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sustaInaBlE FashIon : a handBooK For Educators
suggEstEd Essay/assIgnMEnt QuEstIons
- Provide evidence to support the suggestion that fashion
consumers and producers are increasingly frequently
using ethical concerns in their decision-making. - It no longer makes sense to consider the ‘ethical
consumer’ en masse. Using the concepts of segmentation
and targeting, provide an analysis of the UK consumer
market in terms of the different levels of commitment to
ethical consumption. - For a fashion retailer or fashion brand of your choice,
analyse its strategic positioning in the context of
appealing to the ethical consumer. (You must choose a
company that has some kind of ‘ethical’ offer.) - What do you understand by the term ‘greenwashing’?
How can you relate this idea to ethical issues in fashion
marketing? - Choose a fashion retailer/brand that currently does
not offer an ethical option and suggest how it could
introduce one. In doing so consider: the size of the range;
what the competition offers; how the range should be
marketed; and the supply chain strategy that should
be implemented to support the range. In choosing
the company to work with, the student will need to
consider if/why this company should introduce an ethical
range; how interested current customers are likely to
be; whether new customers will be attracted; whether
an ethical range will fit with the current brand image.
The choice of company therefore becomes part of the
assessment criteria.
rEFErEncEs
Brennan, R., Baines, P., Garneau, P. and Vos, L. (2008)
Contemporary Strategic Marketing (Second Edition),
Basingstoke, Palgrave
Curry, A., Stevenson, G. and Goodacre, R. (2008) Green
Consumer, Green Citizen?, http://www.utalkmarketing.
com/Pages/Article.aspx?ArticleID=2741&Title=Green_
Consumer,_Green_Citizen?, accessed 18/07/08
Just-style.com (2006) United Kingdom: Who cares for
ethical clothing; http://www.just-style.com/articleprint.
aspx?ID=93844, accessed 26/05/08
Just-style (2008a) Spain: Inditex close Bangladesh plant
after BBC probe, http://www.just-style.com/articleprint.
aspx?ID=101172, accessed 24/06/08
Just-style (2008b) UK: Primark “to lose customers” post-
Panorama – survey, http://www.just-style.com/articleprint.
aspx?ID=101270
Morgan, N. (2008) Marks & Spencer is greenest brand,
http://www.theretailbulletin.com/news/marks_spencer_is_
greenest_brand_by_a_huge_margin_04-04-08/
Porter, M. E. (1985) Competitive Advantage, New York: Free
Press
Retail Bulletin (2007) Who is the typical ethical consumer?
http://www.theretailbulletin.com/print.php?tag=964d180ea
80d672a811ed3b56da0b05e, accessed 01/03/07