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In the future, we see that the potential drivers in clothing sustainability are the rising number of small businesses that use social media as their platform to raise awareness and create shared value. In support of this, slow fashion and global initiatives are also on the move.

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The existing efforts toward sustainability in the form of publicity and marketing are working as these are able to reach potential audiences at a wider scale. Meanwhile, the implementation of laws and regulations was deemed to have a minimal impact due to weak monitoring bodies. Additionally, the high price that entails good quality and sustainable clothing deters price-sensitive Filipinos from buying.

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We see that Filipinos are usually into fashion trends that make them more willing to buy cheap trendy clothes in the market. As such, relatively pricey and sustainable clothing is not part of their taste. With this, raising awareness in clothing sustainability should be done with caution to prevent putting it in a bad light, and we deem that cloth segregation through a clothing bank as well as repurposing and redesigning the fabrics can help us achieve our goal.

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We found that there is a high level of textile waste both in production and consumption which is alarming and detrimental to the environment in the long run.

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We believe that changing the mindset and culture is one of the difficult aspects that this business venture has to face. With this, raising consumer awareness is also going to be challenging since the benefits are not immediate. As such, we aim to use marketing and partnership as our leverage to attain clothing sustainability.

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Globally, a number of movements namely smart consumerism and anti-consumerism have been advocated to tackle the issue of clothing waste. These aim to minimize clothing consumption through wise purchases and increased awareness. Big companies have also started their advocacy towards clothing sustainability.

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The emergence of start-ups and small businesses that tackle the issue of the sustainability of fast fashion gives hope for the future. A couple of these are led by millennials as part of their advocacy. These millennials are empowered with consumer awareness and their desire to make a change towards a sustainable future.

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Together, the existing initiatives work toward the same advocacy of sustainable fashion.
Apart, as they work by individual means to achieve it.

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We learned that the small steps are crucial to start our journey and that collective action can address textile waste. Additionally, we believe that it is the role of business ventures to innovate their means of addressing the pain points of society. Connecting the producer and consumer side will also help in improving the business model and value proposition.

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We have reached out to some of the mentioned organizations while we do not have contact details for the others. We have found it difficult to communicate with them as they have not responded to our emails which may be due to their busy schedules.

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Achieving a solution towards sustainability in the clothing industry is challenging because it involves delayed gratification and potential shared benefits with partnerships and collective action.

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After looking into the available dataset and studies from the internet, we can further improve our business venture by conducting a market survey that will give us more ideas on how we can be more sustainable and competitive. However, this may require funding and partnerships so as to reach a wider customer base.

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We have looked into available literature and data as well as talked to key persons who have helped us refine our business model.

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Upcycling fashion has slowly been gaining attention among clothing enthusiasts. Several social media influencers were observed to advertise upcycled clothing. Apart from this, the rise of fashion brands that centralize on upcycling clothing pieces has slowly gained the attention of consumers.

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Currently, money is considered as a vote so consumers are held more accountable for their purchases. However, a number of Filipinos lack the means to provide for their needs making them unlikely to afford pricey sustainable clothing. As such, companies should also be held morally accountable for their waste emissions.

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Fast fashion: a third of Filipinos have thrown away clothing after wearing it just once. (YouGov Staff, 2017). 

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Truth behind Filipino Clothing Consumption

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Truth behind Filipino Clothing Consumption

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- The typical shopper bought 60% more garments annually between 2000 to 2014.
- About 65% of Filipino adults have discarded clothes over the past year where nearly 24% have thrown at least ten articles.
- Almost 29% of Filipinos have discarded a garment after wearing it once.
- Roughly 12% of unwanted clothes end up in the bin.

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Igniting Fire through the Philippine CSR Bill 

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Igniting Fire through the Philippine CSR Bill 

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Despite the good policy of the Philippine government towards holding companies accountable, the CSR bill has insufficient power and authority to urge companies to become more sustainable. The bill entails that domestic and foreign businesses are encouraged but not required to partake in CSR-related activities which include sustainability. The igniting of the fire through the passing of the bill could either be sustained or blown away depending on how businesses and people respond to the call for sustainability.

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Solutions can be seen as expensive despite being necessary

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Solutions can be seen as expensive despite being necessary

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Any solution, whether towards consumers or producers, can be regarded as expensive despite its high non-monetary gains to society. Without proper government support, any solution will remain ineffective as only a few businesses and consumers will voluntarily support such solutions.

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In general, consumerism results in ...
- environmental degradation in the long run
- poverty and hunger
- social and ecological issues

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Author and Page information

This page: https://www.globalissues.org/article/238/effects-of-consumerism.

To print all information (e.g. expanded side notes, shows alternative links), use the print version:

© Anne Ward Tiki Penguin

On this page:

1. Misuse of land and resources

2. Exporting Pollution and Waste from Rich Countries to Poor Countries

3. Obesity due to Excessive Consumption

4. A cycle of waste, disparities and poverty

5. Some examples/case studies

Misuse of land and resources

How land is used to produce food etc. can have enormous impacts on the environment and its sustainability. (This can sometimes challenge assumptions on the instinct and common belief that we are overpopulated by sheer numbers and that this is the major cause of environmental degradation. While populations can burden the environment, the most populous regions in the world use far less resources than the wealthiest nations, and so the issue is more about how resources are used and for what purpose.) Take the following as an example:

Junk-food chains, including KFC and Pizza Hut, are under attack from major environmental groups in the United States and other developed countries because of their environmental impact. Intensive breeding of livestock and poultry for such restaurants leads to deforestation, land degradation, and contamination of water sources and other natural resources. For every pound of red meat, poultry, eggs, and milk produced, farm fields lose about five pounds of irreplaceable top soil. The water necessary for meat breeding comes to about 190 gallons per animal per day, or ten times what a normal Indian family is supposed to use in one day, if it gets water at all.

... Overall, animal farms use nearly 40 percent of the world's total grain production. In the United States, nearly 70 percent of grain production is fed to livestock.

Vandana Shiva, Stolen Harvest, (South End Press, 2000), pp. 70-71.

Because industrial agriculture is using more monocultures, rather than a diversity of crops, the loss of biodiversity is leading to more resource usage, as described above. This as well as other political situations such as the motives for dumping surplus food on to developing countries to undersell the local farmers, leads to further hunger around the world. For more information on that aspect, refer to this web site's section on food dumping.

Consumption patterns in wealthier countries increases demand for various foods, flowers, textiles, coffee, etc. Combined with more harmful products such as tobacco and illicit drugs, and with input-intensive agricultural practices (including using herbicides and pesticides) the diversion of and misuse of land and the associated environmental damage in unsustainable methods adds up. For additional examples and information on misuse of land, refer to this web site's look at causes of hunger.

As land ownership has become more concentrated in the hands of fewer owners, larger companies, larger agribusinesses etc, and as things like food dumping, mentioned above, increases hunger and drives rural workers out of jobs, there is an increase in urban migration as people move to the cities in hope for a better chance. This then places additional stress on the larger cities to provide for more people. It also results in more slum areas, health problems, increasing crime, over-crowding, and so on.

But cities aren't the only places that the landless move to. Some, being pushed off their own lands, will move to less arable land to hope to farm that, which may conflict with wildlife. In other cases, others may move into forested areas, clearing them with a hope to make a living form farming that cleared land. Destruction of old forests in particular can also mean loss of habitat for many wildlife. In yet other cases, many may try to immigrate to other parts of the world if they feel there is no choice left in their own country. In yet other situations, economic growth can also lead to more urban migration. Sometimes this growth of cities can go in hand with decline in the rural areas.

Due to these and a multitude of other complex socioeconomic and political factors, in different parts of the world, there are different proportions of people in urban and rural areas. For example, the World Bank reported in a 1999/2000 report that 74% of poor in Latin America and Caribbean lived in urban areas, while in Europe and Central Asia it was 67%. In the Middle East and North Africa it was 58%. In East Asia and Pacific, 33% while in Sub-Saharan Africa it was 32%. In South Asia it was 27%. (For more details see the World Bank's World Development Report 1999/2000, Table A.2. The World Bank didn't explicitly categorize North and Central America for some reason, which have approximately 76% and 50% urban populations, respectively. Full country breakdowns are available in the report.)

It is not always the case that, as commonly held, the poor are the ones that end up stripping natural resource to survive. Many communities described as poor (materially) have traditions and practices that encourage protection of their environment because they understand their mutual dependency. In addition, land ownership for the poor provides mechanisms to ensure sustainable and efficient use, because of the need to care for it for their survival, as detailed for example, by Vandana Shiva, in her book Stolen Harvest (South End Press, 2000). Peter Rosset also shows that smaller farms are more efficient when it comes to ensuring a productive yet healthy ecosystem.

Economic policies of the wealthier nations and their consumption demands mean that more land is therefore used to grow cash crops (bananas, sugar, coffee, tea etc) for export to wealthier countries (primarily), while other land is diverted for non-productive uses (tobacco, flowers etc). Additional land is also cleared and used to grow things like cattle for beef exports. In the quantities that some of the products of these exports are consumed, it could be argued that a lot of this production is wasteful and unnecessary. The cost to the environment and local populations is borne not by the consumers of the products, but local people instead. [These economic policies that encourage this pattern are often imposed upon the poorer nations, through things like Structural Adjustment (SAPs) etc.]

And because food is a commodity, then it is those who can afford to pay, that will get food. The following is worth quoting at length (bulleting and spacing formatting is mine, text is original):

To understand why people go hungry you must stop thinking about food as something farmers grow for others to eat, and begin thinking about it as something companies produce for other people to buy.

Food is a commodity. ...

Much of the best agricultural land in the world is used to grow commodities such as cotton, sisal, tea, tobacco, sugar cane, and cocoa, items which are non-food products or are marginally nutritious, but for which there is a large market.

Millions of acres of potentially productive farmland is used to pasture cattle, an extremely inefficient use of land, water and energy, but one for which there is a market in wealthy countries.

