It’s easy to feel cynical about fashion as we look towards 2026. Fast fashion appears to be everywhere you look, and social media-fueled trends aren’t slowing down, but not everything is as it seems. Off-price fashion is a quiet revolution within the industry that’s changing everything, from how consumers shop for garments to offering one of the most practical ways to solve the wider industry’s environmental crisis.
One fashion consultant knows about this sea of change more than most. Kenchen Bharwani is a New York-based fashion consultant at Empire Apparel LLC who has worked in the segment for almost two decades, recovering millions of dollars in lost revenue, rescuing an immeasurable number of garments from landfill, and providing a crucial lifeline for U.S discount apparel retailers.
With off-price fashion starting to gain attention from mainstream media and consumers, Kenchen shared her perspective on the industry and how she’s making sustainable fashion more accessible.
Changing the Perspective of Surplus Garments
Millions of garments never make it to retail shelves – or even their online warehouses. Orders can be cancelled, factories may overproduce, and retailers may discover that the trends they forecasted 12 months ago haven’t come to fruition. This surplus is often seen as a failure and an economic loss, accelerating the industry’s carbon footprint. It’s easy to see why over 11 million tons of textiles end up in landfills annually in the United States.
But for off-price fashion consultants like Kenchen, this surplus represents opportunity. At Empire Apparel LLC, she’s repurposed more than 3 million garments that were intended for landfill by redistributing them to other retailers or re-merchandising them. It’s an approach that has a positive global impact, from enabling factories in Asia and Africa to recover value from surplus inventory to giving U.S. retailers access to high-quality garments at a competitive price for cost-conscious consumers.
“I’m always very aware of the global nature of fashion, especially with my background. I first learnt about apparel when I was living in Indonesia, and I’ve been fortunate enough to work directly with factories in Cambodia, Pakistan, Vietnam, and Ethiopia to name a few. We’re not just helping them boost their profit margins, we’re empowering their communities and boosting their economy.” Kenchen explains, having been inspired to explore off-price fashion after encountering deadstock inventory in these global factories. This international perspective has stayed with her, allowing Kenchen to stand out as one of New York’s most experienced off-price fashion consultants.
Understanding Consumer Psychology for Repurposing Surplus Clothing with Trend Forecasting
The off-price fashion segment is bringing clothes and accessories to consumers that would have otherwise gone to landfill. Virtually every type of garment, design, and textile can fall into this category. Much of Kenchen’s work focuses on repurposing surplus fabric and garments that were originally intended for other retailers.
At Empire Apparel LLC, Kenchen has repurposed deadstock to create Christmas-themed sweatshirts, cozy sherpa-lined socks, building on her portfolio of other projects, including creating a line of ladies sleepwear using leftover poly-spandex blend fabric from a warehouse in Cambodia.
While most retailers would write this surplus stock off as a loss, Kenchen is able to leverage consumer psychology and trend forecasting to make this inventory relevant again. Off-price fashion works on a significantly faster market cycle than its mainstream counterparts, getting products to market in 3-4 months instead of the typical 12-month cycle. Her creative strategies aren’t just a solution to the industry’s waste problem, but a way for consumers to access high-quality, long-lasting garments affordably as a sustainable alternative to fast fashion.
The Global Impact of Off-Price Fashion
Off-price fashion consultants like Kenchen offer a crucial bridge for global manufacturers and retailers. From helping retailers to source high-quality products for consumers domestically, to working with emerging global markets, like the UAE and Mexico by opening new export paths during a volatile period for the fashion industry, every stage has a has a positive impact on the manufacturer, retailer, and consumer.
The fashion landscape is changing. While consumers are becoming more budget-conscious, they’re also now more open to the idea of sustainable clothing. Off-price fashion is more than just an economic alternative to fast fashion; it is the best practical solution to cutting the industry’s carbon footprint, while supporting economic growth within the United States.
Everyone in the fashion industry can learn from Kenchen’s story, but it also proves that off-price fashion has arrived as a mainstay in the industry. The U.S. fashion industry is changing, and off-price fashion proves that sustainability and affordability can finally go hand-in-hand.