Theme Reflection (sustainability fast fashion)
The growth of fast fashion has always been a concern in terms of sustainability, especially when it comes to the damages to environment. It is consoling to note that there are fashion firms in the UK who are making attempts to attain sustainability targets set by the fashion industry (House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee 2019: 8). M&S, for instance, is looking forward to obtaining about 50 important raw materials from sustainable sources by the year 2025. Primark also has the vision of sourcing all the cotton in their supply chain in a sustainable way (House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee 2019: 8). Primark, to achieve this vision, has established a sustainable cotton program with CottonConnect. ASOS has also made its commitment to ensure that about 60% of all its raw materials are obtained from sustainable sources by 2020 (House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee 2019: 8). It is evident here that some firms in the fashion industry have become aware of the need for sustainability in the progress of the fashion industry.
Sources indicate that the matters of sustainability in the fashion industry have been of serious concern for about four decades (Thorisdottir and Johannsdottir 2019: 2). In this, there have been attempts by governments and organizations to find ways and strategies in making the industry sustainable. This is to say that the significance of the sector to society is great, and that is why its sustainability is critical to firms and political leaders (Drexhage and Murphy 2010: 1).
I do acknowledge how the fast fashion has a great impact on the traditional industry in terms of its feature – a keen and accurate understanding of fashion. It also takes only a few days to incorporate the elements into its own design which exists on the stage or garments worn by the celebrities and influencers within quite a short time. Before, I always thought this kind of mode was completely opposite of traditional fashion, as the products of traditional fashion industry cannot reach such a fast speed. Under the traditional production mode, the product renewal cycle is 4-12 months, and the new products are usually delivered on a seasonal basis. But what we learnt during better lives lessons changed my mind, especially an article our tutor shared with us, named “Gucci’s Global Head of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Renée Tirado Is the Outsider Fashion Needs” (Bobb 2019) really grabbed my eyes. For now, due to the impact of Coronavirus, it has a huge blow to the industry’s economic side. Factories were forced to lockdown and the purchasing power sharply declined. During the quarantine, experts were starting to wonder whether do we really need so much of clothes. Is 6 seasons a year too much for consumers? Many influencers have pointed out that most of their clothes have only been wore by once, and it has been left in their closet.
I relate it to my work in the future. After exploring the theme of fast sustainability, it did change the way I look at fashion industry in some degree. Some audience would think that it is not my responsibility to keep the industry sustainable, it is company’s. However, for me I would notice this issue more frequently, because individual’s behavior influences the whole industry a lot.