Asos and Boohoo beat out Zara and H&M with faster production times

Zara and H&M are two of the biggest retailers in the world. The chains are known for the rapid speed at which they can get new designs into their stores, with Zara's design-to-store schedule just 25 days. But they’re facing competition: the British chains Asos and Boohoo have even shorter production time frames, which has got the fashion giants worried. 

In a study conducted by Goldman Sachs, the success of fashion chains is dependent on the time it takes to create a product and get it sold in stores. A shorter timeframe not only allows the companies to better respond to the market and adjust their inventory to trends of the moment, but also lets them produce smaller quantities and reduce their stock. 

Asos hopes to grown between 30 and 35 percent this year, while Boohoo already predicts an increase in sales by around 50 percent. Zara and H&M meanwhile have seen their sales slow down. 

The fact that Asos and Boohoo are online only also contributes to their success. Zara and H&M both have to support the logistical costs of maintaining physical stores, which are increasingly losing business to online retailers. With this trend in mind, both chains have announced that they will slow down on new store openings and focus instead on their online presence. 

H&M has also announced that it will rethink its distribution network, moving production to Europe (primarily Turkey) instead of Asia, where it has until now been able to obtain cheaper labor but longer production times.