: Aritzia
Pricing
Even though Aritzia considers itself a luxury retailer that emphasizes quality, its products are usually affordable for mainstream consumers. It strikes a good balance between quality and pricing to attract customers both online and offline.
At Aritzia, you can get a dress for less than $35. However, you have to pay as much as $160 for higher-quality clothing. T-shirts cost anywhere between $28 and $50 apiece. You can also get a sweatshirt for as low as $40.
6. The Frankie Shop
Area Served: The United States
The Frankie Shop is an NYC-based exclusive fashion brand that has gained immense popularity among fashion editors and influencers over the past couple of years. The Frankie Shop is known for its luxurious-looking yet affordable collection of apparel from noted independent designers such as Karen Walker and Rachel Comey. It also features various elusive brands from around the world.
The retailer offers straightforward yet chic clothing options. Here, you can find anything from groovy denim and knitwear to elegant blazers and excellent loungewear at relatively affordable prices.
The company has received praise for its distinct style, which easily stands out from other fast fashion brands. In other words, the Frankie Shop is your one-stop boutique for low-key, effortless fashion.
Although the Frankie Shop clothing is fairly popular among fashion editors for its luxurious outlook and affordability, one should exercise caution while buying items since it lacks adequate customer reviews on important aspects such as shipping and return experiences.
Pricing
The Frankie shop offers clothing at relatively affordable prices. However, certain sections of the store are definitely pricier than similar fashion stores. In the United States, you must order items worth $100 or more to avail free shipping.
5. H&M
Area Served: Worldwide
Hennes & Mauritz, or H&M, is a global clothing company that needs little introduction. Any list of best fast-fashion retailers is incomplete without H&M, which has a presence in more than 70 different countries, with over five thousand stores and several popular clothing labels under its name.
H&M is for everyone – men, women, kids, and even newborns. Its collections include everything from the most recent trend to timeless classics that can go with any occasion.
The company’s focus on fast-fashion clothing ensures that its stores are stocked with new outfits every week or so. H&M’s ever-changing collection of merchandise is what makes customers come back every time.
Apart from the flagship H&M brand, the company owns five additional fashion clothing brands, including COS Weekday, Monkl, & Other Stories, and Arket, each based on a different concept. The largest brand among them – COS focuses on timeless designs that can be worn throughout the year rather than on-trend fashion. COS has about 200 stores across the world.
If you’re a serious environment-conscious buyer, you can try H&M’s ‘Conscious Choice’ clothing section. The items in this section are 50 percent made from sustainable materials such as organic cotton.
4. Mango
Area Served: Worldwide
If you’re looking for the right balance between quality and price, Mango clothing line is the closest thing to Zara you can find out there. Mango is an increasingly popular fast-fashion retailer that offers trendy and stylish clothing options for women, men, and kids.
What makes Mango stand out from most other fast-fashion retailers is its emphasis on midlife apparel. Unlike most stores on this list, which focus on younger (20-something-year-old) customers, Mango offers clothing options for middle-aged women. From oversized pastel suits, flattering jeans, flowy shirts, and round-neck paisley shirts, the Spanish retailer has a wide variety of collections for women in their 30s, 40s, or 50s.
Apart from reasonable prices, what attracts customers to Mango is its cleaner aesthetics that can go well with almost every occasion, as compared to some of the (more) popular fast fashion stores, including Zara.
Mango recently made a hefty $60 million investment to uplift its overall online experience. The retailer is in the process of introducing a curated section of international clothing brands to the main website.
Pricing
Over the years, Mango has positioned itself as a mid-premium range clothing brand that offers quality clothing at affordable prices. But it doesn’t mean it’s cheap. The pricing structure of the retailer is almost similar to its competitors. The company had an annual turnover of 2.2 million euros in 2021.
3. Everlane
Area Served: The United States
Everlane is a San Francisco-based online fashion brand known for its transparency practices and environmental initiatives. According to the company, Everlane only works with ethical factories that match their quality and working standards.
Everlane sells clothing and various accessories for both men and women. Whether you’re looking for a nice pair of jeans, a jumpsuit, or a classy jacket, Everlane has it all.