More than half the grain grown in the United States (requiring half the water used in the U.S.) is fed to livestock, grain that would feed far more people than would the livestock to which it is fed. ...

The problem, of course, is that people who don't have enough money to buy food (and more than one billion people earn less than $1.00 a day), simply don't count in the food equation.

In other words, if you don't have the money to buy food, no one is going to grow it for you.

Put yet another way, you would not expect The Gap to manufacture clothes, Adidas to manufacture sneakers, or IBM to provide computers for those people earning $1.00 a day or less; likewise, you would not expect ADM (Supermarket to the World) to produce food for them.

What this means is that ending hunger requires doing away with poverty, or, at the very least, ensuring that people have enough money or the means to acquire it, to buy, and hence create a market demand for food.

Richard H. Robbins, Readings on Poverty, Hunger, and Economic Development

When the best agricultural land is used up to produce these cash crops, more marginal land is used for food and subsistence farming. This can also lead to clearing parts of rainforests, or other forms of encroachment on other ecosystems.

It's not just food crops. Other uses of the world's resources by the wealthier nations include metals and other raw minerals to produce automobiles, planes and so on. As nations such as China begin to rise, their appetite for these resources are quite large. However, while there is some concern raised at the amount of environmental resources such nations will eventually require, little is raised about how for decades richer nations have been consuming in further excess and waste. For more details on this, see Richard H. Robbins, as quoted above.

Many wonder why the poor cannot follow the example of the rich and get out of poverty themselves. Numerous mainstream commentators suggest that the poor should follow the example of the rich and that globalization (in its current form) provides the answer. Some may say this because they or their society has followed this ideology to get out of poverty and it worked for them, so it should work for others. Yet, often missed is where the resource base to support the increase in wealth has typically come from. If it comes from other regions then it can (not always) mean that for one society's gain, others may not. This was apparent in imperial and colonial times where vast amounts of the world's wealth was plundered and accumulated in the imperial centers in Europe. Yet, the consumption inequalities of today and the regions of immense wealth and immense poverty, on a global scale shows a similar pattern to those of previous decades and centuries. The U.N. resource consumption statistic mentioned at the start of this section (of 86 percent of the world's resources being consumed by just the world's top 20 percent) is testimony to this.

Hence, the resource base, from which to get out of economic poverty is lacking and so the same process that may have made today's wealthy richer, is not necessarily the best way for all people.

Furthermore, if today's poor attempted to reclaim those resources for their own use and for sustainable development, it will naturally be seen as a threat to the way of life for those who currently use those resources. As described in the poverty section of this web site, wars throughout history have been because of this control of resources. World War II and the resulting Cold War were also such battles. Yet because in the mainstream this is not acknowledged it is easy to just see this as a threat and act on it, without really understanding why it has become a threat. ()

This YouTube video from Journeyman Pictures explains some of the imbalances of power that results from resource exploitation:

Global Resources: Management and Competition, July 27, 2006, JourneyMan.tv

The wealthier consume precisely because others are poor - the rich consume at the expense of the poor. Such global inequality is very wasteful of resources, as further resources are expended maintaining this unequal balance of power (be it through military, political, social or other means). As Robbins was quoted above, someone has to pay for our consumption levels. (The causes of these imbalances are discussed throughout this web site, as well as later on in this section on consumption and consumerism.)

Exporting Pollution and Waste from Rich Countries to Poor Countries

Pollution is also related to increased consumption. That is, the consumption itself, plus the production and waste of products used in consumption. Automobiles are a clear example. Other examples include industrial waste (especially when just dumped into the rivers and oceans), waste from the tourist industry (including cruise liners, air travel, etc.), waste from industrial agriculture, consumer waste such as household waste, excessive product packaging, our throw-away culture, and so on.

While pollution is increasing in poorer countries as well, it is not solely due to rising populations, because, as the U.N. points out, and as mentioned earlier, 86% of the world's resources are consumed by the world's wealthiest 20%. Hence, even if pollution is occurring in poor countries, a large portion of it is to meet this consumer demand. In its September 2008 issue, the journal Energy Policy found that around 1/3rd of Chinese carbon dioxide emissions were due to the production of exports and that it is mostly the developed world consuming these.

And long before the fears that the Kyoto Climate Change protocol would encourage western businesses to move dirty industry to poorer countries that were exempt from emissions reduction targets, multinational businesses were already looking for places with lower standards.

In 1991, then Chief Economist for the World Bank Larry Summers, (and US Treasury Secretary, in the Clinton Administration, until George Bush and the Republican party came into power), had been a strong backer of IMF/World Bank Structural Adjustment Policies, which have proved to be so disastrous to the developing world. He wrote in an internal memo (leaked to the Economist in 1992) that is very revealing:

Just between you and me, shouldn't the World Bank be encouraging more migration of dirty industries to the LDCs [less developed countries]?... The economic logic behind dumping a load of toxic waste in the lowest wage country is impeccable, and we should face up to that... Under-populated countries in Africa are vastly under-polluted; their air quality is probably vastly inefficiently low compared to Los Angeles or Mexico City... The concern over an agent that causes a one in a million change in the odds of prostate cancer is obviously going to be much higher in a country where people survive to get prostate cancer than in a country where under-five mortality is 200 per thousand.

Lawrence Summers, Let them eat pollution, The Economist, February 8, 1992. Quoted from Vandana Shiva, Stolen Harvest, (South End Press, 2000) p.65; See also Richard Robbins, Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism (Allyn and Bacon, 1999), pp. 233-236 for a detailed look at this.

Summers was talking about migrating industries. That is, moving them elsewhere, but to still serve their original purpose - produce for consumption by wealthier nations and people. So instead of expensive changes to factories to deal with environmental and other issues that the public and society demand, they have had the ability to move elsewhere and continue on without making these costly changes. As a result, we may see a relatively cleaner environment in the industrialized world, but it is not all explainable by using newer technologies, being more efficient, etc (which are no doubt certainly part of the explanations).

This is a partial explanation of why some of the wealthier countries have cleaner air, water and so on, compared to poorer countries that are facing more pollution, even though they consume a fraction of what wealthier nations consume. Consumption in richer countries can come at a high price for those in poorer countries as well then. (See Robbins, cited above, for a more detailed discussion of this paradox, who also points out for example, that the core countries already ship 20 million tons of waste annually to the periphery, or poor, countries (p.235).)

Side note

A World Bank spoof site, the Whirld Bank, posted the leaked memo. It also had a postscript which contained a reaction from the then Brazilian minister for the environment. The article noted:

After the memo became public in February 1992, Brazil's then-Secretary of the Environment Jose Lutzenburger wrote back to Summers: Your reasoning is perfectly logical but totally insane... Your thoughts [provide] a concrete example of the unbelievable alienation, reductionist thinking, social ruthlessness and the arrogant ignorance of many conventional economists concerning the nature of the world we live in... If the World Bank keeps you as vice president it will lose all credibility. To me it would confirm what I often said... the best thing that could happen would be for the Bank to disappear. Sadly, Mr. Lutzenburger was fired shortly after writing this letter.

Mr. Summers, on the other hand, was appointed the U.S. Treasury Secretary on July 2nd, 1999, and served through the remainder of the Clinton Admistration. Afterwards, he was named president of Harvard University.

The Bank Memo, The Whirled Bank Group (A Spoof of the World Bank web site).

Another trend is to also export waste to other regions of the world. As one example, hazardous electronic waste, such as old computers, old computer monitors, etc primarily from wealthier nations, are also being exported to places like China, India and Pakistan, where they are processed in operations that are extremely harmful to human health and the environment. However, minimal or non-existent environmental and working standards and regulations, old technologies for recycling and processing, etc. is putting a lot of people and surrounding environment at risk due to the sheer amount of waste to be processed.

Environmental News Service quotes Jim Puckett, coordinator of Basel Action Network, and one of the authors of a report titled Exporting Harm: The High-Tech Trashing of Asia :

They call this recycling, but it's really dumping by another name, added Puckett. Yet to our horror, we further discovered that rather than banning it, the United States government is actually encouraging this ugly trade in order to avoid finding real solutions to the massive tide of obsolete computer waste generated in the U.S. daily.

Puckett referred to the fact that the United States is the only developed country in the world that has failed to ratify the Basel Convention, a United Nations environmental treaty which has adopted a global ban on the export of hazardous wastes from the worlds most developed countries to developing countries. The U.S. has exempted electronic wastes from the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and the nation's export laws, because the material was claimed to be destined for recycling.

Cat Lazaroff, High-Tech U.S. Trash Floods Asia, Environment News Service, 26 February 2002

Obesity due to Excessive Consumption

Please note this sub-section on obesity has moved to its own new page. You can also continue reading on below and see how the issue of obesity is introduced in context to consumption.

A cycle of waste, disparities and poverty

Poverty, land control and ownership, pollution and so on, are largely parts of economic and ideological systems too. As exemplified by the Lawrence Summers quote above, a value is placed on the environment, on life, on different cultures and so on.

This is so ingrained into the cultures of the wealthy nations, that the thought of massive adjustment of lifestyles and economic systems to a more sustainable consumption seems too much to consider. Instead the system is continued and maintained. Built into the system itself are mechanisms that encourage this, without realizing the costs.

For example, a population where health is generally getting worse may result in more sales of medicines or a growth in private healthcare and other knock-on industries. Instead of these always being seen as a cost, they are seen as providing more jobs and creating wealth, and as a result it counts towards GDP and other indicators of economic health! It then looks like the economy is dealing with this fine, without realizing that even more resources are used to support these jobs and industries that may not be needed in as much intensity.

It is easy to blame consumers from wealthy countries as the sole cause of these problems elsewhere though. However, as mentioned in the initial pages on this section, much of this mass consumerism culture in the north has not been based solely on natural demand, but a created demand. That is, from large businesses and industry wanting to sell more products and make more profits. Politically this has also been encouraged as it helps create a more conforming populous satisfied by material needs. As an effect of this, as such businesses also strive to eliminate competition by becoming bigger and bigger, this has become more destructive than what we might actually realize, and on a wider scale.

