Fashion
consumerism is a huge debate in today’s society and has been around for many
years. Consumerism was first noticed and discussed the in 19th
century (2002 cited in Encyclopedia 2003) with the
improved transport, technology and the speeding growth of towns and cities, the
buying and selling opportunities were endless. Shopping became an important
part of life and almost an everyday hobby. It was highly important to look and
be wealthy, which is where the uproar for clothing and fashion came into the
growth of consumer goods. People had and still have an unexplainable and
impetuous urge to consume and waste goods. In this essay I shall be
concentrating on the consumption and waste of fashion and clothing and the
impacts it brings upon the world. This essay
will firstly describe consumerism and the power it holds on us psychologically
and emotionally, discussing various theories and tactics within the market. It
will then discuss the birth of fast fashion and the pressure consumerism puts
on fast fashion and the environment and concludes with how we can improve our
world and build a sustainably working fashion and textile industry.
What
is consumerism? The theory itself is the promotion of a consumer’s interest so that
a continual expansion of consuming goods is believed to be desirable
(Marriam-Webster 2016), Through television, printed and internet advertisement
the consumer society is made to feel cravings towards buying goods through
psychology which many marketers use to their advantage.
According
to Rosenthal (2014), there are five psychological tactics marketers use to
influence consumer behaviour: the usage of emotional ideas, highlighting the
product flaws, repositioning the competition, promoting exclusivity of the
product/brand and introducing fear, uncertainty and doubt. Using these tactics
marketers are able to manipulate the consumer society into buying their
products.
The
more people are focused around and on materialistic values and goods, the more
likely they are to experience anxiety or depression (Morgan et al. 2015). Referring
back to the five psychological tactics of marketing, I have also noticed that
many advertisements in these days use psychological tactics to make consumers
believe that by purchasing these products their needs and happiness will be
fulfilled. The WVS Charity is one company that uses the emotional tactic. In
their WVS Donkey Appeal they use shocking facts and appalling images along with
a disheartening music score playing over the two in order to reach out to the
audience by making them feel pity for the Donkeys and support the appeal by donating to the
cause.
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Figure 1 - Maslow's
Hierarchy of Needs
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Maslow’s
Hierarchy of Needs is a theory that American psychologist Abraham Maslow
proposed in 1943 (Maslow 2012). A theory that many people are familiar with,
particularly media students, as it is often studied when looking into the analysis
of advertising and film (Mathur 2007). Maslow’s theory proposed the priority of
needs a person would need in order to fulfil their happiness, leading up to
self-actualisation. At the bottom of the pyramid lies a person’s
physiological needs (physical needs) i.e. water, food, clothing and shelter.
I
believe that Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is still used currently in everyday
advertising in order to reach the target audiences attention and
psychologically play on their emotions. By reaching out to the consumers by promoting
the use of emotional ideas and other tactics the fashion industry creates a
world where people believe they will be satisfied by having the latest products
as they could feel a sense of connection (love and belonging) and respect of
others (self-esteem) through the newest collections.
Consumerism
is a huge part of the media culture and is regularly associated with Thorstein
Veblen (Veblen 1899) and Earnest Elmo Calkins (Calkins 1916) who both criticised
and predicted extensive consumption. Both practitioners observed the middle
class in the 19th and 20th century and signified the
level of consumption that would increase in the near future.
Calkins,
who was born in Genesco, 1868, was an American advertising executive who
pioneered the use of art in advertising. He illustrated for many companies and
brands such as R&G Corsets and Lackawanna Railroad whilst cofounding his
own modern advertising agency, Calkins & Holden. Calkin’s philosophy
throughout life was understanding and creating advertisements, along with the
new found knowledge of consumerism which he felt obliged to share with society
through articles and books.
“Goods fall into two classes: those that we
use, such as motor cars or safety razors, and those that we use up,
such as toothpaste or soda biscuits. Consumer engineering must see to it that
we use up the kind of goods we now merely use” (Calkins, 1930,
p.130 cited in Usui, 2008, p.98). From a fashion perspective Calkins is
essentially asking why would you want last season’s clothes, as they’re old and
not desirable however this season’s clothes are much more desirable and
attractive? In this statement. Consumerism promotes the accomplishment and
status of throwing things out, that wasting builds social status and being able
to afford and possess the newest, and most desirable clothing is much more
attractive than retaining or reusing existing clothes.
