Changing the Trends: A New Line of Work

Changing the Trends: A New Line of Work

Megan Sanico

Global Connections

Mr. Falls

10/5/16

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Changing the Trends: A New Line of Work

Chapters

Limitations... 3

Lit Review... 5

The Paper 9

Abstract16

Works Cited.17

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Changing the Trends: A New Line of Work

Limitations

My limitations on this paper include data that has not been taken by myself or a group of

people I know. My statistical data will all be provided by trustable sources. The effects of ethical

fashion and sustainability of the entire topic is an extremely large source in general, and can take

years to see the actual full effect of the industry at a certain point in time. In that case, I am

relying on established and trustworthy sources that all relatively show the same characteristics

and trends to develop my topics and showcase my theme throughout my entire paper. In that

case, because my topic can be very broad at specific points because of the sustainability aspect, I

may not be able to find sources that cover the depth of the entirety of the subject itself. Finding

sources that go into a deeper analysis of specifically sustainable fashion, is challenging. If I do

not cover the complete points of sustainable fashion, this leads more opportunities open for you,

as the reader, to conduct research in these detailed topic areas, if this area of expertise is what

you want to study more in.

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In my research I plan to focus on foreign countries such as India. I do not want to put any

bias in my research about any of the countries I express in my paper. I simply want to state the

facts about them and how it affects and relates to ethical and sustainable fashion and explain

ways in which the situation can slowly be taken care of in small and large ways. I care about my

topic and I would not want to shame any country that is working on fixing the current situations.

Furthermore, I do not wish to focus on any one ethnic group. My research wont be too broad

where its not even a detailed paper anymore, but I wont go into too much about specific

country origins where everything collapsed because of the changing fashion industry. In the case

of a student-response survey, my limitations would be not getting a big or diverse demographic

as I would be able to in a different environment or setting in which I could larger groups of more

diverse people to take a survey.

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Lit Review

These first few sites discussed the definitions, issues and some minor problems of ethical and

sustainable fashion. The definitions were explained on one of the websites and very clearly

explained that the term ethical fashion in general is contradictory and can then be interpreted

in many different ways. A quote from Vanessa Friedman from this article points out that in her

mind when it comes to Ethical Fashion, many words come to mind: green, eco,

sustainable, ethical, fair trade and organic. [But] In a fashion context [I] would refer to

sustainability for production issues; ethical for employment; green for buildings; organic for

soil. Another very well stated point is also brought up in the same source about the actual

definition of the term ethical fashion. Sass Brown, who is the Interim Dean for the School of Art

and Design at the Fashion Institute in New York, eloquently puts that Sustainability is the

conservation of life through ecological balance human, animal, vegetable and planetary. She

says that literally sustainability is a machine that works on its own by reusing the same materials.

It literally sustains itself. She says that in the context of clothing, this could equal means [of]

sourcing and production that do not pollute through the process of manufacture and do not

deplete non-renewable resources. In most cases the reasons why we have problems with the

fashion industry nowadays is because of the movement of the world. We have created fast

fashion and people are starting to become more aware of their surroundings and the people that

occupy them. Jobs have become very strict on what they want their employees to wear and most

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treat themselves to the highest degree of brands which ends up turning the wheel of a less

sustainable world again. The Ethical Fashion Institute is a company that works on partnering up

with small companies around the world to conserve resources and help/save basic needs of

people in the world who dont have the essentials.

"Ethical Fashion Initiative | Ethical Manufacturing." ITC Ethical Manufacturing Comments.

Ethical Fashion Initiative, n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2016.

Emilie. "Issues in Ethical Fashion." The Green Eye of Fashion A Blog about Ethical Fashion.

The Green Eye of Fashion, 29 Dec. 2012. Web. 14 Nov. 2016.

(645), Kayla M Ortiz. "The Fashion Revolution." The Fashion Revolution (2015): 1-22. The

Fashion Revolution. Weebly. Web.

"Eco Fashion Talk." Eco Fashion Talk. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2016.

