Sustainable Fashion Essay

This papers purpose is to teach fashion heavy consumers on the real price of fast fashion and how buying it affects the environment. This type of audience can be anyone who partakes in the buying of well-known cheap retail stores that have a large audience of being fast and obtainable. These consumers should have the information on how fast fashion effects are environment so it could possibly alter their buying habits to be eco-friendlier but buying either less or more sustainable clothing instead of the cheap alternatives. This audience should care about this purpose because this will affect the world now and for future generations as their environment is being mistreated because of these fast

Today, new clothes are sold in synchronization with a consumer’s weekly paycheck making a cycle of about 52 seasons – one per week in each year. This is generating about 80 billion pieces of new clothing created annually which is 400% more than two decades ago. Because of this high demand, a term ‘fast fashion’ has come into focus – those looking deep at this term are both clothing companies and environmentalists. We’ve all

By showing a healthy growth in her brand throughout the last 15 years proves to other influential designers that their creative voices do not have to be compromised in order to have renowned success. It opens the doors into exploring new ways of working with fabrics, modern technology, and less harmful chemicals. Overall it is exciting to see how this one brand has eliminated the taboo of being sustainable in luxury fashion, and through this award has an even more powerful voice to spread their

According to Green Stategy, sustainable fashion is where products are created, sold, and used in "the most sustainable manner possible, taking into account both environmental and socio-economic aspects." This basically means that a sustainable product is environmentally friendly, as it has been made from natural resources, and can be reused to the best of its abilities. Limited or no processes through the clothing's lifecycle should be harmful to the environment.

Haug & Busch (2016) presented the model that explains the focus should be on “ethical consumer” in the context of fashion and the consumer is the victim. Ethical fashion should be ecologically friendly and ought to relate to working conditions throughout the entire supply chain, and the environmental footprint of the fashion production process. Literature provides the simplistic view on fashion actors ethics and responsibility. To provide a clari-on picture of the ethical fashion status one should identify the relevant actors and their cumulative influences. The application of informing system of EFSW transdisciplinarity, as shown in the figure 5, the stakeholder actors are the backbone of the fashion industry, they have the power and should take the responsibility for transforming the fashion industry to ethical and fashionable. There is an increased focus on making ethical products fashionable to solve the social and ecological aspects of the fashion industry as demonstrated by the cases (Cicret, OMsignal, Ringly & Beddit) presented in this study.

Due to globalisation caused different ethnic subcultures to come together, the identity and status will be changed during different eras, and women have become more likely to focus on their symbolic values, behaviours and new images, the new techniques of design and production is used by “Fast Fashion” retailers (H&M and Zara) to decrease an unprecedented price, production time, and the lifespan in fashion clothes to attract people to buy their items. In comparison to the 1960s, the levels of private consumption increase approximately four times (Lawless & Medvedev 2016). It is shown that people own more clothing than they need and only wear a few times, replacing products (Anguelov 2016). Nevertheless, the global scale of production, consumption, distribution, and disposal required for a wide range of environmental and human resources cause the negative impact on environmental sustainability (Lawless & Medvedev 2016). Firstly, the plenty of dangerous chemicals are used in production. When plants are grown to manufacture clothing fibers such as cotton, the crops are heavily sprayed with pesticides and herbicides (Gibson, Farbotko & Gill 2013). These toxic chemicals not only will flow into soils, groundwater, and rivers but also will remain in the fabric after finishing, and are released during the lifetime of the dress (Gibson, Farbotko & Gill 2013). Although cotton just accounts for 2.4% of the arable land globally, it is responsible for 25% of insecticides and 10% of the

As people get more aware of the environmental issues, the demand of sustainable products will rise. Many companies believes that as you get more environmental friendly, the level of competitiveness will decline. This is not the case as the authors of the article “Why sustainability is now the key driver of innovation” describe. They believe that it is a smart move to conform to the rules before they are enforced.

On their website, H&M states, “H&M’s Conscious Exclusive collection shows how the best style can be mindful of the planet, to help protect it for the future. It’s such a desirable collection, with pieces made from sustainable materials that you want to wear for seasons to come.”

It is timely to consider the current and proposed meaning of the term sustainability as it corresponds to fashion. Kate Fletcher writes:

In the past decade, sustainability and ethical conduct have begun to be important in fashion (Emberley 1998; Moisander and Personen 2002). Swedish clothing retailer H & M announced the Conscious Actions Sustainability Report description the determinations on the sustainable development of company in 2012 which is divided into a lot of part such as using

The world is at an all time low with resources, giving a scarce reality to the fashion industry. This is giving all the designers a scare frantically trying to find new ways to create clothing without new material being produced at a high rate. The solution the world turns to be is Civic Couture Collection, trying to salvage the fashion world. Recycled goods and second hand clothing will become the center of the world’s fashion now. The world is going to take a new direction now and fashion is at the helm of it. As a designer myself I will bring future with my business, how the clothing is used or recycled, and change prices and form or the material.

Although most customers are unaware of the flaws of the clothing industry, some consumers are and do not care enough to act in a sustainable manner. The consumers lack care due to a combination of things. First off, consuming more clothing does not affect their day to day lives in a negative manner. These people have the mentality that if it does not affect me, it does not matter. One article articulates this lack of concern by millennial consumers perfectly, “They may care deeply about eating organic foods, but fast fashion consumption is exempt from such moral decisions. This approach can in part be explained by the fact that youthful consumers may fail to fully grasp issues of sustainability, in particular the disastrous future of environmental risks associated with unsustainable production” (World Financial Review). As we can see from this editorial, consumers are willing to buy organic products because they believe it will have a positive effect on their health. Clothing on the other hand is a

Sportswear brand Puma, are aware of the waste the fashion industry is believed to be contributing towards environmental issues, so the company teamed up with designer Yves Behar in 2015 to create the ’clever little bag’. This is their new sustainable way of distributing their shoes to customers instead of using cardboard boxes. Instead the bag is made with less material and as the packaging is a sleeve with handles there is no need for a use of a plastic carrier bag when the shoes are first purchased. The main concept behind the change of the packaging was to help reduce the amount of wastage that happens when shoes are distributed in shoe boxes. Because shoe boxes are not being re-used or recycled into something else more and more cardboard is being wasted, which goes back to a big amount of trees are being cut down to produce these boxes. It

Many consumers aren’t educated on the importance of sustainability of clothing and textiles. The media mistakenly represents sustainability and the influence it can have on the environment. This research paper will attempt to address the question of what could raise awareness of sustainable consumption of textiles for college students. Consumers should all be aware of how they can conserve the environment by preserving clothing which is a concept that many people have not acknowledged. This study is imperative to make this knowledgeable to pop culture and the developing generation consumers to settle all perceptions of sustainability.

Sustainable: pertaining to a system that maintains its own viability by using techniques that allow for continual reuse, e.g. sustainable agriculture.