Carly Kenney, Mariel Lemair
Assignment: Blog Post # 3
Due Date: 10.02.17
Course: Sustainability and the Future of Fashion
Professor: Kennedy
Consumerism’s Effect on the Planet
Image Credit: usatoday.com
Image Credit: Chron.com
Image Credit: Clean Clothes Campaign
Young girls working over 65 hours a week in a garment factory in Bangladesh
Photo Credit: sadhanaforest.org
Clothing dump in India
Image Credit: ecouterre.com
Image Credit: Zara
Image Credit: Vogue.com
Rana Plaza in Bangladesh
The Fashion Industry continuously encourages the purchasing of new merchandise in ever-increasing amounts. Studies have shown that a person views an average of 5,000 advertisements a day. Fashion Brands use their marketing efforts to make consumers buy into the belief that the fashion items that they currently own are not good enough or “out of style”, alluring them to buy new clothing when they often don’t need it (perceived obsolescence). As we saw on the documentary The True Cost, consumerism is a silent exploitation of the human pursuit of happiness by marketers and advertisers; they falsely promise to fulfill people’s needs with their goods, when in reality, they are simply interested in hooking consumers into a never-ending shopping cycle.
The Industrial Revolution simplified product assembly which enabled mass production of goods. This, helped brands accelerate the production of a clothing line from 12 months to as little as 15 days; increasing the amount of collections from 2 to 52 micro-seasons per year. This has influenced how apparel companies build their marketing strategy around consumer trends, as well as how they build supply chains that enable delivery of new fashion pieces as soon as trends emerge. For example, Zara delivers new fashion pieces twice a week averaging to about 10,000 designs each year (tradegecko.com)
Image Credit: straitstime.com
Infographic Credit: forbesindia.com
As mentioned in the documentary The True Cost, the fast-fashion business model is the number two contributor to the deterioration of our planet’s health, as the manufacturing of goods requires a large amount of natural and human resources; these supply chains include thousands of underpaid workers in countries such as Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Vietnam.
Image Credit: yourkingcounty.org
The problem created by fast-fashion involves not only fashion companies and consumers, but also the government, economists, investors, etc. We believe that the first step to advocating for awareness of the damaging effects of fast-fashion is to question and begin conversations around what motivates consumers to continue to purchase goods that are hurting the overall well-being of innocent people and our planet; if consumers shopped less, fashion companies would by default be forced to produce less. Another piece, would be to question the flawed economic model that allows for fast-fashion companies to get away with unethical production, the import and export of high volumes of garments with little to no regulations. These conversations could help us begin the journey of making the Fashion Industry a more sustainable and human-centric one by teaching us about the changes that need to be implemented both immediately and on a long-term basis.
Hi Carly & Mariel!
ReplyDeleteLove this post! Great use of visuals and infographics to really drive the point across. I also really find the statistics intriguing and eye-opening. Being that the fashion industry is the number two contributor to the planet's health, more people in the industry should be aware of these statistics and how to prevent them for a better future.
Loved this! Loved the emphasis on the industrial revolution as the root cause of mass production. Also liked the fact that the beginning of your solution to solving this was to question consumer motive to continue spending.
ReplyDeleteHi! I loved all the imagery you used to emphasize your points. I also find that the statistics you used really open the eyes of us consumers because we know how much clothing is really being produced and how wasteful it can be. We should all continue to be aware so we make the industry better for the world.
ReplyDeleteMariel and Carly- so well done! I had no idea we view close to 5,000 ads each day! And good slamming the advertisers with what you learned from The True Cost by stating that consumerism is the silent exploitation of the human pursuit of happiness… Well done! I’m hooked! Your suggestion of building conversations is excellent- we must start the discussions and keep then going! Additionally, your images are impactful and thoughtfully selected. The Zara infographics of 21 days for production is terrific! Good find! You should use the chron.com photo in the midterm presentation- it’s a great image that truly looks like a millennial with all her clothes.
ReplyDelete