Even as the United States began to feel the onset of a recession (due to crisis of overproduction) coming on in the middle of 2001, the economic and political leaders respond by attempting to encourage people to spend more. The Economist is worth quoting to highlight that:

SHOPPING: it's long been one of America's favourite pastimes, but more recently it has taken centre stage in the battle to prevent the world's biggest economy from sliding into recession. As share prices have plunged along with profits, and layoffs have soared, it has sometimes seemed this year as if the American consumer's addiction to retail therapy was incurable. That's just as well, because consumer spending has been the main reason the economy has not dipped into recession this year. But now there are signs that even America's heroic spendthrifts may be losing heart.

Spend, spend, spend, The Economist, August 31st 2001

This over-production and over-capacity (due to over-estimating the expected demands) partly due to under consumption leads to dominant companies attempting to consolidate losses and maintaining profits via things like mergers and layoffs etc. However, even in wealthier nations, it cannot be a guaranteed success.

Yet poor countries suffer immensely. For example, when the financial crisis hit Asia around 1997, at a time of enormous production, collapse meant that western corporations were able to pick up almost entire industries on the cheap. This helped destroy growing competition, as the situation was getting so competitive and fierce, that the best way (for those who can) to ride through this was to buy out others, merge or consolidate. While capital fled to the West and there was a temporary boom, as exemplified by the hi-tech sector in the U.S., overproduction was likely to catch up, as it seems to have now. Hence the West were consuming on borrowed time and resources from the poor. As Robbins said, someone has to pay.

Another way then, for industries to continue growth and profitability etc, is to try and create demand. Markets may have to be created where there were none before. But, as a result, the following effects can occur:

Demands need to be created where there may have been none previously, or may be minimally.

Luxuries can therefore be encouraged to become necessities.

The commodification of food, the impact of policies such as structural adjustment policies and conditionalities have led to mass production of the same commodities from many regions, mostly exported to the wealthy nations.

But the huge price war leads to price depressions.

Mass consumption increases in the wealthy nations that receive these exports at cheap prices and demands are further increased.

Poor producers are further marginalized as the wealthy export producers use even more resources for the drive for further profits to meet this demand.

Additional requirements are made on the environment to produce even more.

Boom and bust cycles lead to various dynamics, such as

During booms, there is more consumption in wealthy areas, and from poorer areas there are more people migrating towards rich countries.

During busts, further poverty, increasing anti-immigrant rhetoric, and in poor countries especially, pushing the already marginalized onto additional lands because the best lands are already owned and controlled. In worse cases, conflicts can also result.

(Of course, there are many other complex factors, both causes and effects. For more examples, see various sections within the causes of poverty part of this web site.)

When looking at the destruction of rain forests in Central America, a similar pattern to what is mentioned above was observed by John Vandermeer and Ivette Perfecto, in their book Breakfast of Biodiversity: The Truth About Rain Forest Destruction, (Food First, 1995), and also highlighted by editor Douglas H. Boucher, The Paradox of Plenty; Hunger in a Bountiful World, (Food First, 1999), pp. 86-87. Summarizing that here:

The patterns of inter-related issues that would affect forest destruction could be seen in many different areas, such as banana production, citrus and other fruits, rubber tree plantations, and other commodities. Yet, these were similar politically if quite distinct biologically, and would typically include the following stages:

1. Visionary capitalists identify an economic opportunity for the market expansion of an agricultural product

2. They purchase (or steal, or bribe into a government concession) some land, including land that may contain rain forest, which is promptly cut down.

3. They import workers to produce products

4. After a period of boom the product goes bust on the world market which leads to cut backs, layoffs, etc.

5. Those laid off must seek other means to survive, and in poor countries and rural areas that may mean growing subsistence crops on marginal lands

6. The only place the now unemployed workers can find land no one will kick them off of is in the forest, which means yet more forest is converted to agriculture.

They continue to point out the flaws in the accepted Malthusian theories of population growth placing demands on natural resources. An environmental group in India, Centre for Science and Environment, captures this in a simple cartoon graphic:

© Centre for Science and Environment Campaign on Forests

(See also this web site's population section for more on population debates, and this site's section on biodiversity for more about deforestation and other issues around biodiversity and its importance.)

Some examples/case studies

There are many products and industries where one can identify such patterns. We will look at some of these next.

Tobacco and obesity are, in a way, simpler examples that many can see being related to the more negative aspects of consumption encouraged by corporate capitalism. These two are looked at first.

On the pages after that, we then look at two stark examples that we may not often think about: sugar and beef consumption.

The consumption of these have not historically been as high as they are today.

Yet, sugar plantations during colonial times, for example, was a major employer of slaves and continues to be a major contributor to environmental degradation, poverty, health costs and all manner of wasted and diverted wealth.

Cattle raising has often led to clearing of rainforests, such as parts of the Amazon - not to feed local people however, but for fast food restaurants, such as McDonalds. Such demands then serve to meet the needs of producers.

The example of bananas discussed earlier, and how that has affected forests, environmental sustainability, economies of entire regions, etc. is also discussed in more depth after sugar and beef.

There are also numerous examples of how conflict and war can be fueled partly because of demands placed on resources, the want to maintain a certain way of life, even if it is wasteful, etc. Examples include, but are not limited to:

various conflicts in Africa (such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, etc) for resources to be exported to the west, such as diamonds, wood, coltan (without which computer chips can't work),

the historic domination and influence of the Middle East for oil,

for the support of dictatorships by the west, such as previously in Indonesia to support massacres and invasion of East Timor (also for oil and other resources)

of oil multinationals being accused for killing local and indigenous people,

and so on.

Even the Cold War (which we often just dismiss away as an ideological battle, but behind the ideology was access to resources) was such a battle.

Many of these are already presented in other contexts throughout this site and links to these are provided at the end of this site's section on consumption.

These are not complete examples, and of course, over time more will be added here and throughout the site.

Looking at some of these examples next will further highlight how in various ways there is enormous waste structured within our system of the current form of corporate capitalism.

Author and Page Information

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The effects of the way things are produced and consumed today have impacts all around the world. Today's consumption is a major cause of environmental degradation. It is also a backbone to globalization in its current form and this often maintains disparities between the rich and poor.

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Ms. Avani and Mr. Jonas reviewed our solution to the problem of clothing sustainability where they have given relevant insights and suggestions. They are both advocates of the topic so they know more of the possible obstacles that we may encounter along the way.

Although Ms. Anna Varona handled a different setting of waste problems, she was able to give us advice as to how we can address financial matters of our solution. Additionally, she mentioned the need to likewise recognize and address the issue of consumer complacency that may arise in our solution.

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Ms. Avani promotes fashion sustainability in India which is a more pressing issue in their country compared to the Philippines. We have talked to her on November 20 where she mentioned that our solution is a good idea but we have to be more cautious of the skills that people need to sort clothing. Additionally, the clothes should be removed of their tags and branding. She also suggested that we could instead buy the clothing and do the repurposing ourselves.

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Fast fashion is a business model based on the replication of catwalk trends and high-fashion designs. As it is a copycat, fast fashion rapidly produces high volumes of clothing at a low cost to instantly meet consumer demands. As a result, there is a shift in an industry-wide movement towards increasing amounts of clothing consumption. In the Philippines, a majority of adults throw away clothing in the last year and some even throw it after wearing it only once. This habit contributes to the increasing waste in the clothing industry.

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Why Regulations aren't Solving the Fashion Industry's Environmental Problem. (Lauren, 2019). 

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Laws and regulations only address the clothing industry's environmental problems in the theoretical sense only. Government bodies are unlikely to be able to keep track of every stage of clothing production. Apart from this, developing countries have a weak organizational structure which makes it even harder for clothing manufacturers to be held accountable.

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and how marketing will...

The fashion industry is the second-largest polluting industry in the world (second only to the oil industry). There are a ton of agencies, collectives, and initiatives that have taken on the task of setting standards for regulation of the fashion industry, but how are they enforced?

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Why Regulations aren't Solving the Fashion Industry's Environmental Problem

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The fashion industry is the second-largest polluting industry in the world (second only to the oil industry). There are a ton of agencies, collectives, and initiatives that have taken on the task of setting standards for regulation of the fashion industry, but how are they enforced?

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As initiatives on sustainability spur, the pressure on both producers and consumers is heightened. This may lead to a negative outlook on sustainability if not properly marketed. Moreover, government initiatives may work against the sustainability efforts of companies through the imposition of taxes that could potentially reduce the moral responsibility of the clothing companies.

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Ethical or smart consumerism is a movement that aims to align purchases to a particular ethical issue such as human rights, animal welfare, and environmental sustainability. In essence, smart consumerism is a label for both supply and demand-side actors to appeal to what they believe is morally right. The combination of ethics in shopping is becoming a mainstream concept where the backlash is generated when companies produce goods and services that lead to social and/or environmental damage.

In the fashion industry, smart consumers are more mindful of the manufacturing process as well as the fabric of their clothes. They aim to know the truth behind products and brands particularly on how it impacts the environment and society. Subscribing to local brands and even second-hand clothing is another way toward smart consumerism.

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What Does Slow Fashion 'Actually' Mean? (Marquis, 2021)

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In simpler terms, slow fashion is the opposite of fast fashion. Slow fashion advocates for better-quality and longer-lasting garments to combat the fast production of clothing materials. Likewise, slow fashion is an approach that considers all aspects of the supply chain in producing clothes. As a result, it aims to respect people, the environment, and animals in the production process.

As such, slow fashion is achieved through environment-friendly and ethical production leading to a change in consumer spending patterns and beliefs.

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Encircled's Sr Production Manager Nina Boschman and Charmain Bertraim, the Owner of Toronto Studios ... [+]
Encircled

On average Americans buy a new piece of clothing every five days. Prices are so cheap that clothing is now seen as essentially disposable. According to a McKinsey study, for every five new garments produced each year, three garments are disposed of. Incredibly, research has shown that 90% of our clothing is thrown away before it needs to be.

