Blog 2 Theme Reflection-Sustainability fast fashion
During the Better Lives units, we had learned the three main topics, which are diversity, social responsibility, and sustainability. After the lecture, I realise that sustainability would be the theme that might change how I work in the future. My chosen project is Fashion Journalism. I need to include different perspectives, source from reliable websites and collect various forms of data, like an interview, survey and poll. Hence, it is crucial to acquire a substantial amount of knowledge, so that fashion journal would propel the readers to make more sustainable decisions.
In Anna Fitzpatrick lecture, she mentioned there are 1,130,000 tonnes of cloth purchased in the UK, but 800,000t waste form UK clothing. As a result, a massive amount of clothes are being disposed of and not recycled, generating wastage in resources. The reason for the garment waste is fast fashion; fast fashion brands can quickly produce large-scale cheap clothing to meet the short-term trend of consumer fashion, but fast fashion is not sustainable and environmental-friendly. To illustrate, the CODO report mentioned “another shocking fact is that the production of fast fashion uses 8,000 different synthetic chemicals”, as chemicals are detrimental to our health and environment. Also, The “Global Fashion Agenda and the Boston Consulting Group” reported that the fashion industry is the second most polluting industry. Therefore, the research shows that the fashion industry wrecks havoc on our environment.
Fashion is made possible by nature, land, water, air, and animals. It is paramount that fashion journalists learn various avenues to a sustainable fashion future.
There are several ways to ameliorate the environmental effects of fast fashion; reusing, reducing, recycling, and redesign. Donate unwanted items to the charity shop for people in need so that the garment can be reused. Also, there are many clothes recycle stations; the garment can remake and become sustainable. Furthermore, buying a vintage or second-hand garment could help to make the fashion industry became sustainable. Last but not least, unfashionable clothing could be altered and redesigned to fit the current style.
The fashion brands should survey to understand peoples needs or interest in fashion garment, and only produce good quality clothes and design. Also, fashion journalism can connect to social media because many famous people will post their looks on social media. Most of the clothes are from luxury brands, and the fast-fashion can copy the design and sell it at a lower price. Fashion journals could potentially alter this behaviour pattern; the consumer should make a smart choice, reduce purchasing and prolonging their lifespan.
Therefore, I think sustainability would change how I work in the future, as fashion journals have an integral role in making our lives better.
Reference
“The Impact of Fast Fashion.” Codogirl.com, www.codogirl.com/blogs/news/the-impact-of-fast-fashion.
9th May 2020 @ 10:25 am
For my peer review, I’ve chosen to reflect upon Roulan Chen’s theme reflection. Roulan has an apparent viewpoint on sustainability, and they researched their blog post very thoroughly. The blog post shows a great understanding of sustainability, the effects of fast fashion and how this is a significant problem that the fashion industry must subdue.
While reading the blog post, I found the points that Roulan made, to be backed up by facts, which gave the post more substance. Their understanding of the effects of fast fashion on the environment and how this affects our daily lives is apparent.
They’ve reflected thoroughly upon several aspects of the better lives unit, including both lectures and the project. Roulan started off reflecting on their chosen project, fashion journalism, and how this has changed how they would work in the future. Then continued to reflect and discuss how the better lives theme, sustainability, would change the way they will work in the future.
Though this blog post is comprehensive, it would’ve been great to read about how the other two better lives themes would intersect with sustainability. For example, how sustainability and social responsibility could improve fast fashion factories and sweatshops. Also, how it is also a social responsibility to promote diversity in the industry (and world).
I agree with the point made on how one would help with sustainability, and how fashion brands should take responsibility in this matter. Including how sustainability, in reality, is a social responsibility would have been great. Also, including how all three themes, and the better lives unit, would change how you work in the future, would have been interesting to read.