Sustainable Fashion: A Handbook for Educators

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The weekly timetable included the following topics:

• The era of consumerism.


• Capitalism, the corporation and consumption.


• The environmental and social impacts of consumption:
  a case study of the fashion industry.


• Ethical consumerism: the answer?


• Designing for sustainability.

1. The Era of Consumerism

Consumerism, the purchasing of goods and services
in excess of our basic needs, is a defining feature of
postmodern life. In the last century, we have witnessed a
growth in consumer society “in which choice and credit are
readily available, in which social value is defined in terms of
purchasing power and material possessions, and in which there
is a desire, above all, for that which is new, modern, exciting
and fashionable^2 .”

This session will look at the ideological and historical
context in which different meanings have been attached to
consumerism. It will go on to examine the circumstances
that have led to the development of consumer society.

Key reading

Gabriel, Y. and Lang, T. (2006) The Unmanageable Consumer
(2nd Edition), London: Sage Publications, pp. 1-24,

Lyon, D. (1994) Postmodernity, Open University Press,
pp. 69 -89

Further reading

Bauman, Z. (2005) Work, Consumerism and the New Poor
(2nd Edition), London: Open University Press

Bocock, R. (1993) Consumption: Key Ideas, London:
Routledge

Edwards, T. (2000) Contradictions of Consumption: Concepts,
Practices and Politics in Consumer Society, Buckingham: OUP

Lury, C. (1996) Consumer Culture, Cambridge Polity Press

Packard, V. (1951) The Hidden Persuaders, London: Penguin
Books Ltd

2. Capitalism, the Corporation and Consumption

Consumption driven capitalism is the dominant global

economic model. Economies are geared towards personal

consumption in order to keep businesses growing and

tax revenues flowing. Capitalism is the most effective

mechanism the world has seen for providing goods

and services and creating financial wealth, but nearly one

billion people still survive in abject poverty on less than

$1a day and the world’s natural resources are rapidly being

depleted.

This session will look at what we mean by a consumption

driven capitalist economy; and consider the implications

of this system, where corporations are concerned with

maximising profits and accumulating capital.

Key reading

Hertz, N. (2002) The Silent Takeover: Global Capitalism and

the Death of Democracy, London: William Heinemann

Porritt, J. (2005) Capitalism as if the World Mattered, London:

Earthscan, pp. 65–87

Spencer, R. (2004) Corporate Law and Structures: Exposing

the roots of the problem, Corporate Watch, http://www.

corporatewatch.org.uk/?lid=2592

Further reading

Bauman, Z. (1998) Globalization: The Human Consequences,

Cambridge: Polity Press

Blythman, J. (2004) Shopped: The Shocking Power of British

Supermarkets, London: Harper Perennial

Durning, A. (1992) How Much is Enough: The Consumer

Society and the Future of the Earth, London: Earthscan

Klein, N. (2000) No Logo, London: Flamingo

Schumacher, E. F. (1973) Small is Beautiful: A Study of

Economics as if People Mattered, London: Vintage

Wheen, F. (2007) Marx’s “Das Kapital”: A Biography - A Book

That Shook the World, Atlantic Books

IntEractIVE actIVItIEs

(^2) Benson, J. (1994) The rise of Consumer Society in Britain, London: Longman