The rise of this fast fashion has created large-scale environmental and social side-effects. For instance Zara alone produces about 840 million pieces of clothing for sale in its 6,000 stores around the world each year, mostly by workers whose wages are below the poverty line. In China, India and Bangladesh, once prosperous rivers have been destroyed by these very same factory wastewater discharges; they have now become biological dead zones full of carcinogenic chemicals. Additionally, the tiny plastic microfibers that fall from synthetic clothing during the laundry process are flooding our water supply and food chain.

But some brands are pushing back against these trends and focusing more on "slow fashion," producing clothes with trendless designs and premium, long-lasting quality. For example, one company that is working in this area is Toronto-based, Encircled, one of the few apparel brands in Canada that is a B Corp, so certified for their social and environmental performance. Encircled's factories are in Toronto, Canada, and they are OEKO-TEX(R) 100 Certified, meaning that no harmful substances are used to make their clothing, just sustainably sourced, ultra-soft fabrics. They are also transparent about their materials and provide an online listing of their core fabrics.

As part of my research on purpose-driven businesses, I recently had a chance to catch-up Kristi Soomer, founder of Encircled. Below is an edited excerpt of our on-line discussion.

Christopher Marquis: Why did you found Encircled?

Kristi Soomer: I founded Encircled in 2012 with a mission to design clothing that would enable women to travel light, and to do so without sacrificing comfort or style. Over the years, the brand has evolved into focusing on how our customers can create a streamlined capsule wardrobe at home. We believe the most sustainable thing you can do is to wear all the clothing in your closet. So, we design multi-functional, timeless, comfortable, and stylish pieces that we know customers will feel confident reaching for any day of the week. All our clothing is proudly made in Toronto, Canada from sustainably sourced fabrics, which we're super transparent about! We believe in making clothing without compromises - our customers receive genuine sustainable pieces that are stylish and that will last a lifetime. Encircled is the wardrobe that does it all.

Marquis: What does slow fashion mean?

Soomer: Slow Fashion is an approach to producing clothing which takes into consideration all aspects of the supply chain and in doing so, aims to respect people, the environment, and animals. It also means spending more time on the design process, ensuring that each piece of apparel is quality made.

Fast Fashion retailers have taught us that more is better, and thereby have created a huge consumption issue. The fast fashion industry is driving down quality, exploiting the environment and their workers to create cheap garments that do not last. Slow fashion is the exact opposite of this. It's about creating mindful, curated collections based on quality finishes, versus pumping out large quantities of seasonal and trendy clothing.

Our mission at Encircled is simple. We encourage customers to be more thoughtful and intentional about their clothing - and choose pieces that will last a long time in their wardrobe.

Marquis: How many fashion B Corps there are in North America and why do you think there are not more?

Soomer: The B Corporation website states that there approximately 70+ certified B Corporations in the fashion space in North America. In Canada, where Encircled is based, there are approximately 15 fashion B Corps., with only a handful being female founded.

In my opinion, I believe that there are not more Certified B Corps in the fashion industry because it's an extremely hard certification to gain - and for good reason! To become a Certified B Corp, apparel brands and companies alike need to demonstrate that they are committed to balancing profits with a purpose that has a positive impact on the community and meets high environmental and transparency standards. Many fashion brands in North Americ have not yet prioritized a sustainable and ethical supply chain as a top priority. Additionally, the certification process can be a deterant, especially for smaller brands because of the time and resource investment required to get through the assessment and certification.

For fashion brands (and other companies) to receive B Corp Certification, they are measured on various aspects of their business, including governance, workers, community and engagement. Each Certified B Corp receives an 'Impact Score Card' that outlines their performance and rating, and companies must achieve at least 80 out of 200 points to gain certification. To ensure transparency, this information can be publicy viewed on the B Corp website, allowing the public to view any potential shortcomings, which some apparel brands may view as a hindrance. I personally view this score as a way to continue building our brand and making it the best that it can be.

Marquis: What have been the benefits and challenges of gaining B Corp certification?

Soomer: There are numerous benefits of obtaining becoming a Certified B Corp for both companies and consumers. From a business perspective, it allows customers to trust that our actions are consistent with all the standards we advertise. You can trust what you're seeing as the company's values and actions are vetted.

That said, it is a thorough process to go through to get qualified, and companies need to renew their certification every three years. We are constantly having to consider how our business impacts everyone along the way, not just shareholders. This includes our supply chain, processes at our office headquarters, materials used, etc.

Ultimately, it is 100 percent worth it because it helps us to create a great working environment for our employees and stakeholders, and our customers trust that they are making a positive impact with their decision to purchase from Encircled.

Marquis: What are your top 3 recommendations to create a more sustainable fashion industry?

Soomer: Creating a more sustainable fashion industry requires a multi-faceted approach. It's such a broad issue that touches all areas of the apparel supply chain - from raw materials to the end of lifecycle of a garment.

The first recommendation is for consumers to actively become more curious and intentional with their clothing purchases. Thirty years ago, we each owned way less items in our closet on average and the fashion industry had 2-4 seasons. Now, fast fashion brands produce up to 5,000 styles a week, with many of them operating with 52 'micro-seasons.' This creates a huge consumption issue. In general, we've found that most people only wear about 20% of the clothing in their closet, so a great start is for consumers to focus on being mindful - only purchasing what they need, investing in trendless pieces vs. trendy and focusing on quality over quantity with clothing purchases.

Secondly, I recommend more regulation, accountability, and transparency in the fashion industry. It is still a very secretive industry, with many brands hiding where they produce, what they pay and how workers are treated. Forcing brands to be accountable for their actions in countries other than their own, is a big step towards intensifying big brands to pay living wages and to be more accountable for working conditions in the garment industry. If there's no accountability on the brand's part, it's too easy for fashion brands to not take an interest in the full lifecycle of their garment production. This includes learning about how the raw materials are harvested to make the yarn, needed to knit and the dyes used, and how a customer should dispose of a garment when they're done wearing it.

Third, the media needs to bring more attention and awareness to brands that are doing good things in the fashion industry. There are thousands of small batch and slow fashion brands globally that have emerged with ethical supply chains over the past decade. Yet, the large media share of voice goes towards the big brands, who can afford to buy it. Featuring more up and coming brands who have genuine sustainability and ethics built into the core of their business model will create awareness and showcase that problems need to be solved, and help consumers make better choices.

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Slow fashion has developed as a counterpoint to the wasteful trends of fast fashion. Buy these new brands are tired of seeing compromise such as style for comfort or quality for price. Enter Encircled, a slow fashion brand that focuses on trendless designs and premium, long-lasting quality.

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Difficulty of Conducting a Cultural Shift

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Difficulty of Conducting a Cultural Shift

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Consumerism is deeply rooted in the mindsets of consumers. This is partly due to the support of corporations that illicit monetary gains from this culture and long-standing natural coercion from industrialization that had people "get used to" the bargaining as well as the buy-and-throw culture. Since new things are constantly being made, the novelty of such items gains traction and consumers feel the need to buy what is better from this standpoint. In reality, better buying should mean not necessarily novel items, but simply items that serve their purpose well for a long time.

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Why clothes are so hard to recycle. (Beall, 2020). 

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- The fashion industry comprises 10% of total greenhouse gas emissions and 20% of all water waste.
- Recycling of materials used for clothing is only at 12%.
- Dumped textiles by 2030 are estimated to be 134 million tons annually.

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The rise of fast fashion is largely behind the growing amounts of clothing we buy and throw away each year (Credit: Press Association)

Fast fashion is leading to a mountain of clothing being thrown away each year and has a huge impact on the environment, so can we turn our unwanted garments into something useful?

Open your wardrobe and be honest. How long was it since you last wore some of those clothes? Do you think it might be time for a clear out?

Languishing in the back of cupboards and bottom of drawers are outfits that don't fit any more, items that have gone out of fashion, or even clothes that have never been worn. In fact, according to research conducted by sociologist Sophie Woodward at the University of Manchester, on average 12% of clothes in the wardrobes of women she studied could be considered "inactive".

If you were brutal, you'll probably manage to fill a bin-bag or two with clothes you no longer want or need. But what then?

Around 85% of all textiles thrown away in the US - roughly 13 million tonnes in 2017 - are either dumped into landfill or burned. The average American has been estimated to throw away around 37kg of clothes every year. And globally, an estimated 92 million tonnes of textiles waste is created each year and the equivalent to a rubbish truck full of clothes ends up on landfill sites every second. By 2030, we are expected as a whole to be discarding more than 134 million tonnes of textiles a year.

Millions of tonnes of clothing, shoes and other textiles end up in landfill every year because very little is sent for recycling (Credit: Alamy)

"The current fashion system uses high volumes of non-renewable resources, including petroleum, extracted to produce clothes that are often used only for a short period of time, after which the materials are largely lost to landfill or incineration," says Chetna Prajapati, who studies ways of making sustainable textiles at Loughborough University in the UK.

"This system puts pressure on valuable resources such as water, pollutes the environment and degrades ecosystems in addition to creating societal impacts on a global scale."

There are good reasons to seek out alternatives to chucking clothes in the bin - globally the fashion industry is responsible for 10% of all greenhouse gas emissions, with textile production alone is estimated to release 1.2 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere every year. Vast amounts of water are also needed to produce the clothes we wear too and the fashion industry is responsible for 20% of global waste water. ( Read more about the impact our fashion addiction has on the planet.)

At the same time we are buying more clothes than ever - the average consumer now buys 60% more clothing than they did 15 years ago. More than two tonnes of clothing are bought each minute in the UK, more than any other country in Europe. Globally, around 56 million tonnes of clothing are bought each year, and this is expected to rise to 93 million tonnes by 2030 and 160 million tonnes by 2050.

