Category: Sustainability and Ethical Living

Faced with the depletion of natural resources and the serious consequences of climate change, the fashion industry decides to become aware. Finally sustainability and ethical conduct have begun to be a trend (Moisander and Personen 2002). 

In today’s fashion market there has been a growing trend towards “slow fashion” (Fletcher 2007, 61). The definition of slow fashion is the inclusion of small-scale production, the use of local materials and artisan production techniques. That is, it investigates the nature of the garment and the way in which it is produced. On the other hand, it uses design concepts that do not require seasons using slower production times to focus on quality products and durability, which is reflected in prices (Fletcher 2010; Holt, 2009).

The term slow fashion is linked to sustainability, but nowadays the fast fashion industry is slowly making its way into sustainable fashion, could be the case with H&M, one of the main fast fashion companies and promotes many sustainable initiatives, for example, the launch of the sustainability program, called “Conscious Action” in which recyclable resources are used in the production of garments and which has been created to try to instill these values in consumers and improve their behavior by one more ethical (Shen, 2014).

Adittionally, Zara has also created a sustainable line, Join Life, thus joining the ecological initiatives of fast-fashion. Inditex bases its model on its Green To Wear + standard, which has its application in Zara with the aforementioned Join Life line. In it, the garments are labeled according to their characteristics in 3 categories: care for water, care for climate and care for fiber. Zara ensures that during the production process, health and safety of the environment are guaranteed through the implementation of two standards: Clear to Wear and Safe to use (Inditex, 2019).

However, despite the attempts to also focus on a more sustainable public by investing effort in sustainability with the above mentioned sustainable actions and communication of these actions, Zara and H&M are continually questioned by the general discourse of society that does not believe in sustainability within the fast fashion industry (Gonzalez, 2017). Information that links sustainability to the actions of these companies generally gets a negative response from the public. Consequently, the image that these companies show is associated with the pursuit of economic benefits rather than a real interest in sustainable issues (Gonzalez, 2017).

In conclusion, the question is, is fast-fashion compatible with sustainable fashion? and above all are they part of an advertising strategy or is it really the beginning of a path towards improving conditions in the textile industry?

The sustainability concept according to Macnaghten et al. (1995) the sustainability implies move from a current unsatisfactory state, in which economic needs are pursued without taking into account absolutely nothing of the environment or the social needs, to a satisfactory state, that is, one in which social needs are amortized in a way that does not exceed the limits of the environment and taking care of resources. Being so, one of the main topics to which most of the thought is granted within the realm of macromarketing (Mittelstaedt et. al., 2014).  

Sustainability as a megatrend takes on more importance because consumers are more aware each year with the environment, since the negative changes of pollution and climate change have already begun to wreak their havoc on the planet. Specifically on the fashion industry, as the fashion industry is responsible for around 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions and behind the oil industry is the most polluting in the world, it is quite a worrying figure, as a result of this consumers are really aware of the environment, and companies, either for marketing or awareness, too (Paton, 2019; Gaba, 2020). 

A new report from the Capgemini Research Institute (2020) ensures that 79% of consumers are changing their shopping preferences following criteria of social responsibility, inclusiveness or environmental impact. In addition to indicating advantages for consumers, companies also have a series of advantages such as greater customer loyalty and an increase in brand revenue. A main factor for these figures to be so high is the COVID-19 pandemic that has raised the level of consumer awareness (Capgemini, 2020). Consequently, the fashion business throughout the supply chain are becoming more environmentally, culturally, economically and socially sustainable every day, which in turn helps drive social change (Burns, 2019).

Of contrast, environmental consumption has not yet impacted on fashion purchasing decisions (Kim & Damhorst, 1998), since sustainable fashion products are more expensive, there is less variety of products, there are disadvantages in relation to aesthetic and functional aspects and relevant information is scarce. In addition, there are statistics showing that only 7 percent of consumers have sustainability as their main purchase criterion (Global Fashion Agenda, n.d.). Most organizations are left only on the surface of sustainability since there are many companies that consider that the impact it produces in cost overruns is a problem when implementing sustainability initiatives, and also companies feel that other issues are more relevant (Capgemini, 2020).

Thus, although sustainable development can help end poverty in the world and adjust social inequalities, serving human needs in a fairer way and reorienting technology to respect the planet and guarantee its viability, there are also negative consequences.