Emma's EPQ

As part of my project, I am going to do some primary research to hopefully find out about how brands produce clothes and how this can be more sustainable. To do this, I am going to interview people who work in the fashion industry, particularly people who work in sustainability or are creating sustainable brands. I am also going to email fast fashion brands to ask about what they are doing to be more sustainable so that I can compare their responses to the other information I find about their brand to see whether they are being transparent about sustainability.

I have researched how some of the most popular fashion brands, for example Primark, PrettyLittleThing and Missguided, describe their own ethics so that I can look at how companies present themselves. In this research, I found that PrettyLittleThing made being a fast fashion company a positive thing in their About Us section, saying that 'Nothing to wear dilemmas are gone for good' and that 'This is fast fashion accelerated.' Interestingly, both PrettyLittleThing and Missguided both didn't have an ethics section on their websites. which means that consumers can't be informed about the companies that they're buying from. I found that H&M and Primark both have extensive Ethics and Sustainability sections on their websites, however, they both presented what they're doing in positive ways. These websites are useful, however, I am aware that these sites will be biased as the companies will want to present their brand positively so that people will b...

Pebble Magazine is a free online magazine that gives tips and information on ethical living. They often talk about fast fashion and reducing the impact of the clothes you buy. In this piece of research, I have read multiple articles, for example 'How to give your wardrobe an ethical makeover' and  'Waste not, wear lots: 6 best ethical denim brands for every shape'   on their website. From this piece of research, I have been able to see the variety of ethical brands that are available. I have looked at the difference in price between the majority of these brands and other fashion retailers, showing that 'slow fashion' brands are usually inaccessible to a lot of people. This magazine has been a useful piece of research as it has allowed me to see the information that is given about ethical shopping. This should have been a reliable source as any statistics used are given a source however it is biased as it only shows the view that we shouldn't buy fast f...

What issues could my project present? What am I expecting to find out and what views do I already have on this topic? One issue with my project is that I already think that we need to shop more sustainably and pay worker's fairly which could make my research biased if I reject other viewpoints. My intention with this research is to provide a fair argument into whether we really need to shop more ethically and, if we do, whether this responsibility falls more to the consumer or to the brand. How will I make my research more objective? In order to make my research more objective, I am going to find evidence for my points to make sure that I'm not basing my findings on my own opinions. Also, I will look for opinions that are different to my own so that I can present both sides of the argument and make sure that I look at the reasons why companies aren't doing more for sustainability.

September - 16th - Find a variety of articles relating to fast fashion and make a list of them 23rd - Listen to, and make notes on, Radio 4 - The Morality of Fashion 30th - Look at how fast fashion companies promote themselves as fast fashion in positive ways October -  7th - Read Pebble Magazine   articles 14th - Look into the ethics of some fast fashion brands 21st - Listen to 'Fashion Fix' on BBC sounds app November - 4th - Start creating questionnaire and look into Good on You. 11th - Look at whether more expensive does usually = more sustainable and more ethical 18th - Do some research into to the role that social media/influencers have on the fast fashion industry. 25th - Look into the amount of clothes we buy, how much is wasted, the materials most commonly used etc. December - 2nd - Find out about the positive side of fast fashion - try to find blogs/examples of people who can only afford clothes because of this industry, makes fashion...