Yes, the ANYDAY collection at John Lewis is fast fashion.
John Lewis & Partners is a department store chain founded in 1864. It is the UK’s largest cooperative, operating as an employee-owned mutual partnership called the John Lewis Partnership, which also owns Waitrose & Partners. It has 42 stores, over 38,000 employees, and made £3.78 billion in revenue in 2017.
In September 2021, John Lewis announced a new fast fashion range called ANYDAY in a bid to keep up with the changing high street, launching a collection of 700 styles of clothing with prices from as little as £4. The ANYDAY line at John Lewis can be considered a fast fashion brand due to the speed of production and scale of clothes styles in this new collection.
Fashion Revolution Transparency Rating: 27/100
Ethical Consumer Score: 4.5/15
Good On You Sustainability Rating: 2/5
Additional Reasons Why ANYDAY Is A Fast Fashion Brand
Despite operating as a cooperative, and often being framed as a high-end department store and a bastion of the Great British high street, the company has recently demonstrated that it values profit over planet, to the point of launching a self-declared fast fashion collection.
- In September 2021, they announced a new fast fashion range called ANYDAY, with its Chairman declaring this was a form of adaptation to ensure the longevity of the both their department stores and Waitrose.
- The organisation has been accused of paying ‘poverty wages’, where employees receive less than the UK Living Wage
- John Lewis has a gender pay gap, where women earn 91p for every £1 that men earn when comparing median hourly pay.
- According to Ethical Consumer, JL does not have a policy against animal testing.
Sustainable Alternatives To ANYDAY at John Lewis
If you’re thinking of avoiding shopping the ANYDAY range, I recommend checking out the affordable brands listed in my guide to 150+ sustainable fashion brands.
This post is part of a larger guide to UK fast fashion brands, which goes into more detail about the issues with fast fashion, why it will never be sustainable, and how to make your wardrobe more sustainable.
Data for this review is taken from the brand’s website, corporate website, Wikipedia, and sites linked throughout. The Transparency Rating is from Fashion Transparency Index 2021. All information is assumed correct at date of publication.