In 2021, about 97 percent of Everlane items that contain nylon and polyester were made from recycled fibers. Moreover, the store uses FSC-certified paper or 100 percent recycled plastic for shipping bags. So, if you’re looking for a store like Zara but are more eco-conscious, Everlane is the brand for you.
One of the best things about the brand is its transparency. It informs customers on how and where its products are made, their cost of production, and cost breakdown. A better-informed customer can make a better choice of clothing. As for pricing, most of the items of Everlane are fairly priced and have a good value for money.
2. Pixie Market
Area Served: Worldwide
One of the fastest-growing fashion brands, Pixie Market is known for its trendy clothing designs that have a seasonless appeal. The brand offers quality products that can last long at affordable prices.
It sells a wide variety of dresses, knit tops, and sophisticated outerwear. Pixie Market is the place to go if you’re looking for affordable ready-to-wear clothing for your wardrobe. Moreover, the store’s website is simple and quite easily navigable.
With an emphasis on sustainable growth, the retailer produces its own designs in small factories in Los Angeles and Seoul, South Korea. The company is progressively working towards using eco-friendly fabrics and materials in its production facilities. Apart from their own designs, Pixie Market sells other curated brands.
Though these materials have a low environmental impact, they are also more expensive than traditional materials. By 2023, Pixie Market aims to produce 100 percent of its designs using eco-friendly materials.
Image Courtesy: Pixie Market
Pricing
The prices at Pixie are mostly in line with other fast-fashion retailers. You have to spend about $100 on a pair of stylish pants and $180 on a great coat. You can also find many quality items between $35 and $80.
Unlike most other fast fashion brands on this list, Pixie Market does offer free shipping on international orders (including Canada), but with a minimum on-time order of $200.
1. Amour Vert
Area Served: The United States
Amour Vert is a San Francisco-based fashion retailer known for its quality materials and sustainable practices. Amour Vert is a French term for ‘Green Love,’ a perfect name for the brand considering its values. This eco-conscious retailer offers clothing options made from specially developed fabrics, such as organic cotton, mulberry silk, and low-impact dyes.
Its products are created in small quantities using unique production methods. Moreover, for every Amour Vert t-shirt sold, the retailer plants a tree. So far, it has planted over 300,000 trees.
At Amour Vert, you can find a cool selection of basics and occasion clothing, including uniquely styled tops and dresses, trendy loungewear, and comfortable pants for women. If you’re looking for a fast-fashion brand that is eco-friendly and stylish, Amour Vert is for you.
Not surprisingly, Amour Vert has a strong celebrity fan following from Blake Lively, Dylan Penn, Olivia Palermo, and Gweneth Paltrow.
Pricing
The clothing items at Amour Vert are definitely expensive. However, the brand compensates for its high pricing with quality and eco-friendly fabrics. The brand’s focus on quality makes it worthy of your attention.
If you’re located in the United States, you can buy its products from its website and pay later in interest-free installments with Afterpay.
Read: 13 Best Apps Like QuadPay (Now Zip)
Frequently Asked Questions
What is fast fashion?
Fast fashion is a term used to describe an increasingly popular business model in which clothing companies try to replicate the most recent trends and designs from fashion events and quickly produce them at low cost for general customers. In other words, a fast-fashion company produces clothing with the most recent and upcoming styles and markets them as quickly as possible.
These companies often optimize certain aspects of their manufacturing and supply chain processes to offer products to customers faster and at affordable prices. Fast fashion retailers such as Zara offer products in smaller quantities but have excess production capacity.
This practice allows the company to make significant design changes and adjustments in its product line in a short amount of time. It thus ensures short product cycles in which clothing items are replaced at regular intervals, giving these stores an exclusive outlook.
Although the emergence of the ‘fast fashion’ business model in the clothing industry is largely attributed to Zara, other well-established retailers, such as Benetton, are known to have worked on a similar concept.
What are some other fast-fashion stores like Zara I can try?
You can try several other U.S and international brands, such as –
- Club Monaco
- COS (H&M)
- Shein
- Dynamite
- & Other Stories
