Ethical And Sustainable Fashion

Running head: ETHICAL AND SUSTAINABLE FASHION
ETHICAL AND SUSTAINABLE FASHION
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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Discussion..................................................................................................................................3
Overview of the Fashion Industry..........................................................................................3
Historical Context of Sweatshop Culture...............................................................................5
Key Aspects of Sweatshop Culture........................................................................................7
Working Conditions...........................................................................................................7
Employee Rights and Freedom..........................................................................................8
Ethical Issues......................................................................................................................9
Social Issues.....................................................................................................................10
UN Sustainable Development Goals....................................................................................10
Corporate Responses to Sustainability in Fashion...............................................................12
Recommendations of Strategies...........................................................................................14
Conclusion................................................................................................................................15
Appendices...............................................................................................................................16
References................................................................................................................................19

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Introduction
The concept of sustainability in fashion pertains to the process of incorporating
changes within the scope of the products and system of fashion in order to bring about a
greater level of ecological integrity as well as social justice (Blewitt 2014). The purpose of
adopting sustainability in fashion pertains to not only the products or use of raw material and
other resources but also the means of production. In this regard, it may be noted that
sustainability in fashion includes the consideration of the varying perspectives of the
stakeholders, including the employees and workers, customers as well as the local and global
communities. Business organization operating in different industries across the world have
adopted sustainability in business activities so as to ensure the efficient management of
social, environmental as well as financial responsibilities and concerns of the stakeholders,
ultimately ensuring responsible and ethical business practices (Atkinson et al. 2014). The
ethics of sustainability entails the increase of concern and responsibility towards the society
and environment that we live in, so that the needs and interests of the future generations are
not compromised. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals have been designed in
order to highlight the importance of building a sustainable future for not only the
environment and global societies but also the future generations (Lu et al. 2015). The
collection of the seventeen developmental goals include important issues such as no poverty,
quality education, gender equality, decent work and economic growth and the like. These
goals towards sustainable development can be related to the fashion industry, which has also
adopted the concept of sustainability in its production processes. The essay will further focus
on the issue of sweatshop culture in the fashion industry and the aspects of sustainability and
ethics pertaining to it with respect to the United Nations Sustainable Developmental Goals.
Sweatshop can be defined as a workplace culture that incorporates poor, illegal and unhealthy
conditions of working for the employees or workers who are underpaid and made to work for

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long hours (Zwolinski 2007). This culture of sweatshops violates not only labor and wage
regulations but also the United Nations sustainability Developmental goal of decent work and
economic growth.
Discussion
Overview of the Fashion Industry
The fashion industry may be described as the globalized sector, which is involved in
the designing, production, manufacture, distribution and selling of clothing and accessories.
The fashion industry can be segmented into certain categories that include luxury clothing,
mainstream clothing, affordable luxury clothing, discount clothing and haute couture (Yuksel
2012). The industry is based on the operations of several individual and collective units
composed of designers, factory workers, tailors, publicists, models, textile developers, pattern
makers, sketch artists and the like. In this regard, it may be noted that the successful and
productive operation of the fashion industry is thereby dependent on the collaborative
operations and functions of these units. The operations of the fashion industry, like any other
industry in the world, are characterized by certain factors in the external business
environment. The macro-environments of the fashion industry is composed of the political,
economic, social, technological, environmental and legal factors which ultimately determine
the strategies that are to be adopted by the organizations or companies operating within the
scope of the fashion industry.
The political factors that may affect the business operations of organizations operating
in the fashion industry include the taxation and excise duties imposed by the different
governments of the world pertaining to the import and export of raw materials such as fabrics
and textiles. Among the economic factors which influence the operations of fashion
companies the primary are the purchasing power and disposable income of the targeted

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customers, employment rate of the countries in which the companies operate, and the
employment and wage regulations for the employees, staff and other workers (Bhardwaj and
Fairhurst 2010). The social factors affecting the business operations in the fashion industry
primarily include the changing tastes and preferences of the global customers, tendency of the
customers to follow or go against fashion trends adopted by celebrities, awareness of the
customers regarding current trends in the industries and the life-style of popular individuals
mostly from the entertainment sector. The technological factors influencing the operations of
the fashion industry include any advancements of digital printing technology, technologies
pertaining to development of textiles, embroideries, management and conduction of fashion
shows, accessibility of the targeted customers to the clothes and accessories through online
mediums, digital and print advertisement and the like (Varley et al. 2018). The
environmental factors affecting the fashion industry include the nature of raw materials used,
global regulations pertaining to the use of textiles using animal skin or fur and the protection
of endangered or rare species of animals (Mintel.com 2020). Other aspects to this factor
include environmental regulations pertaining to emission and waste control during the
production processes and awareness of the customers regarding ethical and sustainable means
of production (Yang, Song and Tong 2017). The legal factors affecting the operations in the
fashion industry include taxation and export restrictions, inflation rates in different countries
where the fashion companies operate, regulations pertaining the health and safety of the
employees and workers and laws regarding the maintenance of quality standards of the
products sold to the targeted customers.
In this regard, it may be mentioned that the fashion industry is required to keep into
consideration the above mentioned external factors that may influence the business
operations of the companies operating within its scope. Furthermore, it may also be noted that
the ever-changing tastes and preferences of the customers in the fashion industry requires the

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fashion companies to constantly engage in creativity and innovation in order to remain
competitive in the market (Marchi and Nardin 2014). This highly competitive business
environment in the fashion industry in turn requires the business organizations to maintain
certain standards and policies for their business operations. The provision of healthy and
cooperative business environments along with the protection of the rights and interests of the
employees, workers and other members of the organizations is also necessary, which must be
ensured by the organizations. However, several organizations in the fashion industry have
developed unfavorable and unhealthy working conditions for the employees, prioritizing only
the maximization of productivity and profitability of the organizations themselves.
Historical Context of Sweatshop Culture
The concept of sweatshops involves a workplace, which is constituted by socially
unacceptable, unhygienic or illegal conditions of working for the employees and staff. The
workers or employees working in sweatshops are typically required to provide their services
to the business organizations at minimum wages for long hours, which acts as a violation to
the established labor and wage laws. From a historical perspective, sweatshop culture arose in
the clothing industry where the workers providing manual labor were required to work
overtime at low wages, undertaking a risk on their health. The concept of sweatshops is
believed to have originated during the middle of the 19th century, connoting a specific type of
working condition in the clothing industry (Mezzadri 2016). In this situation, the
intermediaries, also known as the sweater, provided directed order to the garment makers to
work under terrible working conditions. This system of the sweaters extracting work for the
menially paid workers came to be known as the sweat system. Eventually the workplaces
incorporating sweat systems began to be known as sweatshops, indicating a specific kind of
tailoring trade.