Emma's EPQ

I wanted to research whether consumers are willing to shop more sustainably or not so I read 'Could I go a year without buying any new clothes?' and 'Don't feed the monster! The people who have stopped buying new clothes' . 'Could I go a year without buying any new clothes? is written by a woman who decided not to buy new clothes for a year. She talks about how fashion has been a 'comfort blanket' for her but was also negative as she gave tooo much time to thinking about clothes. This article was a useful piece of research as it shows the positives of buying second hand (spending less money, not feeling that you have to buy something every time, appreciating clothes more) but also highlights some for the issues with second hand shopping (doesn't cater for all bodies, harder to find what you want). The article also gives tips for not buying fast fashion which helps other consumers. The other article,  'Don't feed the monster! The people ...

I read up to page 31 of The 2019 Ethical Fashion Report . From this, I found how companies can be rated on their ethical practices. It also highlighted different considerations within ethics that I hadn't heard about in my other research. The report was also useful as it compared the company's scores on the 2018 report to the new report, which shows the way that fast fashion is changing. The report was by the British Fashion Council which is a reliable source. These are my notes. ·        Population set to increase to 8.5 billion by 2030 which could lead to an increase (by 63%) from 62 million to 102 million tonnes in global textile production – equivalent to 500 billion t-shirts ·        Small and Medium enterprises make up half of fashion businesses and they often demonstrate how fashion can be done differently. They can create new environmentally friendly practices ·        SMEs can be ...

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...