While most clothes with care will last many years, changing fashions mean their lifespan is artificially shortened by consumers changing tastes. Industry figures suggest modern clothing will have a lifespan of between 2-10 years - with underwear and t-shirts lasting just one to two years, while suits and coats last for around four to six years.

Would recycling our clothes help to reduce the toll our fashion addiction has on the environment?

Currently just 13.6% of clothes and shoes thrown away in the US end up being recycled - while the average American throws away 37kg of clothes every year. Globally just 12% of the material used for clothing ends up being recycled. Compare that to paper, glass and plastic PET bottles - which have recycling rates of 66%, 27% and 29% respectively in the US - and it is clear clothing lags behind.

Indeed, most of the recycled polyester being used now by leading fashion brands in fact comes from bottles rather than old clothing.

Much of the problem comes down to what our clothes are made from. The fabrics we drape over our bodies are complex combinations of fibres, fixtures and accessories. They are made from problematic blends of natural yarns, mand-made filaments, plastics and metals.

"For example, a 100% cotton t-shirt contains many other components such as labels and sewing threads which are usually made from another material like polyester," says Prajapati. "Similarly, a typical pair of jeans are made from cotton yarn which is generally blended with elastane, and other components such as zips and buttons and polyester sewing thread and dyed using a range of dyes."

Sorting clothing by hand is a time consuming task made more complicated by the many blends of man-made and natural fibres used in modern garments (Credit: Getty Images)

This makes them hard to separate so they can be effectively recycled. Sorting textiles into different fibres and material types by hand is labour intensive, slow and requires a skilled workforce. Growing use of modern fabric blends in clothing also makes it hard to do this mechanically too, although European researchers have been developing techniques that make use of hyperspectral cameras - which can see light beyond the limits of human vision - to better identify different fabric types. Once sorted, the dyes that have been applied to the fabrics need to be removed in order for yarns to be reused.

Currently, however, very few of the clothes that are sent to be recycled are actually turned into new clothing - a process known as "material to material" recycling. Old wool jumpers, for example, can be turned into carpets, cashmere can be recycled into suits. But as of 2015, less than 1% of used clothing was recycled in this way.

While of course there is a healthy market in second-hand clothes being sold online, perhaps the most popular way of disposing of old clothes is simply to give them away so they can be reused through charity shops. Increasingly, however, clothes donations are being used as a way of simply passing on the textile waste problem to others.

At Oxfam's Wastesaver clothes sorting and recycling plant in Batley, Yorkshire, UK, 80 tonnes of old clothes pass through the factory every week. Lorraine Needham Reid, Oxfam's Wastesaver manager, has worked at the plant for over 10 years. Over that time, however, she has seen a real decline in the quality of clothes that are reaching them, particularly when it comes to the materials used to make the clothes.

These days, most of what reaches Wastesaver will end up never being worn again. Over a third - 35% of the clothes - go to Oxfam's partners in Senegal to be sold. Between 1-3% go back into Oxfam shops around the UK to be re-sold.

The majority is sent for recycling in some way, but about six tonnes of the garments are of such poor quality they are simply torn up so they can be used as industrial cleaning clothes and stuffing for mattresses or car seats.

Fibre recycling technologies do exist, but they are only used on a small scale. Generally, the techniques can be separated into mechanical and chemical recycling.

"Blends are most suitable for mechanical fibre recycling, where fabrics are shredded and pulled to transform them into fibres of shorter length," says Prajapati. Shorter fibre length produces fabrics of lower quality and strength, so the results from this kind of recycling can't be used for clothing. Instead these tend to then be "downcycled" to produce other composite fibre materials such as thermal insulation or carpet for use in the building industry. Some researchers have found ways of creating noise insulation from old textile fibres.

Chemical fibre recycling for fabrics with large quantities of one type of fibre, for example polyester and nylon are well established, says Prajapati. "However, they consist of multiple processes and additional chemicals, making the process and resulting yarn or fabric costly," she says.

Treating cotton-polyester blends with enzymes from fungi can recover the man-made fibres for reuse (Credit: Getty Images)

There has been success on a smaller scale to effectively separate natural and synthetic blends and capture both types of fibres, without losing either fibre in the process. However, scaling up this technology to an industrial scale remains the challenge.

One group of researchers led by Carol Lin, a chemical engineer at the City University of Hong Kong, has developed a technique for recycling fabrics made from cotton and polyester blends by feeding them to fungi. The fungi Aspergillus niger - which typically forms a black mould on grapes - produces an enzyme that can break down the cotton into glucose that can then be used turned into syrup. The remaining pure polyester fibres can then be reused to make new clothing, they claim. Poly-cotton blends are now among the most popular fabrics for use in cheap clothing, commonly used in t-shirts, shirts and even jeans.

Lin and her team have since refined the process so it can be done on a larger scale using industrially produced cellulose enzymes, and have been working with the clothing retailer H&M to examine what impact this recycling process might have on its textile waste.

Austrian researchers have also developed techniques using enzymes that allow them to turn old wool clothing into a material that can be used as a resin or adhesive.

But if we ever hope to make our clothing sustainable, more fundamental changes to the clothing industry will need to be made. Fabrics, fibres and garments will need to be designed in ways that make them easier to recover and recycle.

"Recycling needs to be incorporated into the current system to make it more circular," says Prajapati. "Therefore, the way we design clothes needs to change, it needs to facilitate recycling."

One option is to create new types of materials altogether, from different sources, that either won't have the same impact on the environment or might be easier to recycle. Some are even looking at turning other types of waste - such as off milk - into clothing.

When milk turns sour, it separates into whey at the bottom and protein flakes on top. When you remove the whey, you are left with a kind of cottage cheese.

"This cottage cheese is put into a machine that works like a noodle machine," says Anke Domaske, founder of QMilk, a company that has been developing new types of biodegradable fibres in Hemmingen, Germany. "Together with water you create a dough. At the end there is a spinneret with holes so fine that you do not end up with noodles, but fine fibres that are thinner than hair."

The company then spins these fibres into yarns, which it says have a silk-like texture. These can then be used to make jersey or woven fabrics, or other textiles like felt. Crucially, when a garment made completely from QMilk fibres is no longer wanted, it can simply be composted at home, Domaske says.

QMilk isn't the only company creating textiles from unusual sources.

The dye that is added to clothing also needs to be removed before it the yarn can be recycled (Credit: Getty Images)

After working for years at a design company in Germany, Renana Krebs saw behind the scenes how poor the textiles and clothing industry is for the environment. She vowed to do something about it and in 2016, she started Algalife, making fibres and dyes from algae.

Algae is already widely used in the beauty industry, in certain foods and it is used to make biofuels. "After learning about all those industries, and the benefits that we get from algae, we asked 'why not to do this for textiles?'" says Krebs.

One benefit is the algae are harvested in a closed system, meaning there is no freshwater used in the process at all. All the algae need to grow is water and sunlight. By extracting natural colourings from different types of algae, Krebs and her team have been able to combine these with enzymes and fixative agents - which help to bind the pigment to a fabric - from synthetic and natural sources, including oak galls, pomegranate rind and juniper needles.

They have also been able to produce fibres that can turned into yarns by purifying proteins from the algae or even using them to produce a bio-oil that can be turned into bioplastic fibres.

Prajapati has also been working with colleagues at De Montfort University to produce enzymes that could potentially make the clothes dying process more sustainable.

Currently most textiles are coloured using synthetic dyes, which are petroleum derivatives, and patterned with complex processes. These processes can require temperatures of up to 100C for cotton, nylon and wool, but higher for polyester and other synthetic fibres. On top of this, the process requires high pressures, long processing times and the use of additional chemicals such as acids and alkalis, which are harmful towards the environment in large quantities.

Prajapati and her colleagues have been developing processes that use enzymes so that textile dyes and patterning of fabrics can be done temperatures as low as 50C, at atmospheric pressure and pH conditions around neutral without the use of additional chemicals.

"The key advantages over conventional methods include simpler processing of textiles, the elimination of pre-manufactured dyes and opportunities for multiple colours to be achieved through simple alteration of processing conditions," she says.

Pigments made by Algalife have similar benefits, plus the added benefit of being created from renewable sources, says Krebs. You can even drink the dye they produce, she says. Algalife is now working with a major retail fashion brand and hope to have clothes made from algae in stores by 2021.

Other major brands across the fashion industry are starting to pay attention to the demand for more sustainable practices. Companies like Adidas, that recently announced a range of trainers made from ocean plastic. High street retailer Zara also announced in 2019 that it would be using only sustainable materials by 2025.

The shredding process used by mechanical recycling methods leads to shorter, weaker fibres that cannot be resued to make clothes (Credit: Alamy)

"Using recycled, rather than virgin, materials offers an opportunity to drastically reduce non-renewable resource inputs and the negative impacts of the industry, like CO2 emissions, water and chemical use," says Prajapati.

But some are sceptical about how committed some large brands are to sustainability, accusing them of "greenwashing", which the companies deny.

Zara was one of the original inventors of the fast fashion system as we know it, says Clare Press, Australian Vogue's sustainability editor-at-large and author of the book Wardrobe Crisis. "Let's not pretend people shop at Zara for heirlooms to pass down through the generations," she says. "In the last 20 years the fashion system has changed completely, moving away from seasonal drops towards near-instant gratification. Waiting six months for a runway look seems crazy to a new generation of fashion fans raised on Instagram and 'see now, buy now'."

So while recycling and more sustainable fabrics will be a key part of the solution, consumers too will need to change their behaviour if we hope to lessen the impact that the fashion industry is having on our planet.

"We need to slow down, take a little time to reconnect with our clothes and appreciate them again," says Press. "Remember that whatever you are wearing, it took both physical and creative resources to make it."

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Fast fashion is leading to a mountain of clothing being thrown away each year and has a huge impact on the environment, so can we turn our unwanted garments into something useful?

