The Challenges Facing The Fashion Industry
By Molly Cluney
This is just a really short assignment I did for my course and I thought it would be beneficial to share it!
I believe there are many challenges facing the fashion industry in today's times. The first major challenge that strikes me is the way in which consumers, CEO's, and all stakeholders view the garment production process. By that, I mean we believe the production process is simply producing goods to equate the largest economic outcome with little to no regard for anything outside of cost and revenue.
What we fail to recognise is that social and environmental factors should be considered at the production stage to generate the best possible outcome for people, the planet, as well as profits!
“we believe the production process is simply producing goods to equate the largest economic outcome with little to no regard for anything outside of cost & revenue. ”
Producing garments, and any goods for that matter, should be carried out in a way that produces maximum profit (capitalism isn’t today’s fight and I acknowledge how big a problem it is but realistically, people are still money-hungry - most of us are! I’m choosing my battles) however this should not be the case if hitting maximum profits exploits fellow human beings and our planet. We must consider worker wellbeing and safety when producing goods. We must consider what materials are being used when producing goods ensuring they are not harming our planet and that they are of high quality so that their longevity is sufficient. This should all be carried out before any garment has begun to be manufactured. We must consider where all the excess material goes after it's finished with and how we can best put this by-product to good use. We must consider the amounts we are producing and wonder if it's all really necessary (again not even going to try and talk about capitalism but you catch my drift).
“We must consider worker wellbeing and safety when producing goods. We must consider what materials are being used when producing goods ensuring they are not harming our planet and that they are of high quality so that their longevity is sufficient.”
Social and environmental factors need to be taken into account not only in the production process (although severely important) but in all areas of the supply chain. Transportation is a huge factor in the fashion industry. Often materials or garments have travelled all over the world before getting sent to shops for selling. It's important for consumers to consider whether it's worth purchasing clothes with such a large carbon footprint built up before we have even bought them. It’s important for us to consider ‘can we source these clothes closer to home’ or ‘can we up-cycle something we already have’. This is just some food for thought. Of course, not everything can be up-cycled, sourced locally, or be second-hand, however, we can try!
It’s super easy to forget these things when we see clothes we like with a reasonable price tag because large corporations have us believing we are ‘getting a bargain’. It’s so easy to forget about the harm some of these goods are causing to the planet and of course the unsafe inhumane working conditions some garment workers experience every day. These garment workers are people just like you and me. No one was put on this planet to make me or anyone else look cool or trendy at the expense of their own health or often lives. A lot of this comes back to large corporations and it can be easy to adopt the ‘what can I do I’m only one person’ attitude. But we have to start somewhere and that somewhere has to be with us. If we speak about this enough and educate ourselves enough, our shopping habits will change along with us. Large companies will have no choice but to change their ways. I’m not attacking someone for buying fast fashion, it’s hard to avoid something that has been made so normalised by our society. It’s just important to educate ourselves! Sometimes you have to buy fast fashion and I just urge all of us as consumers to just be a bit more mindful about where we shop and who our money is going to.
“These garment workers are people just like you and me. No one was put on this planet to make me or anyone else look cool or trendy at the expense of their own health or often lives.”
This leads me to my next point and I believe it's the most important. We need to tackle our attitudes and beliefs towards consumption. This is something I am battling with and I believe everyone should be too. To put it simply, we want too much. Since the industrial revolution (bare with me, I am trying my hardest to keep this short but sometimes I ramble) we have spent generations upon generations working towards better technology to produce garments and producing them at a more rapid rate. This drive and ambition are unbelievable and should be encouraged. We should always strive for improvement within our society. But this should not be at the expense of our precious home or fellow people. Nearly all the time our primary drive for producing such mass amounts of clothing is money, with little regard for people or the planet. We, as a society, have a very unhealthy relationship with the overconsumption of goods, not just clothes. We believe it to be the norm to buy a top for €30 and wear it once with no thought given to who made it, what conditions they were under while doing so, or how many litres of water it took to make that top or where the excess dye from it went (It went into the sea). This is a harsh reality to face and I know I'm being blunt but if you wear clothes you are in the fashion industry so it's up to all of us to do our part. Our part begins with educating ourselves and shifting our focus away from quantity and move towards quality! Over-consumption is a vast subject and these few paragraphs barely even begin to cover it! It’s an article for another day. There is so much information available on this topic if you want to learn more! I would also recommend looking at the SDG’s, especially goal twelve, for oodles of info.
