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sustaInaBlE FashIon : a handBooK For Educators
- Social and Environmental Impact of Consumption: A
Case Study of the Fashion Industry
The fashion industry is hugely significant - in the year
2000, consumers worldwide spent approximately US$1
trillion buying clothes; the industry accounts for 7%
of world exports; and around 26.5 million people are
employed in textile and clothing production (Allwood
et. al., 2006). As in so many other sectors, the way the
fashion industry currently operates is environmentally
and socially unsustainable.
This session will use the fashion industry as an example
of the effects of consumption on people and planet.
Different areas of the industry’s supply chain will be
considered, from textile production to the impact of fast
fashion on working conditions.
Key reading
Allwood, J., Laursen, S., de Rodriguez, C. and Bocken, N.
(2006) Well Dressed? The present and future sustainability
of clothing and textiles in the UK, Cambridge: University of
Cambridge Institute for Manufacturing
http://fashioninganethicalindustry.org/resources/reports/
welldressed/
Forum for the Future (2007) Fashioning Sustainability 2007
http://www.forumforthefuture.org.uk/publications/fashion2_
page542.aspx
Swedish Fair Trade Centre (2003) We Shop, Who pays?,
Video: (35 minutes) Watch online: http://video.google.co.uk/
videoplay?docid=-3076138835044484743
Further reading
Fashioning an Ethical Industry (2006) Factsheet 3a: The
fashion industry and poverty reduction,
http://fashioninganethicalindustry.org/factsheet3/
Oxfam International (February 2004) Trading Away Our
Rights: Women working in global supply chains’, Oxford:
Oxfam, http://fashioninganethicalindustry.org/resources/
reports/taor/
The Ecologist (2007) Ethical Fashion Special – Sacking the
Sackcloth Image, The Ecologist
- Ethical Consumerism
Consumers have started to question the conditions in
which products are made and their impact on the planet,
and a new wave of consumption has emerged - ‘ethical’ or
‘green’ consumerism. This trend takes a variety of forms –
fair trade products, organic certification, ethical investment,
buying local, corporate social responsibility, boycotting
companies and use of recycled materials.This session will look at what has led to the emergence
of this new type of consumption, and consider whether
shopping ‘ethically’ or ‘green’ can solve the pressing social
and environmental problems our world faces.Key reading
Fashioning an Ethical Industry Factsheet 19 (2008) Ethical
Consumerism, available at
http://fashioninganethicalindustry.org/resources/factsheets/
issues/factsheet19ethicalconsumerism/
Gabriel, Y. and Lang, T. (2006)‘The Unmanageable Consumer
(2nd Edition), Sage Publications, pp 166-176
Worth, J. (November 2006) ‘Buy now, pay later’,
New Internationalist,
http://www.newint.org/features/2006/11/01/keynote/Further reading
Fauset, C. (2006) What is Wrong with Corporate Social
Responsibility?, http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/?lid=2670
Harrison, R., Newholm, T. and Shaw, D. (eds.) (2005) ‘The
Consumer as Economic Voter’ In The Ethical Consumer, SAGE
Publications Ltd. Chapter 2
Klein, N, (2000) ‘Conclusion: Consumerism versus
Citizenship’ in No Logo London: Flamingo
Monbiot, G. ‘Eco-junk’, http://www.monbiot.com/
archives/2007/07/24/eco-junk/#more-1074
The Co-operative (2006) The Ethical Consumer Report
2006 [online], available at:
http://www.co-operativebank.co.uk/servlet/Satellite?c=Page
andcid=1170748475331andpagename=CB%2FPage%2Ftpl
Standardandloc=l, accessed 26th July 07