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The Philippines has a lot of businesses that sell second-hand or ukay-ukay and overrun clothes which are low-priced compared to branded clothes. A number of Filipinos prefer these types of clothes as they fit into the budget and are trendy. As these stores grow in number, many wastes are potentially created since not all can be sold in the market. In light of this, the unmarketable clothes can be upcycled or repurposed into insulation materials or compost. This prevents the clothes from immediately being sold to rag makers at a very low price since rags are more short-lived.

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"The more the merrier"

Modern consumerism is a byproduct of a capitalist society that promotes spending or consuming more products to increase happiness and satisfaction. The possession of goods has become a symbol of wealth and contentment making people want more. Bad purchasing habits and fads are cultivated in people's lifestyles. Additionally, a bargain shopping culture is established.

Both the environment and the people suffer from the effects of modern consumerism but people are consumed by capitalism that blinds them to the long-run negative implications. This challenge affects the viability of future generations and of their capabilities given the deterioration of the environment.

Corporations stand to make the most monetary gains from the ongoing consumerist culture. Cheaply sold products feed this culture while hiding the long-term environmental costs of production. In a broader perspective, the non-monetary costs of overconsumption, hence, overproduction, will affect everyone and create irreversible losses for all including future generations.

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A long and withstanding history of capitalism and consumerism continues to exist in today's world. The capitalist society has taken roots in people's mindset which makes it difficult to displace. However, hope is seen as the concept of minimalism emerged. The movement toward a minimalist lifestyle has begun to gain popularity. This means that people possess only what is necessary and brings joy thus allowing for greater saving instead of spending.

Wearing the same set of clothes every day is being normalized as Mark Zuckerberg, the co-founder of Meta, wears the same t-shirt daily. Zuckerberg's reasons are not about sustainability but he helped in breaking the stigma in fashion.

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Small businesses have made their way towards the fashion industry as they advocate for sustainable and ethical clothing. They have different approaches to sustainability such as slow fashion, handmade, local fabrics, and upcycling which makes each of them unique. Instagram often serves as their selling platform wherein various news articles have publicized them in recognition of their advocacy on sustainability.

In terms of decluttering old clothes, a start-up named Humble Sustainability in the Philippines accepts these and finds them a new purpose. Its business model is a circular economy that reuses, recycles, or upcycles clothes and other things that would otherwise be disposed of in the garbage bin.

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Fashion Revolution Philippine Impact Report

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Fashion Revolution Philippine Impact Report

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Fashion Revolution PH is an organization that publishes relevant information for the use of the general public to know more about textile waste. The Impact Report is an annual report on how the organization has campaigned for cultural change, policy change, and industry change over the year.

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Downside of Sustainable Clothing Business

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Downside of Sustainable Clothing Business

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Sustainable clothing is known for having better-quality materials and an ethical production process which increases the cost of production. As such, brands that offer sustainable and ethical clothing are relatively more expensive compared to other brands like those under fast fashion. This high price hinders potential consumers from buying their products in spite of their advocacy and money's worth. Additionally, a lot of Filipinos are price-sensitive as a result of their low earning capacity.

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Lack of Consumer Awareness and Initiative 

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Lack of Consumer Awareness and Initiative 

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The Philippines has higher-level issues that must be solved such as education, labor force, and health. However, we believe that the issue of sustainability should not be disregarded just because it does not seem urgent. As such, There is a need to bolster consumer awareness and initiative in order to uplift the goal of sustainability in the country.

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In order to address the gap, we must prioritize raising awareness among Filipinos. As consumers possess greater power in the market with their money as a form of 'vote' compared to sellers, consumers can be empowered by giving them more sustainable alternatives. People can also start small businesses that promote sustainable clothing given that there are abundant resources such as ukay-ukay stores and local fabrics. Additionally, it is important to educate consumers to fight against the stigma second-hand clothes. This can be done by providing relevant statistics to consumer regarding clothing wastes and ensuring that any marketing initiatives is carefully targeted to make the solutions appealing to the consumers.

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Six things you didn't know about the true cost of fast fashion. (Mikolajczak, 2019). 

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Effects of High Volume Clothing Production 

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Effects of High Volume Clothing Production 

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- Excessive water waste and use of insecticides and pesticides in cotton production.
- Huge carbon footprints from the production and transportation of clothes.
- Water pollution of microplastics from clothes.
- Widespread human rights violation in developing countries.

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From crop tops to mum jeans and bombers, fashion trends are making their way into wardrobes around the world faster than ever, thanks to social media, its thousands of influencers, and the enormous business opportunity it represents for brands.

As for consumers, being trendy has never been easier! Low-cost online retailers allow fashionistas to renew their wardrobes quickly, and for about the cost of a Starbucks latte.

But this comes at a significant environmental cost. While sustainable and ethical fashion is gaining ground, the fashion industry is still one of the most harmful.

Here's why:
1. Up to 100 billion new garments are made every year
Long gone is the time when fashion followed the cycle of natural seasons: Spring/Summer, Fall/Winter. The majority of clothes bought today are what's referred to as fast fashion-where low-quality garments are mass-produced by workers who're paid incredibly low wages so that retailers can sell them at unbeatable prices. The turnover can be up to 50 collections a year. Yes, that's almost a new collection every week.

Overall, it is estimated that the amount of garments produced annually has doubled since the early 2000s reaching up to 100 billion pieces per year in 2014. That's nearly 14 items of clothing for every person on earth.
2. Cotton is the most water-intensive crop
When it comes to the raw materials used by the textile industry, the two main categories are natural and synthetic. Most clothes are made from cotton. But while it's understandable that shoppers might think it's eco-friendly, it definitely isn't.

Cotton production relies heavily on pesticides. While only 2.4 percent of the world's arable land is planted with cotton,24 percentof the world's insecticides and 11 percent of pesticides are used to grow it.

Cotton is also the most water-intensive crop. Between 7,000 to 29,000 litres of water are required to produce one kilogram of cotton. This comes at a heavy price for the environment, and the communities living near cotton production facilities.
3. Billions of microplastics end up in the ocean
Polyester, acrylic, nylon and other synthetic fibres: Consumers love them in workout clothes, swimsuits and even basics such as tee shirts. These fabrics are made from petroleum and are believed to make up 60 percent of the clothing we wear.

Why is that a problem? According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature,35 percent of microplastics that enter the ocean come from synthetic fibres. Every time we wash clothing made of these fibres, they shred. Up to 728,000 fibres can come off at once, spilling into waterways and contributing to the pollution of our ocean and environment.

Overall, microplastics from fashion could be even more damaging than plastics from the food or packaging industry.
4. Fashion has a huge carbon footprint
For economic reasons, most of the fashion supply chain from crop cultivation and production of synthetic fibres, to sewing, dyeing, and selling of the clothes, takes place in different parts of the world. Garments, especially those sold by fast fashion retailers, travel thousands of kilometres by plane or boat to reach their destination.

This, combined with the vast amount of energy used in both the supply chain and the consumer phase, makes for a heavy carbon footprint. A 2018 study by Quantis showed that the apparel and footwear industry together account for more thaneight percent of global climate impacts. That would translate into more greenhouse gas emissions than all international flights and maritime shipping trips combined, according to theEllen MacArthur Foundation.
5. The industry creates massive waste
We produce billions of new garments every year. But where do they all go? A lot end up in landfills. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation estimates agarbage truck of textiles is wasted every second.

Fast fashion encourages customers to keep buying the latest trends. The quantity of unworn clothing in the average fashionista's closet just keeps increasing.

A family in the western world throws away an average of 30 kilograms of clothing each year. Seventy-three percent of that will be burned or buried in a landfill. What does get collected for recycling-around 12 percent-will likely end up being shredded and used to stuff mattresses, or made into insulation or cleaning cloths. Less than one percent of what is collected will be used to make new clothing; a missed opportunity both economically and for the planet.
6. There is widespread human rights abuse
In recent years, unsafe working conditions in clothing factories around the globe have provoked widespread outrage. Garment workers often have to endure heavy labour abuses. From sexual and verbal harassment, low wages and lack of union protection, these workers often do their jobs in a state of fear and uncertainty.

Guaranteeing a safe work environment and giving garment workers a voice has to be a priority for the industry.
What can we do?
As consumers, we have a huge role to play in fighting the negative effects of fashion by changing the way we shop.

But while sustainable fashion, second-hand clothing, and other alternatives are becoming increasingly available, the burden shouldn't just lie with consumers. Businesses must take responsibility for their actions and governments need to provide regulations that hold the industry accountable for the harm it is causing.

Tackling those global and complex issues requires more than a shift in an individual's shopping habits, it requires a system change.

Read more about the Green Seeds Project.

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goal 08: decent work and economic growth

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Six things you didn't know about the true cost of fast fashion | United Nations Development Programme

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From crop tops to mum jeans and bombers, fashion trends are making their way into wardrobes around the world faster than ever, thanks to social media, its thousands of influencers, and the enormous business opportunity it represents for brands. As for consumers, being trendy has never been easier!

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Ethical Consumerism. (Kirchhoff, n.d.). 

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Anti-consumerism is a social ideology that goes against consumerism which is the notion that the continuous acquisition of goods and services leads to the most satisfaction. This movement bases itself on the premise that the purchase of a good or service does not only entail the consumption of such but also the process used to create them. This movement emphasizes shifting the role of corporations to serve their shareholders in profit-taking but also considers the stakeholders involved in the business process. This movement empowers consumers to use consumption to orient manufacturers into what and how a good or service ought to be produced.

As consumers possess the power to make the company prosper or fail, they are held more accountable for their purchases. Anti-consumerism has given rise to slow fashion with its transparent supply chain operations that ensure sustainability to the shoppers. As the opposite of fast fashion, slow fashion is constructed at a sustainable pace.

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ethical consumerism, form of political activism based on the premise that purchasers in markets consume not only goods but also, implicitly, the process used to produce them. From the point of view of ethical consumerism, consumption is a political act that sanctions the values embodied in a product's manufacture. By choosing certain products over others, or even whether to purchase at all, consumers can embrace or reject particular environmental and labour practices and make other value claims based on the ethical values they hold. Exercising choice in this way creates incentives for producers to make production practices conform to consumer values. Successful campaigns waged by ethical consumer movements have popularized dolphin-free tuna, foods that are free of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), sweatshop-free clothing, fair-trade coffee, cosmetic products free from animal testing, and conflict-free diamonds.