These next few sources are mostly explaining the ways we can fix ethical fashion in a smaller

more personal way. Steps to take on a daily basis and other everyday nifty tricks and stores to

shop at if you really want to feel comfortable with your purchases. Reducing you fashion

footprint as one article was titled gave many tips on what to do. Shopping at thrift stores,

although it may seem like a hassle, can turn out to be very rewarding and easy on the wallet. A

major component that I noticed throughout all these websites was finding ethically aware fashion

brands. A lot of them either said to do the research and look some good brands up or even gave a

list of what brands are the best to buy from when focusing on your fashion footprint. The

research on all of the brands you shop for on the daily could be very informing. Where does X

Company make my clothes? Who makes them? What country is their brand made in? Many of

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todays most popular stores do not make their clothes in the U.S. and in fact keep relying on

other countries who dont monitor large companies that have child labor to get their clothes for

them.

Siegle, Lucy. "Five Ways to Build an Ethical Wardrobe." The Guardian. Guardian News and

Media, 17 May 2015. Web. 14 Nov. 2016.

Dougher, Kelly. "How to Shop Ethically: 10 Tips for Reducing Your Fashion Footprint, Now!"

FASHION Magazine How to Shop Ethically 10 Tips for Reducing Your Fashion Footprint Now

Comments. FASHION, 23 June 2016. Web. 14 Nov. 2016.

Taylor, Alicia. "The Ethical Fashionista's Guide To Spring 2016." RSS. Gather&See, n.d. Web.

14 Nov. 2016.

"Sweatshops." Green America's Ending Program: What You Can Do. Green America, n.d. Web.

14 Nov. 2016.

These websites show different companies that ethically help around the world. Along with the

companies they showcase as well different items that the company offers. A lot of the companies

are actually foreign which was a little surprising but at the same time it wasnt. Most of the

companies are selling items that are in the U.K. In an interview with Linda Loudermilk, who is a

designer, she said she did a show at the Trocadero and it was stunning [but she] wasnt happy

because [she] wasnt feeding her soul. She wasnt making items that did anything besides be

worn as a pretty article of clothing. A lot of artist and designers have backstories behind what

they make and they want to showcase not only their clothing but what it stands for and why it is

important to look at and wear. The designers that work with companies that think about the

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ethical and sustainable side effects of fashion are working on doing more than just making

clothing. They focus on a larger picture and these websites showcase clothing in stores that are

focused on the world instead of just the community they sell clothes too.

Biddlecombe, Sarah. 10 Affordable Ethical Fashion Brands You Need to Know About. Stylist,

15 Apr. 2015.

These websites are based on the effects of ethical fashion. Most of the major companies around

the world use foreign labor to manufacture the clothes they make on a daily basis. In Bangladesh,

a garment factory collapsed and killed over 1,000 people. The building itself started to fall apart

starting with the walls and going down. The detrimental effects of the fashion industry and the

schemes that go on underneath all of the gold wrapping paper is that peoples lives are in the

hands of the fashion industry. Not just on the workforce but in the environmental aspect as well.

Lazero, Fred De Sam. "Questions Linger a Year after Bangladesh's Garment Factory Collapse."

PBS. PBS, 9 Apr. 2014. Web. 15 Nov. 2016.

Moulds, Josephine. "Child Labour in the Fashion Supply Chain." UNICEF. Guardian News and

Media, n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2016.

Burns, Angela. "The Impact of the Economic Downturn on the Textile and Fashion

Designermaker in Northern Ireland." The Impact of the Economic Downturn on the Textile and

Fashion Designer- Maker in Northern Ireland (n.d.): n. pag. Web.

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Changing the Trends: A New Line of Work

Would media ads about unhealthy jobs and people, who live in foreign countries without

effective manufacturing regulations, show the world that there is a problem with the ethical

standards of the production of fashion? The fashion industry is full of misleading companies and

advertisements as well as dirty schemes that go against any actual ethical code that the rest of the

world has deemed as rules. The problems of ethical fashion that can also help globalization are

based in the countries around the world that dont monitor major companies that ship out

products to other places for ideals such as fast fashion. The steps the world can take to fix the

issue can labeled simply as: reduce, reuse, and recycle. Reducing the amount of clothes we make

can substantially save the resources and in fact give more resources to the things that truly

matter. Reusing clothes is a great way to introduce new styles. Recycling clothes is how we save

the environment. New jobs can be created out all of this. Globally the fashion industry can make

a turn around and become this big circle of giving back and helping. A globalized fashion world

is what we need to not only save resources but save lives. The workers who lose their lives over

matters of making a shirt to ship off to unknown places is unfair, unethical, and not a good

enough reason to just want cheaper clothes. The fashion industry is crumbling under the

immense pressure of social media and the growing trends of today and for the future. Through

changing of the global perspectives and adding to new businesses, the ethical industry of fashion

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and the overall sustainable world that we can create will help humanity in the long run as well as

making the industry more helpful and global to make a complete cycle that would help the world

overall.

