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Fashion is one of the most often consumed commodities. It is something we find daily in our lives. Major fashion companies have, in recent years, become more ecologically conscious in order to serve a consumer base that has become fixated on sustainability. These companies are at the same time growing year-over-year exploiting this idea.
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The era of globalization has affected the fashion industry through the production, distribution and marketing channels. Sustainable fashion is being witnessed as global a movement of shifting the fashion system towards greater ecological integrity and social justice.
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In the developed world, we take it for granted that every place of work guarantees the cover of basic needs. This includes food, shelter and a balance work & life. But this is far from being the rule in some parts of the world and is a particularly stark challenge in developing countries, home to over 1 billion people globally.
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Sustainability and growth remain inherently incompatible. To maintain growth, something must be consumed. It has become increasingly clear in the last several years that this growth has been at the expense of the worlds poor and vulnerable.
Intro
'Sustainable development has been defined as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.' - United Nations
Global Sustainability
The United Nations has identified goals to help us all work towards a sustainable global future. These goals were ratified by the UN in 2015. The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) represent 17 ways that global entities can work towards providing that future. The scope of the SDGS range from social considerations of food and education to more material concerns of emissions and waste. Sustainability for the UN can be defined roughly as not stealing from tomorrow to pay for things today. The fashion industry and its labor practices take away life and liberty from a global population to fuel growth abroad. Is it possible for something to be sustainable at the cost of human misery?
Sustainability in Fashion
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DECENT WORK AND ECONOMIC GROWTH
INDUSTRY INNOVATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE
REDUCE INEQUALITIES
RESPONSIBLE CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION
CLIMATE ACTION
LIFE ON LAND
Sustainability Goals Score Card
The fashion industry cannot respond to all of the SDGs. Rather they are able to respond to only a few. Mostly those related to material waste, labor and carbon reduction.
Fast Fashion
Fast Fashion can be defined as inexpensive clothing produced rapidly by mass-market retailers in response to the latest trends.
Fast Fashion has become very popular due to its fast paced production and versatility, its reachable price range to the middle class and the marketing agenda that surrounds it.
Although fast fashion makes shopping for clothes more affordable, but it comes at an environmental cost.
Market Segment
The United States represents one of the largest apparel markets in the world. Focusing on this market we are clearly able to see the flow of how exploitation from elsewhere flows into one place.
Share of U.S. Apparel Market Companies ($M 2017)
Accessible fashion (fast fashion) represents one of the most popular segments. With 3 of the 5 brands leading in the top 10 for the fashion hashtag in the US and representing 4% of all sales collectively. A look at their impact is indicative of the market as a whole.
Sustainability as defined by Fashion
Top brands in fast fashion claim to dedicate themselves to various Sustainable Development Goals defined by the United Nations (UN SDG). Ensuring sustainable materials, environmentally conscious processing systems, decent work conditions, good health and well being, and lowering carbon emissions are the most popular goals for top fashion brands. While six of the top brands in middle fashion claim to ensure decent working conditions, the same six companies manufacture merchandise in countries where wages are 2% of cost of living.
Paying for Sustainability
66% of customers will pay a premium for a sustainable agenda
37% will pay 10% more for sustainable fashion products
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Greenwashing: (adj.)
Disinformation disseminate by an organization so as to present an environmentally responsible public image. Fast fashion companies run marketing campaigns to inflate the environmental benefits of their products. A company based on mass production cannot brand themselves as 'eco-friendly', this promotes false information to mislead customers. Major fashion brands employ 'green' buzzwords to sell the idea of environmental responsibility.
Greenwashing
There is a significant number of people that are willing to pay a premium for things they view as sustainable. The idea of consuming 'sustainable' products gives people the feeling of having made a difference, when in reality they have just added to the problem.
Globally slavery remains a problem. Modern slavery forces people to the very edges of society, providing not enough to get by, unless they work more hours than is healthy. The conditions that people find themselves in risks life and limb and long hours only increase these risks. Many find themselves trapped in this cycle in the years most important to their development. This along with continued exposure to toxins and rugged manual labor robs them of a future in order to lower supply chain costs.
Modern Slavery
Modern Slavery Rates Worldwide
H&M: Case Study
H&M’s marketing has made a noticeable shift in their concern for the environment through the introduction of the Conscious clothing line in 2010. Overall, this brand pushes a green aesthetic and fails to prove the significance of their sustainability claims while promoting being “environmentally responsible” merchandise to misled customers.
H&M Factories Worldwide
H&M clusters its factories in developing countries such as Bangladesh, China and India. While there are H&M stores in these countries there are intense spatial mismatches. In China in particular H&M stores are located in the major cities of Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen while manufacturing is located in the south western provinces. A fact covered up by the lack of detail in their factory reporting data.
H&M Stores Worldwide
H&M locates its stores in cities that are highly cosmopolitan with relatively high amounts of wealth. We see large aggregations in places like Europe, the United States and Japan. While places where their production is prominent are excluded.
Conlusion
While the fashion industry creates an opaque structure that makes understanding its total impact on labor complicated. Long supply chains and distributed labor contracts make the reality difficult to navigate. What is clear is that there is a disjoint between the places people consume apparel and the places it is consumed. There is also a rising rate at which, globally, people are underemployed or find themselves in economically precarious situations. Across the fast fashion market segment there is a rising cost of goods sold, which could indicate a rising cost of labor. This is meaningfully depriving people of the ability to lead a high quality life.
As a finding we are able to show that across the segment as a focus on sustainability has increased growth has stagnated or reversed. The need to adhere to the SDGs and serve, even in a performative way, shows that one cannot have sustainability while seeing year over year growth. There is an inherent incompatibility between growth and sustainability. To grow is to consume, to be sustainable is to accept that there are limits and a plateau is inevitable. While attempts to be materially sustainable are laudable. There is still a great deal to do to prevent the robbing of the future from a marginalized population.
We call on the fashion industry to be more transparent and open with their data so that all may know they are doing their part meaningfully.
Team
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Zachary Lancaster (GT Ph.D Architecture)
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Bella Nunez (GT ISYE)
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Viviana Osorio (GT ISYE)
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Eleanna Panagoulia (GT Ph.D Architecture)
AW Collection
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