The idea of using consumption as a lever of political change is rooted in boycotts organized by social movements against products, firms, and even countries, including opposition to apartheid in South Africa and the military junta in Myanmar (Burma). As production continues to migrate from the developed to the developing world, thereby escaping the regulatory spheres of Western nation-states, consumer activists increasingly see ethical consumerism as an extralegal way to influence labour and environmental practices in faraway places. Ethical consumerism, according to its most ardent advocates, potentially stands as a novel form of postnational politics in which consumer-citizens reshape the practice of global capitalism from the bottom up.

Ethical consumerism entails two key shifts in how markets are conceived. First, consumer goods, once thought of as objects without a history, are redefined to include the ethical (and unethical) decisions made in the production process. Second, the act of consumption itself becomes a political choice, not unlike voting, so that democratic values come to be exercised in the market. Redefining consumption in this way challenges the premise underlying current market structures, in which legal mechanisms such as confidentiality agreements and intellectual property rights are often invoked to shroud the details of production from the inquiring public. The protest lodged by the ethical consumerism movement against these dominant arrangements constitutes an explicit attempt to renegotiate the boundary between politics and the market.

The codes of conduct created by ethical consumerist movements to ensure that production practices remain true to certain values themselves embody controversial notions of political representation. What counts as a fair wage or environmentally sustainable practice remains contested across political, cultural, and socioeconomic contexts. Critics see ethical consumerism as a dangerous marketization of ethics whereby the values of wealthy consumers "go global," unfairly constraining the freedom of others. These critics charge that consumerist movements in advanced countries are too quick to equate their preferences with the best interest of the labourers and environmental concerns on whose behalf they purport to act. Underpinning the practice of ethical consumerism is thus the presumption that consumption, a process driven by the global distribution of wealth, can serve as an effective surrogate for other, more traditional forms of democratic representation, such as voting. Whether ethical consumerism becomes an effective means of economic governance in the postnational order remains to be seen.

Christopher Kirchhoff

Learn More in these related Britannica articles:

genetically modified organism

genetically modified organism (GMO), organism whose genome has been engineered in the laboratory in order to favour the expression of desired physiological traits or the generation of desired biological products. In conventional livestock production, crop farming, and even pet breeding, it has long been the practice to breed select individuals...

sweatshop, workplace in which workers are employed at low wages and under unhealthy or oppressive conditions. In England, the word sweater was used as early as 1850 to describe an employer who exacted monotonous work for very low wages. "Sweating" became widespread in the 1880s, when immigrants from eastern and...

consumption, in economics, the use of goods and services by households. Consumption is distinct from consumption expenditure, which is the purchase of goods and services for use by households. Consumption differs from consumption expenditure primarily because durable goods, such as automobiles,...

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ethical consumerism | political activism

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ethical consumerism, form of political activism based on the premise that purchasers in markets consume not only goods but also, implicitly, the process used to produce them. From the point of view of ethical consumerism, consumption is a political act that sanctions the values embodied in a

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Industries: Cotton. (World Wild Life (WWF), n.d.)

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- Cotton makes up around half of all textiles and is a profitable crop.
- The production of cotton is environmentally unsustainable.
- A t-shirt made of cotton requires 2, 700 liters of water.

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Aside from consuming less, minimalism has grown to "conscious consumption" in general. Meaning, it also captures buying products with better quality materials in order to buy less. Hence, minimalism ensures that what is bought serves its purpose until the very end of its ensured long life span.

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Large fashion companies such as Adidas, H&M, and Levi's have committed themselves to the advocacy of sustainability. These have launched products that are upcycled or produced with less waste. By committing to this journey, they show that sustainability is possible and that others should start their journey as well.

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Beall, A. (2020, July 13). Why clothes are so hard to recycle. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200710-why-clothes-are-so-hard-to-recycle

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Mikolajczak, C. (2019, September 17). Six things you didn't know about the true cost of fast fashion. Retrieved from https://www.undp.org/blog/six-things-you-didnt-know-about-true-cost-fast-fashion?utm_source=EN&utm_medium=GSR&utm_content=US_UNDP_PaidSearch_Brand_English&utm_campaign=CENTRAL&c_src=CENTRAL&c_src2=GSR&gclid=CjwKCAiAm7OMBhAQEiwArvGi3LlO-f3MEYfEp9FF8HoB_vMrW7xZnMJ7PDf2mk12B5ivSWpwNoPnIhoCM_gQAvD_BwE

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Although solutions involving the upcycling of clothes are already widely known, the segregation of clothing wastes requires high levels of manpower which most individuals or companies do not bother to go through with.

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Globalization and its Impact on Consumer Culture and Competition Policy. (Jain, 2015)

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Globalization is playing its role in setting the standards for responsible production and consumption. Global regulations are shifting to a greater goal of sustainability and striking the balance between the benefits of current and future generations. The market is currently changing its focus from the sellers to the consumers as consumer awareness is emphasized. This gives consumers more freedom of choice and grants them better access to more ethical options.

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16 Pages Posted: 9 May 2016 Last revised: 11 May 2016

Date Written: November 9, 2015

Abstract

The change in the global regulation of economy is evident and apparent. The invasion of market-oriented system over the laissez faire policy is accepted on 'the premise that the unrestrained interaction of competitive forces will yield the best allocation of our economic resources, the lowest prices, the highest quality and the greatest material progress.' In any market economy consumers are central to the Government, Producer, and Retailers. The competition policy across the globe is paid heightened attention at both the national and the international level. Consumerism is likely to dominate the Indian market in the next millennium, thanks to the economic reforms ushered in and the several agreements signed under the World Trade Organization. The transition will be from a predominantly "sellers market" to a "buyer's market" where the choice exercised by the consumer will be influenced by the level of consumer awareness achieved. The players are the consumers represented by different voluntary non-government consumer organizations, the Government, the regulatory authorities for goods and services in a competitive economy, the consumer courts, organizations representing trade, industry and service providers, the lawmakers and those in charge of implementation of the laws and law.

Keywords: Globalisation, Consumer, Competition, Government, Producer, WTO, International, Policy

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globalization and its impact on consumer culture and competition policy

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Globalization and its Impact on Consumer Culture and Competition Policy

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The change in the global regulation of economy is evident and apparent. The invasion of market-oriented system over the laissez faire policy is accepted on ’the

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An overall small progress towards textile sustainability can be seen as current consumerism behavior gradually shifts. These small steps in initiatives are yet to impactfully affect the existing fashion industry.

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Shah, A. (2005, August 10). Effects of Consumerism. Retrieved from https://www.globalissues.org/article/238/effects-of-consumerism

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Humble sustainability is a start-up company offering decluttering services for homes and businesses by collecting unwanted items. Their model is a circular economy that gives new life to products that are already unwanted by their previous owners.

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Ms. Arigo is an entrepreneur and founder of Teeforel, a fashion brand that sells reclaimed and repurposed thrift clothing.

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YouGov Staff. (2017, December 6). Fast fashion: a third of Filipinos have thrown away clothing after wearing it just once. YouGov. Retrieved from https://ph.yougov.com/en-ph/news/2017/12/06/fast-fashion/

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Conscious consumption is a movement that raises awareness of the unsustainability of consumerism. Thus, anti-consumerism is simply bringing to light the losses incurred from consumerism,  but not about the monetary gains or the like. With this, people might not fully grasp the need for conscious consumption and consumerism is still more attractive due to the short-term and tangible gains in the form of goods.

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The New Normal: A Discount Mindset Will Deepen Its Grip on Consumers. (BOF Team and McKinsey & Company, 2020). 

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The unforeseen pandemic has disrupted the fashion industry as a result of lockdowns and lower purchasing power of shoppers. Fast fashion brands were compelled to put up excessive discounts on their seasonal clothing lest it loses more value as fads change. Huge inventory build-ups were expected as consumers decide to push back spending on apparel. The pandemic allowed people to rethink their spending and even sustainability as global health is put at risk due to the virus.

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This article appeared first in The State of Fashion 2020 Coronavirus Update, an in-depth report focusing on the themes, issues and opportunities impacting the global fashion industry in the wake of the coronavirus, co-published by BoF and McKinsey & Company. To learn more and download your free copy of the report, click here.
LONDON, United Kingdom - Consumer sentiment is at an all-time low. This has hit the fashion industry especially hard due to the discretionary nature of clothing purchases. In Europe and the US, more than 65 percent of consumers expect to decrease their spending on apparel, while only 40 percent expect to decrease total household spending (see Exhibit 2). What's more, 56 percent of consumers state that their main reason for purchasing clothing during the crisis was special promotions.

Some experts predict that consumer sentiment may never recover to pre-2020 levels as anti-consumerism and economic fallout cast a shadow over global markets, and shoppers are hit hard by a global recession. As of March 2020, 60 percent of consumers in the US already reported that they need to be careful how they spend their money, with more than one-third stating that the pandemic is even impacting their ability to make financial ends meet.

As a result, overfilled warehouses laden with unsold seasonal stock will haunt most players, as long lead times weigh heavily on fashion's supply chain and global consumer appetite for discretionary purchases wavers. Companies will turn to steep discounting to clear inventory for the rest of the year at a minimum, with a risk that "the contagion of deep discounting could spread as quickly as the disease" throughout the industry, reminiscent of the discounting culture that took hold during the 2008 financial crisis and has dogged the industry ever since.

Some retailers in the US estimate that a majority of spring inventory will be leftover due to store closures and a dip in online traffic, conversions and consumer sentiment. Following the imposition of lockdowns across most of Europe and the US, some brands and retailers have stopped fulfilling e-commerce orders entirely, while many of those who remain up and running have resorted to flash and mid-season sales to increase demand. In Italy, the number of items on discount is up 20 percent year-on-year.