Fast fashion is a rising trend that is tearing down all humane aspects of working in the

production industry. It has arisen because of the quickly changing fashion world. Runways are

widely what fashion designers use to showcase new lines and upcoming clothes for the season.

Fashion shows used to be very private. Only elites of the fashion industry could watch these

shows, as well as only a few reporters were able to see the new designs. In more recent times,

with the technology age, fashion shows have become open to the public. People who dont

necessarily follow the fashion industry news can watch the shows whenever they want. The

result of this publication of the new trends has been severe. Stores that are popular, take the

trends off of the runway immediately and turn them into styles for teens. This causes a plethora

of clothes to be made just for one season. Fast fashion has made a huge statement and image for

the industry, the stores, and the standards of young children everywhere. Overall, the fashion

industry has grown exponentially and the amount of clothes being made all over the world has

increased. 41.3 million tons of fiber was accounted for in 2010 by Chinas textile industry and

was the total for the world's population (Breyer). With even more clothes being made because of

the fashion industry, there is serious questions that need to be asked. Where exactly is the

clothing being made? Who is making the clothes and how? That answer lies in the factories

overseas.

Employment in the United States apparel manufacturing has been steadily declining for over two

decades. From 900,000 to 150,000, 80%, of the jobs in just that industry alone are now gone. It

has moved overseas, because paying for the labor of making the clothes is cheaper. The people

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that are making these clothes are underpaid, in terrible conditions, and work sometimes over a 24

hour period. The ethics of fashion has widely become more arguable because brands like GAP

are not watching over who they ship from and how they manufacture the clothes that are ordered.

This has been a reoccurring problem with many companies. They are found to be getting their

clothes from places where the people who are making the clothes are not in conditions anyone

would want to work in. The ethical fashion term is controversial. According to one source the

word was described as an umbrella term meaning it covered a wide range of topics and with

many variations (Emilie). In this paper, i will be using it in the context for the working

conditions. The workforce has changed drastically. Compare the United States in 1960 to now.

Then, an American household spent over 10% of its income on buying clothing. Along with that

over 90% of those clothes were made in the U.S. today the average American household has

about 70 outfits per person and roughly 2% is made in the U.S. today (Vatz). Most commonly the

workforce for manufacturing most clothing today has been relocated to developing countries

where it is cheapest. The good aspect of putting the manufacturing in developing countries is the

people who don't have jobs, can get them. But the payment of these workers is usually not

enough to provide for their families and even just themselves. The well-known minimum wage

of the U.S. is $7.25. In other countries the minimum wage is significantly lower. In Thailand it is

1.48, in the Philippines it is .69 cents and in China only .67 cents (Wong). The physical and

psychological factors of working in these conditions is detrimental to the health of the women,

men and even children that work day and night strenuously making clothes. The hardest part for

most children to think about is the fact that some kids are making clothes that would fit them.

They are making clothes, for other children the same size as them. It seems very unfair that most

of these people struggle for everyday needs yet they make the basic necessities for everyone else.

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Many of the girls who go to work for these places, go for a decent pay. They are falsely promised

suitable wages and work long hours for these illegal companies. The cheap labor is exactly what

big companies want to use. According to one source, managers talk to children's parents about

coming to work for them and in exchange they would get a well-paid job, comfortable

accommodation, three nutritious meals a day and opportunities for training and schooling, as

well as a lump sum payment at the end of three years (Seigle). Unfortunately, deals like this are

fake. Their children go to work under horrendous conditions and which can possibly be

considered as extreme child labor. These kids and parents make shoes, shirts, rugs, toys and other

basic things. Approximately 75% of Pakistans carpet weavers are girls under 14 (Sweatshops).

