Patrick Grant says fast fashion is the death of creativity

Fashion is dead according to the guru of The Great British Sewing Bee as he ­bemoaned the release of a new product every few seconds by “fast fashion” ­retailers.

Patrick Grant said that Shein, the Chinese company believed to be the world’s largest fashion retailer, was ­releasing 2,000 products every day.

“Which means fashion no longer exists,” he told the Hay Festival. “Because if fashion changes every time we get our phone out what does that mean?”

Grant, who lobbied the government to remove VAT on clothing repairs, said that the rise of companies such as Asos during the past two decades had led to “an incredible decline in quality and an extraordinary increase in volume”.

Grant said that a friend in the ­industry