In Europe and the US, more than 65 percent of consumers expect to decrease their spending on apparel.

Seasonless stock like intimates is less exposed and can be repurposed later in the year, but most mass-market players will be left with little alternative to slashing prices, with other inventory-reduction plays, such as controversial stock incineration, no longer feasible in times of heightened transparency and sustainability-conscious consumers.

Even after the dust settles, financial turmoil stemming from the crisis will continue. McKinsey and Oxford Economics analysis shows that, even in the most positive economic recovery scenario, GDP will only return to pre-crisis levels by the end of 2020, or even the beginning of 2021. As consumer spending in most advanced economies accounts for roughly two-thirds of the economy, and about half of that is discretionary spend, fashion companies will be left grappling with price deflation and a sharp drop in demand across the board. Evidence from previous crisis shows that it may take up to two years to fully restore consumer confidence, with early numbers from China showing that apparel sales were still down by 50 to 60 percent in the first month after stores re-opened.

We expect different market categories to be impacted by the discounting wave to varying degrees. Mid-market brands and retailers will be hit hardest, as cash-strapped shoppers trade down to the value segment for essentials and middle-class consumers turn more to heavily discounted affordable luxury and premium goods.

In the luxury segment, we expect consumers to return more quickly to paying full price for quality, timeless goods, as was the case after the 2008-2009 financial crisis. For luxury brands, however, the discounting challenge is exacerbated by the need to preserve reputation and image, making it crucial to avoid steep discounting, or at least discount in a more controlled way through off-price channels. Brands will need to find innovative ways to work with wholesalers and e-tailers - which might even include inventory swaps to prevent them from discounting their products. (Multi-brand retailer Net-a-Porter had 30 percent of its assortment on markdown as of March 2020, compared to only 1 percent in 2019). As boutiques struggle with store closures and overstock problems, and as grey market counterparts in countries such as China cancel orders, marketplace model e-tailers like Farfetch will be well-positioned to facilitate the liquidation of large volumes of cheap stock. This will create tensions with brand-owners, however, as they will want to take a more discreet approach.

Moving forward, the "off-price deception" trend witnessed in The State of Fashion 2018
report - which highlighted the danger of off-price cannibalising full-priced sales - will soon reach a new phase, as growth in the discount sector puts companies at risk of margin erosion. Premium discount retailers with effective merchandising and strong customer service, like The Outnet and Yoox online and McArthurGlen offline, will become mainstream by offering discreet and large-scale avenues for excess stock disposal. As in 2008, new digital players will also emerge to seize the opportunity to dispose of excess stock. But caution is advised: for companies engaging with a growing cohort of anti-consumerist shoppers, significant discounting and traffic driving could be construed as tone deaf.

The pandemic will bring values around sustainability into sharp focus, intensifying discussions and further polarising views around materialism, over-consumption and irresponsible business practices. Retailers have already come under fire for keeping stores open and putting retail workers in danger during outbreaks in the US, where many lack healthcare benefits. Meanwhile, some players who stopped paying rent to stay liquid have faced public backlash and have consequently reversed their actions to regain customer trust, while public outcry about unpaid order cancellations of finished garments in production has forced some global players to revise their actions. The focus on sustainability will be especially prominent for Gen-Z and Millennial shoppers, whose concerns for the environment were already heightened pre-crisis. As we stated in The State of Fashion 2019 report trend "Getting Woke," consumers will make or break brands based on trust - a trend that is now further intensified.

"The virus, I think, can be seen as a representation of our conscience... it brings to light what is so terribly wrong with society and every day that becomes more clear," said Trend Forecaster Li Edelkoort. "It teaches us to slow down and to change our ways."

In the luxury segment, we expect consumers to return more quickly to paying full price for quality.

This may signal the end of "extreme consumerism" for some consumers who reject the idea of buying goods in large volumes. According to a McKinsey survey, 15 percent of consumers in the US and Europe expect to buy more ecologically and socially sustainable clothing. Brands that are able to reorient their missions and business models in more sustainable ways will be able to cater to a more captive audience than ever before.

Fashion players may also turn to more innovative ways to reduce stock and reinfuse value into their products, such as accelerating nascent sustainability trends. For many players, repurposing existing stock for new seasons will be a more viable option than recycling or upcycling with additions or extractions. Other opportunities include personalisation, customer experience and a re-evaluation of the company's fashion calendar, such as moving monthly drops into later seasons.

To improve their long-term outlook, brands will need to tailor future discounting strategies by aligning promotions to their various channels and putting in place a revised product calendar to reflect fashion's "new normal." They will also need to reinfuse value to make it worthwhile for consumers to shop at full price. The solution is not just about reducing overstock but gaining back the trust and enthusiasm of cash-strapped consumers - and that cannot be achieved by discounting alone.

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The New Normal: A Discount Mindset Will Deepen Its Grip on Consumers

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As a decade-long build-up of bargain shopping culture is exacerbated by a rise in anti-consumerism, a glut in inventory and cash-strapped consumers looking to trade down or turn to off-price channels, brands must find inventive ways to reestablish value, says The Business of Fashion and McKinsey's Coronavirus Update to The State of Fashion 2020.

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World Wild Life (WWF). Industries: Cotton. Retrieved from https://www.worldwildlife.org/industries/cotton

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As people become more aware of the true costs of fast fashion, they gradually adjust their spending behavior and shift to sustainable and ethical clothing brands. In light of this, companies and businesses are also making the move and publicizing themselves as such. Consumers should be more vigilant and ensure that the clothing brands they buy from advocate truly for minimalist fashion and not only as minimalist aesthetic.

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Cervantes, F. M. (2020, May 20). Corporate social responsibility bill gets final House nod. Retrieved from https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1103485

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BOF Team and McKinsey & Company. (2020, April 14). The New Normal: A Discount Mindset Will Deepen Its Grip on Consumers. Retrieved from https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/retail/the-new-normal-a-discount-mindset-will-deepen-its-grip-on-consumers

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Kirchhoff, C. (n.d.). Ethical Consumerism. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/ethical-consumerism

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Lauren, A. (2019, November 12). Why Regulations aren’t Solving the Fashion Industry’s Environmental Problem
and how marketing will… Retrieved from https://medium.com/age-of-awareness/why-regulations-arent-solving-the-fashion-industry-s-environmental-problem-9a50be4c2843

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Understand the current business models implemented by entrepreneurs engaged in sustainable business and even those in the fast fashion industry. We will consider the business materials sourcing process, production, marketing, etc.

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The previous sections are supported by our common knowledge which is supplemented by existing literature and data.

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Marquis, C. (2021, May 14). What Does Slow Fasshion 'Actually' Mean? Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/christophermarquis/2021/05/14/what-does-slow-fashion-actually-mean/?sh=1814ff1073b4

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Many existing organizations and businesses exist to eradicate textile waste, but consumerism remains at large. This can be indicative of how the culture is too embedded to be solved by individual organizations, and therefore needs the cooperation of multiple parts of the supply chain.

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Jain, S. (2015, November 9).

Globalization and its Impact on Consumer Culture and Competition Policy. Available at SSRN 2777387.

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Ms. Celia B. Elumba, Director IV of the Philippine Textile Research Institute (DOST – PTRI)

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Ms. Celia B. Elumba, Director IV of the Philippine Textile Research Institute (DOST – PTRI)

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Ms. Celia B. Elumba is the director of the DOST-PTRI, a segment of the DOST that specializes in the research of textile and the textile industry in the country. The DOST-PTRI also tackles the sustainability of the industry as part of its ongoing support for it.

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The solution requires both sides to cooperate and practice sustainability. This can be an issue since if one side chooses to not cooperate, then attaining a sustainable fashion culture will not only be difficult but possibly unreachable in general. The producer must find ways to create shared value as well as think of innovations and dynamic business mechanisms that will serve the goal towards clothing sustainability. It would be difficult for the business venture to become successful if it fails to appeal to the target market.

On the consumer side, a 2021 lifestyle survey found that 20% of global respondents are forecasted to decrease their overall spending while 38% prefer buying less but higher quality items (Elster, 2021). Moreover, Gen Z, Millenials, and Gen X do not vastly differ in terms of cautious consumption traits wherein around 30% of global respondents lead a minimalist lifestyle and are willing to buy preloved items.

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The move towards sustainable fashion in the Philippines can be considered as divided given that the goal of sustainable brands is still to make a profit. The emergence of many small businesses may help in raising consumer awareness as they each have their own marketing strategy. However, partnerships and collective action may also boost the journey towards sustainability due to economies of scale and knowledge sharing.

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As some people do not know where to discard their clothes, a portion of unwanted clothes ends up in the garbage bin. Generally, you can get these unwanted clothes for free and put them into further purpose instead of ending their useful life. As such, the establishment of a clothing bank can help in repurposing or upcycling unwanted clothes. With these, we can fight the negative stigma of wearing preloved clothes and offer a better way of clothes disposal.

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Mr. Jonas is a Project Coordinator of the Philippine Center for Environmental Protection and Sustainability Development, Inc. (PCEPSDI). We have talked to him on December 4 wherein he stated that the issue of clothing sustainability is less tackled in the Philippines. We learned that understanding the people and listening to them will help us in determining the best way to address the issue.

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Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA)

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Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA)

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TESDA promotes human capital by developing technical skills. In light of this, TESDA can help us learn more about their course offerings which may tackle the issue of clothing sustainability such as tailor, dressmaker, or sewer. They can also help us connect with other key persons who are more knowledgeable on clothing.

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Actions: Partnerships to Create Shared Value

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Actions: Partnerships to Create Shared Value

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We are also looking into partnerships that can help us expand our horizons and they may include local seamstress and fashion schools. Through these partnerships, we want to establish a distinct value chain and create shared value where all parties mutually benefit in the business structure.

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Elster, J. (2021, May). Voice of the Consumer: Lifestyles Survey 2021: Key Insights. Euromonitor.