Through
the increasing wave of consumerism came the birth and development of the
contemporary term ‘fast fashion’ (Joy, et al 2012). The phrase fast fashion
refers to the traditional garment production processes which are expedited in
order to transfer the new trends to the market as quickly and cheaply as
possible, often mimicking current luxury fashion trends. As a result of our
ever consuming society, the traditional two fashion seasons per year
(Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter) have expanded through the years and provided
us with more types of fashion.
Haute
Couture is considered to be one of the most expensive styles of the fashion
industry (English 2013). This is due to the extensive detail and precision work
as well as being made with high quality fabrics, which still dominates the
majority of the current fashion industry. It was not until the recent decades
that the ready to wear (pret-a-porter), cruise and pre-collections arrived.
Many
fashion crazed consumers may see fast fashion provided by retailers and fashion
houses as a blessing. This new wave of marketing might be sending more money
towards the retailer’s pockets but when you take account of the effects from
other perspectives you begin to wonder whether it is more of a disadvantage to
modern society.
Throughout
the 1980’s and 1990’s globalisation continued to increase which led the mid
price brands to shift the majority of their production to the developing world
where the labour costs are just a small fraction of the labour costs in Europe.
In 2006 it was reported by Cambridge University that consumers were buying one
third more clothes than they had been in 2002 (Allwood 2007). It also stated
that women have four times as many clothes in their wardrobe than they did in
the 80’s.
Retailers
now feel as if they must respond to fast developing fashion trends that change
in a matter of weeks, as brands begin competing against each other for market
share by introducing more and more lines each year at increasingly lower costs.
Because of this many fashion houses now produce as much as 18 collections per
year, which over the past 5 years has doubled in size. Due to the increase of interest
of fashion week and fashion coverage in general via medias such as newspapers
and the internet, the desire and urge to see, sell and own fashion is greater
than ever. This has taken its toll on the pace of constructing garments which
has now sped up to an outrageous three-week cycle compared to the traditional
six months from factories to markets.
As a
result of the ‘passion for fashion’ era it has put a great deal of pressure on
the manufacturing supply chain. Many companies and buyers are constantly
pressurising factories to deliver quality made garments with shorter and
shorter manufacturing times, particularly ones in third world countries. In
areas such as Bangladesh, the factories do not have the tools, equipment or
expertise to manage this effectively, which can lead to a bigger strain on the
workers. (news)
A
study conducted in 2006 by Kantar Worldpanel (formerly TNS Worldpanel) stated “We now buy 40% of all our clothes at value
retailers, with just 17% of our clothing budget” (2006, cited in Leblanc
2012: 22)
Many
factories in third world countries experience over 10 hour shifts with no
break, unfair treatment from employers and extremely little pay. With companies
wanting their profits to be ever growing, they shift their manufacturing to the
third world countries which as mentioned earlier, costs considerably less than
manufacturing in countries such as the UK and USA. But even this is sometimes
too much for some companies to pay and they negotiate their way through the
market for the cheapest deal, comparing with competition who may have found a
better offer. What people sometimes do not realise is that the cheaper the
garment is to buy the less profit and income the factories receive and this
then must be divided between the workers who often earn approximately £25 per
calendar month (Morgan, et al 2015). But this is only just one of the side
effects of fast fashion and fashion consumerism.
Global
Warming is often discussed at this present time as so many people feel strongly
about it and wish to help. The term global warming is used to describe the
increase of temperature of the Earth’s atmosphere and oceans which has risen
between 0.4 and 0.8 degrees Celsius over the past century (Kegley and Blanton
2014-2015). The believed cause of the increasing temperature is the large
volumes of green house gases such as carbon dioxide which are released from the
burning of fossil fuels, land clearing and agriculture which are thought to be
the primary sources of global warming over the past 50 years.
Part
of the effects of global warming is the predicted rise in sea levels due to the
melting of polar ice caps – a cause from the increased temperature – as well as
an increase of storms and more severe weather occurrences. In the near future,
scientists predict that the Earth’s atmosphere could increase between 1.4 and
5.8 degrees Celsius by 2100 (Misra 2012). The US has witnessed the more intense
downpour events over the past 70 years due to the rise in temperature. It is
proven that the warmer the air is the more moisture it possesses or in other
words, humidity which has caused more rain at much heavier downpours. In the
1930’s the average number of storms in the North Atlantic Ocean per year was
between 8 and 9, which has almost doubled in 70 years, reaching 15 to 16 storm
a year in 2007 (Roach 2007).
