Tedford+The+Matrix1

Fashion: A //Very Vogue// Sustainability Problem Fashionably Unsustainable: Clothing is necessity, but at what cost to our environment, global well-being or economies.

__The Fashion World __
The fashion industry spans over the globe, employing countless individuals of the entire socioeconomic spectrum, exploiting workers, endangering species and infringing on our daily lives by attempting to capture what we hold most dear: our individuality and self expression. As clothing and styles continually vary and individuality in developed countries becomes more important, this industry itself has found a way to sustain itself economically. Every year new styles come out, identical to older styles that seem to rotate. Although every year clothing from the year before is dismissed as "old" or "tired" and in certain elite social circles its considered taboo to be caught in last year's styles. What is the limiting factor to fashion, and how is it that in a world with reduced resources prices stay so low in many retail stores?

__The Problem __
It's not clearly evident that the fashion industry is a sustainability problem, although there is a long list of integrated factors both ecological and humanitarian in nature that indicate the unsustainability of the fashion industry and the intense need for consumer conscious. The following points are all closely related, for clarity I bulleted each as their own entity.


 * __Consumerism.__ The most apparent piece of the matrix of issues surrounding the fashion industry is consumerism. "Consumer ability to gather and apply the knowledge necessary to make the right choice is diminished by a monological system of production. This system, coupled with the desire of consumers to pay the least possible price for the product, has led to overconsumption and waste." (Farrer, 2008) This is a related issue: user disconnect, which you often see in food related discussions. You never see the child worker that was exploited or field worker that pulled the cotton for your new shirt, you only see the store lights and display set up to encourage you to purchase.
 * __Obsolescence. __ Every year millions of Americans rush to the stores for "back to school shopping." At what point do old clothes become obsolete? When they don't fit anymore obviously, but also when the go out of style, is that considered grounds for replacement as well?
 * __Child Labor. __ Child labor is a serious problem that is economically driven. In many foreign countries, corporations and industry are welcome and the residents are more than happy to work for the industry. Conditions are terrible however, "when you’re talking about sweatshops in a place like Bangladesh, for example, you’re talking about young women, 16 to 25 years of age, locked in factories behind barbed wire with armed guards. You’re talking about people working from 8:00 in the morning until 10:00 at night, 7 days a week, 30 days a month, for wages of about 8 to 18 cents an hour. And if those women try to defend their rights they’re immediately cut down and fired and blacklisted." (Kernaghan, 2010) By the time these women are 25 years old, many cannot physical work anymore due to chronic fatigue and related ailments from working absurd hours for meager wages.
 * __Ecological Damage. __ "Manufacturers of clothing articles employ nanosilver (n-Ag) as an antimicrobial agent, but the environmental impacts of n-Ag release from commercial products are unknown." (Benn, 2010) The various chemical and biological agents used to dye, curate and create our various articles of clothing are at some point disposed of and the effects are not yet know. Nanosilver could not only affect the environment, but anything chemically foreign we put into the environment will likely affect us as humans. In a recent study done by Philadelphia's Institute for Textile and Apparel Safety, formaldehyde was found in children's clothing, a known toxic substance, (Brookstein, 2008)
 * __Media Encouragement. __ At Christmas we are especially encouraged to purchase clothing for our loved ones in order to support our economy. In America, what good citizen would deny helping our economy? If you look closely at the matrix however, you often times are supporting childhood sweat shops, ecological damage and a society built on consumerism.
 * __Corporate Retail Model. __ <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The model of walking into a mall, experiencing the same stores as you would in a mall across the country has also led to a decrease in the quality of clothing and an increase in the amount produced. Clothing is no longer unique, the shirt you are wearing is likely being worn by many, many other people. This franchise model does little to support local businesses and relies heavily on brand recognition.
 * __<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Energy: __ <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">An incredible amount of energy goes into a fashion show, something has to light up the runways, pay the salaries and create the studios that power this industry.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">__Loss of Essential Skills and Community.__ There has been a loss of essential skills due to the cheap nature of clothing we purchase today. Even the simple knowledge of how to sew and mend has been lost, and instead a new item is just purchased to replace the old. Time spent shopping could be time spent focused on well-being and community.

__<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Stake Holders __
<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">There are clearly many stake holders in the the fashion industry. This industry that "employs thirty million people...the products of which produced $1 trillion spend in 2006" (Farrer, 2008) includes a wide variety of stakeholders, essentially every step of the way.
 * __<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Out-sourced/Foreign workers/Seamstresses/Lower Socioeconomic Status employees. __
 * __<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Textile Mills/Chemical Industry. __
 * __<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Customs officials. __
 * __<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Consumers. __
 * __<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Designers. __
 * __<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Advertisement/Communications Industry (Inclusive of television, internet and magazine media sources). __
 * __<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">the Economy of Nations around the World. __
 * __<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Retailers (Corporate and Independent alike). __

__<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Methods of Intervention __
<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">There are several places to intervene on this broken system. A shift in mindset from "needing" new clothing constantly to taking care of current clothing items properly would save many people money among other things. Consumer conscious is very important because if enough people are aware of the issues, corporations will take notice. Recently H&M remodeled their system to include sustainable material usage. Community development and after school programs are useful to breaking the trend of a child brought up on the media's addiction consumerism. In poorer communities the emphasis on personal growth and wellbeing that comes from this type of development may deter lower socioeconomic teenagers from stealing from retail stores which can also be a problem. Lastly, before you make a purchase: look on the tag. If it says "made in China" or "made in Bangladesh" take a second and imagine a 7 day work week with 14 hour days, coming home exhausted every single day, no access to education and feeling completely burnt out and destroyed in your mid-20s. Do you really //want// it anymore when you think of what these people really //need//? If you really would like to support the United States economy, purchase items made in America or responsibly sourced.

__<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Links: __
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Lower impact fashion inspiration: []
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Sustainability can be very trendy: []
 * __<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The Corporation __ <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">segment highlighting price differential: []
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">National Labor Committee interview with sweatshop worker in Bangladesh : []


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Real live fashion show... the fuel that powers our need to purchase new items each year as trends slip down through until they reach the corporate franchises that populate our malls: []

__<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">References: __ <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Benn, Troy M., and Paul Westerhoff. "Nanoparticle Silver Released into Water from Commercially Available Sock Fabrics." Environmental Science and Technology. 2008. Web. 20 Oct. 2010.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Brookstein, David. "Greater Regulation of Toxic Chemicals in Textiles Needed." Web log post.NeuroTalk. Philadelphia University, 18 Apr. 2008. Web. 25 Oct. 2010. <http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread43850.html>.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Farrer, Joan. "A Solution to Fashion Textile Unsustainability." Per Ada. 2008. Web. 18 Oct. 2010. <http://perada-magazine.eu/pdf/1314/1314.pdf>.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The Corporation. Dir. Charles Kernaghan. Web. 19 Oct. 2010. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"><http://hellocoolworld.com/files/TheCorporation/Labour.pdf>. Worker's Rights, Yeah Right

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">"Toxicity Of Textile Printing And Dyeing Of Organic Pigments And Ecological Impacts « Sudesca.org."Sudesca.org. Web. 26 Oct. 2010. <http://www.sudesca.org/human-ecology/toxicity-of-textile-printing-and-dyeing-of-organic-pigments-and-ecological-impacts/>.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Image Credit:

<span style="direction: ltr; language: en-US; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;"> []