Blog Post 1
I was very inspired by the ‘Power’ lecture by Julia Crewe, as it opened my eyes to a wider scope of thinking in terms of social responsibility. In this blog post I will discuss the relationship between power and fast fashion, linking to Kate Fletcher’s ‘Nature’ lecture, as fast fashion has a huge impact on our environment. The fashion industry is responsible for 10% of all man-made carbon emissions, producing an incredible 1.7 billion tons of CO2 per year. Fast fashion has become very prominent in recent years, with clothing becoming more affordable and worse in quality. There is this need we have for the next best thing, and I am sure you can admit to buying a new outfit for an occasion and never wearing it again. As human beings we like to point the finger and place blame, however a lot of the time you are at least partly to blame. Having said that, if we contain the power to negatively impact our planet, we also contain the power to provoke positive change.
So, who is ultimately to blame for the negative effects the fashion industry causes? It could be the multi-billionaire CEOs of successful clothing brands; whose personal wealth virtually enslaves others with poor working conditions/rights. In fact, it takes 4 days for a CEO to earn what a Bangladeshi garment worker would earn in a lifetime. They hold enormous amounts of power to change the direction of the fashion industry, however their wealth is clearly not a reflection of their intelligence. It could be the media, which is extremely present in our everyday lives and influences our decisions. It is estimated that the average American encounters at least 4,000 adverts per day which is an astonishing figure.
Does the power lie with the consumer? Yes, you can be influenced by the media and your friends and the gorgeous red dress you scrolled past on Instagram that you ‘need’ in your life, but ultimately you have the power whether to buy it or not. ‘The Buyerarchy of Needs’ by Sarah Lazarovic suggests that before buying you should use what you have, borrow, swap, thrift then make. If every person followed this before buying new clothes, the consumption of fashion (which has quadrupled in the last 20 years) would massively decrease. We must think more sustainably when we purchase clothes and do our bit to reduce the negative effects of fast fashion on our planet, because we have the power!
Crewe, J., 2020. Lecture 1: Power.
Fletcher, K., 2020. Lecture 5: Nature.
OilPrice.com. (2020). How Much Oil Does The $1.5 Trillion Fashion Industry Use? | OilPrice.com. [online] Available at: https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/How-Much-Oil-Does-The-15-Trillion-Fashion-Industry-Use.html [Accessed 23 Feb. 2020].
Marshall, R. (2020). How Many Ads Do You See in One Day?. [online] Red Crow Marketing. Available at: https://www.redcrowmarketing.com/2015/09/10/many-ads-see-one-day/ [Accessed 25 Feb. 2020].
Sarahl.com. (2020). [online] Available at: https://www.sarahl.com/ [Accessed 25 Feb. 2020].
7th May 2020 @ 11:27 am
After reading Alice’s blog post I enjoyed the informative information and agree with everything she has stated. She has highlighted key facts and figure to make her blog post more compelling. It motivates me to convert to being more sustainable in relation to fashion.
I consider Alice’s blog post to include diversity. She addresses high class multi-billionaire CEO’s, to low class workers in Bangladesh and includes a fact about how much the average American watches adverts concluding she has included a variety of diverse people.
Alice goes in depth about social responsibility communicating about Fast Fashion. She incorporates all the key information to understand what Fast Fashion is and even makes you feel guilty in her blog post for not being more socially responsible. How she explains that we as humans point the finger and blame to other people is unfortunately true, and we as individuals should own up to this. Anyone in Fast Fashion who contributes to the production of the clothes, advertising and purchasing are in the wrong. It’s always easier said than done to buy only sustainable clothes however.
Alice refers to sustainability when mentioning Sarah Lazarovic’s ‘The Buyerarchy of Needs’ to use the clothing you have, borrow, swap, thrift then make. I deem this was key information to put into her blog post to help us understand how we can be sustainable. One of her facts express how the consumption of fashion has quadrupled in the past 20 years is a frightening ideal. In executing this it proves how unsustainable humans are. Her last sentence in her blog post expressing that we ‘have the power’ is very motivation. It does make me want to stop and have a think about what I am doing wrong as an individual. Maybe there are accounts on social media that I want to unfollow now as they aren’t sustainable. Her blog post is compelling and made me question myself.
In conclusion Alice’s blog post is extremely well written with motivation and energy. She has included all relevant information for diversity, social responsibility and sustainability.