One example for the effects of this can be seen in Bangladesh. A huge factory collapse happened

in April of 2013 causing over 1.000 lives to be lost in the Rana Plaza many were concerned with

cracks that started appearing in the walls of the eight-story building. The manager however

ordered the workers to finish their transactions and then leave the building for reparations. Later,

the building collapsed and many of the workers had not left. The work ethic comes before the

actual safety of most of the workers. They have to get the orders finished no matter how long it

takes. In turn causing their hours to be longer and the facilities that they work in to be abused

(Lazero). In another trip to these factories, one man saw that there had to be a certain amount of

fire extinguishers on each floor but in the places where they were supposed to be, there was

nothing there. The safety of these people is put last behind the entire industry, and what most

people don't think about as they buy their clothes is that people's lives are in the hands of the

factories, and the entire fashion workload.

*insert transition into globalization*

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A solution to a more globalized economy dealing with fashion deals with companies in the

United States and overseas. In total there are about 5 stages to a shirt: produce, market, buy,

wear, throw-away. What if that process could be changed into produce, market, buy, wear, give?

So many clothes are made for one-use situations, when there can be a multi-use market for all

different types of clothing. Some companies like Goodwill and Red Cross send their clothes

across the globe to different places, where they don't necessarily have the resources to make

clothes. This losses some of the authenticity from many cultures around the world. That also

stems into a completely different topic about losing cultural in the sharing of clothes. Countries

lose jobs as a result of used clothes being sent over, the culture dissipates. Although this is one of

the many problems of global fashion and can be researched further, it is not the main focus of

this paper. Mainly, it just shows that everything with fashion and overseas is all connected.

Everything is possible because the effect of something else. It is all one big cycle. Which is why

we should have more companies that give back. There is a company that sells book bags that are

made out of fabric from small businesses in different countries. Taaluma Totes has ambassadors

that travel the world and go to small businesses and buy a bunch of their fabric. Those people

then send the fabric the back to the U.S, where adults with disabilities make them into book bags.

They make a limited amount of book bags from all of the fabric so each one is special and one of

a kind. They send 20% of all the profit made from the bags back to the original company they

bought the fabric from. They get fabric from all over the world and many small business have

already benefited from their help. H&M is a company that has started to help with the ethical and

sustainable fashion issues. They are now focusing more sustainable clothing options. Organic

cotton, is their only focus but they want to make the world a healthier place. They started with

them and now they can give others the option to start doing the same. There are little steps

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everyone can take to ensure that we are keeping our planet. Some tips would be to only buy an

item if you plan to wear it more than 30 times. Of course, that number is a little high, but the

meaning still is the same. Don't buy an item, if you really won't put good use to it. Put your

money into clothes that can go through a few seasons. Mostly just find clothes that are long-

lasting, good for multiple types of weather, and look for brands that help with the environment

and the earth as a whole. The major stores that everyone goes to for their clothes can make a

difference by just switching to better fibers for their clothes, and to not use harsh chemicals when

in the manufacturing process. Of course all of this takes time, but the main point is we shouldn't

abuse the place we live on and the people that we live with.

In conclusion, fast fashion has changed the industry forever. Due to the media and the

technology spike of the 21st century, even more clothes are being made. This in turn is the cause

of natural resource depletion. It also brings up the topic of ethical manufacturing of the clothes

that are brought to the U.S. since clothes are just not made in the United States that much

anymore. As stated before through changing of the global perspectives and adding to new

businesses, the ethical industry of fashion and the overall sustainable world that we can create

will help humanity in the long run as well as making the industry more helpful and global to

make a complete cycle that would help the world overall. Some may say that fast fashion is

helping the world emerge with new and trendy fashions for everyone. That the world as a whole

is opening its creative window and exploring different and those can in turn may create outlets

for the world to express universal positivity. Also some people may think that giving the jobs to

foreign developing countries need the jobs more than some of the people in the United States

need them. While some of the workers are benefitting from their jobs, most are stuck in

physically and psychologically abused places. For the future, the United States and other

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developed countries can start creating a more open workforce for the citizens of that country. So

more jobs can go to the homeland workforce. Also, more efforts can be made to start helping the

environment and save more of the natural resources we use so much of. Everyday acts that can

be made into habits, such as buying staple clothing items that can last a long time can make a

difference in the long run.