One
of the main causes of global warming is the atmospheric pollution of greenhouse
gases (GHG). These gases are in the world’s atmosphere that absorbs and emits
radiation, trapping heat in the atmosphere making the Earth warmer. They are
built up of 0.6% fluorinated gases, 4.9% nitrous oxide, 9.8% other gases, 30%
methane and a huge 54.7% of the gases are carbon dioxide according to the
United States Environmental Protection Agency (2016).
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Figure 2 -
Percentage of U.S. Gas Emissions in 2012
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Worldwide we
add to the carbon dioxide GHGs by burning fossil fuels to create, gasoline and
some industrial and manufacturing processes, this is to create heat,
electricity and products to use to our advantage. In this picture to the left
it shows that electricity is the biggest source of GHG emissions in 2012, with
transport coming in second at 28%, industrial sources at 20% and commercial and
residential at 10%, all of which used to the fashion industry’s advantage.
As a
fashion industry we need electricity to run the industrial and manufacturing
processes, polluting the carbon dioxide from this to the Earth’s atmosphere,
where the transportation of the garments adds another percentage. And not
forgetting the advertisement of the products around the world using print and
electrical media to showcase the latest products, also adding to the emissions
but is there a way to decrease this? With our ever wanting society, studies
have found that worldwide we purchase over 80 billion pieces of new clothing a
year, which is 400% greater than we purchased just two decades ago. But the
real question is, how much of this is being wasted and where?
It
is estimated that the average American throws away the shocking amount of 82
pounds of textiles each year with the majority of the ‘waste’ being non-bio
gradable, these items will be dumped into landfills and sit there 200 years or
longer whilst releasing harmful gases into the air adding to global warming
(Trepanier 2015). Another popular way of disposing of clothes is donating.
Charities such as Oxfam, Macmillan and Age UK are just three organisations in
the country that collect and accept clothing donations from the citizens of the
UK. But what do they do with the donations?
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Figure 3 - U.S.
Donated Clothes in Haiti
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Often
people do not give much thought of where and what the organisations do with
their belongings and clothes or just assume it is sold in their local charity
shops/thrift stores. But what happens to the goods if they do not sell? It has
been proven that just the small amount of 10% of donated clothes are sold in
the stores and the rest is transported and dumped to third world countries such
as Haiti (Trepanier 2015).
Culturally
the fashion industry in Haiti is damaged and almost nonexistent due to the vast
amount of US clothing ‘donated’ to charity. Because of the undesirable concept
of buying second hand clothing, even if it is for a good cause. The 90% of
clothing that cannot be sold by the stores is sent to Haiti in order to aid the
less fortunate families. But this good deed has been overused and has
effectively backfired on itself by overloading the country with too many
clothes, which do not support the local’s religion or traditions. I do believe
that originally the idea to donate the clothes to 3rd world
countries would have been successful and helpful to the people but with our
lazy and constant consuming society have over worked the process and in effect
has almost eliminated a society’s traditional clothing as a whole.
In
2015, the United Nations embraced 17 ‘Global Goals’ to make an end to poverty
and together build a better world by 2030. Adopted by 193 world leaders at the
UN’s annual General Assembly, these new goals are aimed to build on the
progress of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which were set in the
2000’s. Similar to the new Global Goals, the previous eight goals which ranged
from decreasing extreme poverty rates and slowing down the spread of HIV/Aids,
were also spread across a 15-year gap. The aim of the Global Goals, also
referred to as the Sustainable Development Goals, is to complete the job of the
MDGs over the next 15 years through to 2030.
Number
12 of the Global Goals actions is ‘Responsible Consumption and Production’ which
I believe applies to the fashion industry and fashion production the most. One
of this goals targets is to achieve sustainable management and efficient use of
natural resources by 2030 (The Global Goals 2015). I believe by adapting and
improving the fashion industry by using sustainable resources without
disturbing or destroying part of the Earth’s natural materials such as cotton
plants we can create Fairtrade and organic clothing in the industry and help
achieve this goal.
