Common Good and Ethical Clothing: Strategies to Address Challenges

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1. Common good and the issue of Ethical clothing
Common good refers to the prevalence of optimal conditions that which will create
possibilities for the success of both the organization as well as the other stakeholders associated
with the organization. In this context, it deserves mention that the good for both the person as
well as the team are largely interdependent. Theologically, common good is as defined by Pope
John XXIII:
“The sum total of social conditions which allow people, either as groups or as individuals, to
reach their fulfillment more fully and more easily”.
On the other hand, the term ethical fashion is an all-encompassing terminology that is
needed to describe the aspects like ethics in fashion design, sustainability of production in
clothing companies and animal welfare amidst business activities and so on (Gardetti & Torres,
2017). High street clothing accounts for a large part of clothing retail around the world. Besides,
it is known that there are several industrial means of growing cotton fabric quickly as well as
cheaply.
Within the context of common good, the issues that needs to be discussed includes some
serious concerns like exploitative labor, damage to the environment, usage of hazardous
chemicals as well as prevention of cruelty towards animals. The incorporation of these aspects in
to the production process of the clothing industry violates the principles of common good.
Common good refers that alongside maintenance of the profit margin of the cloth manufacturing
companies, and providing the clothes to the customers at affordable prices, it is also necessary
that the sweatshop practices aligned with the process of production, be stopped. In order to
ensure common geed, it is hence understandable that the combating the issue of outworkers is

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very important. Ethical Clothing Australia is an organization that is aiming to discover this
hidden part of the workforce of the clothing companies that do not come under clarity of
mapping of the supply line of the clothing companies (Attaran & Eastman, 2019). It is also
necessary in order to ensure that the coherency, integrity as well as profitability of the entire
community is maintained as an outcome of common good practices. This is very necessary
prodigy of the Christina catholic faith of common good. As per Henninger, Alevizou & Oates
(2016), the issue of environmental degradation also needs to be considered within the scope of
common good. In this regard, it needs mention that the plantation of cotton fabric does contribute
for consumption of 22.5% of the insecticides as well as 10% of the pesticides in the world. This
might be dangerous for the environment and also harmful for the farmers who develop the
plantations.
2. Strategies of addressing the challenges of the issue
Cutting corners can be considered as one of the feasible strategic instep for the mitigation
of the issues regarding ethical clothing. The TCFUA of Australia suspects that one of the popular
clothing brand namely, Morrison Clothing have the capacity of disregarding the labor laws.
There is discrimination in the payment of wages to the production workers of the organization. in
this regard, a primary survey conducted by the agents of TCFUA reveals that the outworkers’
team are still active in the production line of the organization and the discrepancy of wage
payment have been revealed when few of the outworkers of Morrison Clothing reported that they
received $8 AUD per hour as their wages (Peña-López, 2015). However, brands manufacturing
in Australia are legally responsible for their entire supply chain so the amount that labels pay
suppliers has to take into account how much it will cost to make the item of clothing using fairly
paid labor.