Notably, the retailer Target found major success in collaborating with various fashion designers for affordable designer pieces available for the average consumer. This trend in fast fashion allowed shoppers to own designer items at lower prices, also allowing the acceptance and production of copycat styles. Designers noticed their designs were being knocked-off, and decided to do something about it. In 2004, the retail giant H&M, a master in rolling out fast fashion, collaborated with fashion designer Karl Lagerfield to introduce a one-time collection which proved to be a huge success, as women flocked to H&M stores to own a piece of the designer's 30 selections available in the collection. Stores such as Wet Seal and American Apparel are said to be "American precursors to the fast fashion empire". As well as the retail stores Hollister, Abercrombie & Fitch and possibly on a much smaller scale Limited Too, but in the end, stores like Forever 21 were better able to stay on top of the retail game. Ethics The ethics of fast fashion has been the topic of numerous debates and questioning of business practices. Producing fashion at such fast rates involves less than secure worker conditions, and non-livable wages for the laborers. It also involves a lot of waste. Americans throw out 14 million tons of clothing a year, with the help of fast fashion. Retailers like Forever 21 and H&M have come under fire, not only for their wasteful fast fashion practices that have grown steadily since the beginning of 2000, but for the involvement of cheap labor. The appeal of fast fashion lies in the copying of higher end brands; however, after something is no longer trendy it is on to the next, leaving clothes to go to waste, and workers to continue to live on unlivable wages. Socio-economics and the logo purse At the same time that fast fashion became able to supply vast quantities of imitation luxury goods, Western income inequalities had risen steadily. To create an image of belonging to a higher income consumer group, people sought real or copied branded items of "high fashion" items. In haute couture, designers were becoming increasingly inspired by pop culture and street style. These designs could succeed in high fashion because some top percentile earners wanted to present as being less wealthy: to communicate "street cred" or equality ideals. In addition, designer street style enabled the few social