In
1991, Safia Minney created a sustainable environmental campaign called Global
Village which was the foundation of her fashion label, People Tree Ltd. The brand
is a pioneer of Fairtrade, collaborating with fair trade artisans and farmers
to produce ethical, sustainable and eco fashion collections. Their philosophy
is creating a new way of business creating access to markets and opportunities
for people who live in the developing world (Rivera 2015).
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Figure 4 - Local
Worker Hand Picking Cotton on an Indian Cotton Farm
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Being partnered with Fairtrade
cotton farmers and artisans for over 20 years, People Tree produce a range of
100% Fairtrade organic cottons using natural farming methods and natural
pesticides made from herbs and soap to keep the number of pests down. No
harmful methods, chemicals or poor treatment is used in the company and the
workers from the developing world are paid fairly. Not only does using natural
processes and pesticides for organic cotton growing protects the workers but
helps protect the environment and can save farmers up to 3000 rupees per acre.
The
Fair Trade Foundation says (2016: 7) “Organic
farming is also good for the environment. It protects the planet by
sequestering 1.5 tons of CO2 into the soil each year per acre.”
Using
the same philosophy as companies such as People Tree, I believe we can
introduce and develop new and existing sustainable and eco friendly ways of
creating fashion and textiles. Other fashion houses such as Stella McCartney
and Vivienne Westwood are also on the environmental wave creating and
developing new ideas to reduce harmful environmental risks using processes such
as waterless dying and choosing ‘quality over quantity’ by reforming business
qualities and create Fairtrade and sustainable products.
To
me, the world and environment around us is so alluring and often I struggle to
believe how natural elements such as plants like cotton and flowers exist
without being manmade. It’s truly amazing, from the microorganisms inside them
to the overall physical aesthetic and I can’t believe how part of the society
we live in chooses to ignore this and refuse to help or reduce the
environmental strain on the world. I can only hope that I have the access to
similar resources as brands such as People Tree in the future for my own work,
using natural and organic products that have been made fairly and eco friendly.
I will look to use and share new found sustainable processes and ideas I aim to
come across with the fashion community in order to build a eco friendly and
sustainable fashion industry worldwide.
The
fashion industry is always about the next big thing and showcasing it as big
and bold as possible. So why can’t this be the next contemporary movement?
Reference List:
Allwood,
J. (2007) Well Dressed? [Online]
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Calkins, E.E and Holden. R (1916) Modern advertising. New York: D. Appleton & Company
English,
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in the 20th and 21st Centuries From Catwalk to Sidewalk. London:
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.
Encyclopedia
(2003) Consumerism. [Online]
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Fair
Trade Foundation (2016) People Tree. [Online]
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Joy, A, Sherry,
J.F, Venkatesh, A, Wang, J and Chan, R. (2012) ‘Fast Fashion, Sustainability,
and the Ethical Appeal of Luxury Brands’ Fashion
Theory, Volume 16, Issue 3, pp. 273–296
Kegley,
C.W and Blanton, S.L. (2014-2015) World
Politics: Trend and Transformation 2014-2015 Edition. Canada: Cengage
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S. (2012) Sustainable Fashion Design:
Oxymoron No more? [Online] Available
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(2016) Consumerism. [Online]
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A.H. (1943/2012) A Theory of Human
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U.C. (2007) Product and Brand Management.
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K.C. (2012) Introduction to Geochemistry: Principles and Applications. West
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(2015) The True Cost [Online]
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L. (2015) Style and Substance: How
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Illustrations list:
Figure 4: Renault, C.
(2005) A woman picking cotton in a field
near Nagarjuna Sagar — Andhra Pradesh, India. Digital Image [Online].
Available from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/clodreno/128382985/
[Accessed
6/4/16]
Figure 3 :United States
Environmental Protection Agency (2016) Sources
of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions (2012). Digital Image [Online] Available from: https://www3.epa.gov/climatechange/kids/images/1-2-2-emissions.gif
[Accessed
7/4/16]
Figure 4: Woods, P.
(2013), Pepe T-shirt 00035612.
Digital Image [Online]. Available at: http://archive.instituteartistmanagement.com/id/00035612
[Accessed
8/4/16]
Figure 1: (1943) Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Pyramid.
Digital Image [Online] Available at: http://www.researchhistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/maslows-hierarchy-of-needs.gif
[Accessed
4/4/12]
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