Ethical Fashion Essay
What role, if any, does ethics play in the fashion/design industry? Ethical fashion means fashion which takes into consideration the people behind the clothes we wear, as well as the environment. When you buy some clothes, you may not consider twice about where it was originally made, by whom and under what conditions. These days people like fast fashion. Fast fashion means fashion that is fast. In other words, these clothes adapt to the latest trends quickly. It gives people satisfaction using their mentality that they want to bargain. However, we should think about how can they be sold at a cheap price. Maybe fast fashion helps to boost the fashion industry in a short time but It has a lot of side effects environmentally. At first, fast fashion absolutely causes pollution. In a process of manufacture, making cotton has an effect on using a vast amount of chemicals and water. For example, The Aral Sea has begun to undergo a process of desertification. Growing cotton is one of the main reason of Aral’s loss.
In addition, Pesticides have used 54% annually in India which is one of the largest cotton farms. Perilous pesticides associated with the cotton production make water pollution. Moreover, Child labourers are exposed to the risk of pesticides through participation in cotton production. That is why it is important to keep a slow fashion(opposite of fast fashion)in our life. Secondly, fast fashion also damages labor environment. The power of sweatshops still exists everywhere in the world. They have no regard for worker’s rights. It happens not only Indian workers but also Latino workers. For instance, Aracely who is an immigrant from Spain has worked in the sweatshops of Los Angeles. She should know the language but this is a luxury for her.
She earns only $80 in week averagely. It can’t be stretched into a living wage. When Aracely and her co-workers asked for time off on Good Friday to attend church, the owner said: “Does God give you money? If you don’t want to work, just tell me. I will find others. ” They look like exactly “modern slavery”. In Conclusion, these reasons are enough to explain how many problems fast fashion has. Fast fashion impacts circumstances and other people who work for the fashion industry socially. The fashion industry does not need to be this way. Recently, many companies are trying to find ways to produce eco-friendly clothes. In addition, shopper called the Green Sumer increases steadily. Although it is too hard that fashion consumers give up to the bargain, we also can do a lot by taking a more ethical approach. This is a good way to go for the fashion industry now and forever. Presessional Academic English Programme 2010 Unconditional Ethical Fashion A sample of British designer Mark Liu’s ‘zero waste fashion.
Reference
- http://www.fairfashion.info/de/what.html
- http://www.ethicalfashionforum.com
- http://www.jfoundation.org/Environmental Justice Foundation.
- http://www.ejfoundation.org/page332.html
- http://www. ejfoundation.org/page334.html
- Orexca.com. (n. d). The History of the Aral Sea. Retrieved from http://www.orexca. com/aral_sea.html Chamberlain. G. (2010)
- Revealed: Gap, Next, and M. The guardian. The observer. 8th of August. Ross. A. (Ed. ). (May 1997).
- No Sweat. Mort. J. (n. d. ). Sweatshop workers speak out. In Ross. A. (Ed. ). (May 1997). No Sweat.
