Emma's EPQ

I interviewed a designer who is starting a sustainable clothing brand about the fashion industry and the difficulties in creating an ethical brand. These are her responses. Could you tell me some details about your background in the fashion industry?  I have worked in fashion since leaving university in 2001 - starting off working for a supplier, providing retail stores with a design service and production out of China and Bangladesh. From here i moved onto the retail side working for Arcadia for 5 years and then River island for another 4, freelancing for numerous brands in between.  I decided to start my own business supplying once again in 2013 which led to the Company Luna and Smith Ltd. I ran this for 6 years with a friend and we successfully supplied many the high street stores (Finery, Oliver bonus, Asos, River island amongst others).  What are the environmental issues facing fast fashion? What aren't the issues facing fast fashion - would be an eas...

ThredUp is an online second hand shop. They have recently brought out a ' Fashion Footprint Calculator ' where you can answer questions about how many clothes you buy and where from. There are facts about the carbon footprint of fashion next to each question. At the end, it tells you the amount of carbon emissions that come from what you buy and compares this to the 'average consumer'. It also gives tips on how you can reduce your environmental impact eg. by washing clothes on a cold wash. This is useful for consumers as they can see how to make easy changes that will reduce the impact of fashion on the environment.

Fashion Revolution is a group of people in the fashion industry and consumers who want to change how clothes are produced and sourced. It began in 2013 after the Rana Plaza disaster where 1138 people were killed when a clothing factory collapsed. Fashion Revolution Week is from the 20th-26th of April 2020. During this time, companies are encouraged to use the hashtag #imadeyourclothes to show the supply chain. Unlike some other organisations, Fashion Revolution doesn't advocate for boycotting fast fashion as they don't think this is an effective way of creating change. Fair Wear Foundation works for the rights of garment workers and is looking for ways to make fashion fairer for everyone. They do this by reviewing how brands solved issues with their suppliers. They also train workers and management and give workers the ability to make complaints when they aren't being treated fairly. Labour Behind the Label also campaigns to improve garment worker's conditions. ...

I read an article, 'Your brand new returns end up in landfill' , about how clothes that are bought online and are returned, don't always end up for sale again as the consumer thinks as they are sometimes put straight into landfill. When items are returned, it is more hassle for the company sort through them and have to list them as 'in stock' again so they sell them cheaply to discounters around the world (high carbon footprint) or just throw them away. I also read this article . From this I found that, in Canada, $46 billion of goods are returned every year and a lot of these products end up in landfill. It talks about how we often buy the same item in different sizes online and return the ones that don't fit. These returns aren't put back for sale as it costs the company more to check each return for faults and put it back for sale than it does the make the item. Burberry and H&M have both been found to burn their clothes. It also said that France is...

I want to look at whether the increase of fast fashion can be linked to the death of the high street. This article says that fast fashion is the 'go to approach' for brands as it gives the best profits. The majority of high street fashion brands have become fast fashion. It also said that fast fashion has made the high street more like an online store as speed is the most important thing for consumers. This was useful as it shows how the high street has changed because of fast fashion. As a contrasting view, I then read 'How fast fashion could save the high street' . This was written by a company that are 'specialists in retail and fashion recruitment' so it was quite biased towards presenting fast fashion as a positive as it would befit from this opinion. I found that this article wasn't very useful as it didn't really address fast fashions effect on the environment, however it did show the positives of fast fashion for some companies which is u...

Over the last 2 months I have been able to keep up with my timetable and I have done the research tasks that I have set myself. I've been able to find out more about sustainable clothing brands and look at the accessibility of fast fashion alternatives.  I have also started my Primary Research. Next, I want to find out more about how the fashion industry has developed into fast fashion.

I have already looked at the influence on social media influencers on the rise of fast fashion but I also want to research how/if celebrities promote sustainable fashion. First, I read an article about Jane Fonda's Last Purchase where she said she wasn't going to buy any more clothes in an effort to be more sustainable. This shows that fast fashion has be come something that people are more aware of and, by a celebrity joining the movement, encourages consumers to think more about what they buy. The  Green Carpet Fashion Awards promote and celebrating sustainable fashion. The celebrity Professor Green was part of a campaign with ecover that raised awareness about the amount of clothes that end up in landfill. It promoted the message that you should 'wash new life into old clothes' instead of throwing them away. This advert was shown on TV so is different to a lot of the other ways that celebrities have promoted slow/sustainable fashion as this had a much larger...