Fast fashion: calculative technologies and the governance of everyday dress
Open accessAbstract
The speed at which contemporary fashion changes is such that the life of a garment can now be measured in a matter of weeks rather than months. The organisational consequences of operating in this environment are that fashion retailers have been prompted to adopt a range of quick response (QR) initiatives. QR involves responding promptly to the information contained within emerging sales trends while simultaneously accelerating the movement of product from factory to shop shelf. Drawing on the case of a UK fashion chain, this paper explores accounting's role in enacting QR. In addition, by deploying the theoretical framework of governmentality [Miller, P., & Rose, N. (1990). Governing economic life. Economy and Society, 19(1), 1–31; Rose, N., & Miller, P. (1992). Political power beyond the state: Problematics of government. British Journal of Sociology, 43(2), 173–205], the paper highlights the role of calculative technologies in the creation and sustenance of fast fashion and hence the governance of everyday dress.
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Accounting practices construct spaces of calculation in which entities, people, and economic activities become visible, measurable, and governable.
“A substantial body of accounting research has demonstrated how accounting practices construct spaces of calculation in which entities, people, and economic activities become visible, measurable, and governable (e.g., Cuckston, 2022; Detzen and Löhlein, 2023; Jeacle, 2015; Miller, 2001; Quattrone and Hopper, 2005).”
From State, great families, and Buddhism: monasticism as calculation in the fiscal governance of early medieval China (2026) · cites this paper as Jeacle, 2015
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He, Y., & Deng, C. (2026) · Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management · doi:10.1108/qram-08-2025-0201
- Authors
- Jeacle, I.
- Affiliations
- University of Edinburgh (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Jeacle, Ingrid
- ORCID
- Jeacle, Ingrid
- Venue
- European Accounting Review
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2014-06-02
- Volume
- 24
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 305-328
- ISSN
- 0963-8180 (ISSN-L)
- 1468-4497
- OpenAlex
- W2038073377
- Cited by
- 32
- References
- 109
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 2 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 7
- FWCI
- 6.66
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- Licence
- other-oa
- Locations
- European Accounting Review (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Edinburgh Research Explorer (University of Edinburgh) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Management Information Systems › Accounting and Organizational Management
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Museology › Fashion and Cultural Textiles
- Social Sciences › Development › Software Engineering and Design Patterns
- Keywords
- fast fashion, fast response, governmentality, fashion retailers, garment life cycle, sales trends
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