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Abstract

This paper summarizes fast fashion and the effects it can have on ethics and the overall resources

of the earth. Fast fashion is a trend that has recently started and has impacted the way the world

manufactures and markets its clothing. The biggest outcome of it has lead to a strong increase in

the amount of clothing that the global market produces in order to keep up with the ever-

changing trends of today. The ethical effects has lead to more people in worsening conditions

with deaths on the rise due to unsafe, unsanitary, and extremely unacceptable work

environments. Countries like cheap labor, but do they see what impact on the people it is

making? There are pros and cons to the overseas labor that countries use but when lives are being

lost due to the dangerous conditions of where they are, then we need to take action and help.

Small impacts from people around the world everyday can make a huge difference on how the

world tuns and how maybe the world can be changed from the lasting changes of less fast

fashion and more production in developed countries such as the United States.

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Works Cited

(645), Kayla M Ortiz. The Fashion Revolution . The Fashion Revolution, 2015, pp. 122.

ethicalfashiontoday.weebly.com/.

Biddlecombe, Sarah. 10 Affordable Ethical Fashion Brands You Need to Know About.

Stylist, 15 Apr. 2015.

Breyer, Melissa. 25 Shocking Fashion Industry Statistics. TreeHugger, TreeHugger , 11

Sept. 2012, www.treehugger.com/sustainable-fashion/25-shocking-fashion-industry-

statistics.html.

Burns, Angela. The Impact of the Economic Downturn on the Textile and Fashion

Designermaker in Northern Ireland. The Impact of the Economic Downturn on the Textile and

Fashion Designer- Maker in Northern Ireland.

Dougher , Kelly. How to Shop Ethically: 10 Tips for Reducing Your Fashion Footprint,

Now! FASHION Magazine How to Shop Ethically 10 Tips for Reducing Your Fashion Footprint

Now Comments, FASHION, 23 June 2016, fashionmagazine.com/fashion/how-to-shop-

ethically/.

Eco Fashion Talk. Eco Fashion Talk, www.ecofashiontalk.com/bio/.

Emilie. Issues in Ethical Fashion. The Green Eye of Fashion A Blog about Ethical

Fashion, The Green Eye of Fashion , 29 Dec. 2012, www.thegreeneyeoffashion.com/issues-in-

ethical-fashion/.

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Ethical Fashion Initiative | Ethical Manufacturing. ITC Ethical Manufacturing Comments,

Ethical Fashion Initiative , ethicalfashioninitiative.org/ethical-manufacturing/.

Lazero , Fred De Sam. Questions Linger a Year after Bangladesh's Garment Factory

Collapse. PBS, PBS, 9 Apr. 2014, www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/questions-linger-after-

bangladeshs-garment-factory-collapse/.

Moulds , Josephine. Child Labour in the Fashion Supply Chain. UNICEF , Guardian

News and Media, labs.theguardian.com/unicef-child-labour/.

Siegle, Lucy. Five Ways to Build an Ethical Wardrobe. The Guardian, Guardian News

and Media, 17 May 2015, www.theguardian.com/fashion/2015/may/17/five-ways-to-build-an-

ethical-wardrobe.

Sweatshops and Child Labor. Sweatshops and Child Labor, Vegan Sweatshop ,

www.veganpeace.com/sweatshops/sweatshops_and_child_labor.htm.

Sweatshops. Green America's Ending Program: What You Can Do, Green America ,

www.greenamerica.org/programs/sweatshops/whatyoucando/.

Taylor , Alicia. The Ethical Fashionista's Guide To Spring 2016. RSS, Gather&See,

www.thegoodtrade.com/features/spring-2016-trends-for-the-ethical-fashionista.

Vatz, Stephanie. Why America Stopped Making Its Own Clothes. The Lowdown,

KOED News , 24 May 2013, ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/2013/05/24/madeinamerica/.

Wong , Annabelle. Two Faces of Economic Development: The Ethical Controversy

Surrounding U.S.-Related Sweatshops in Developing Asian Countries. Global Ethics Network,

Global Ethical Network , 1 May 2013, www.globalethicsnetwork.org/profiles/blogs/two-faces-

of-economic-development-the-ethical-controversy.

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