Multidisciplinary Research Week
(17-22nd March 2013)
‘Ethical Fashion Futures – An Oxymoron?’,
by Emma Waight & Ellie Tighe, Geography, University of Southampton.

Ethical Fashion Futures
– An Oxymoron?
Discussion from workshop 9th March 2013
Multidisciplinary Week
Emma Waight & Ellie Tighe (Geography)
21st March 2013

The UK’s ethical fashion industry was
estimated to be worth £175 million in
2009 (Mintel, 2009)
Growing faster than almost any other
ethical sector, at 71% per year (Coop
2008).
3

5

Regulatory Frameworks and Institutional Responses:
Bangladesh Garment Industry
6

Start of the Supply Chain
• Its starts with the raw material – the fibre and fabric
• Environmental concerns – resource consumption, GHG
emissions, air & water pollution, soil
degradation/contamination
• Social concerns – worker’s rights, health & safety, poverty,
animal welfare
7

Cotton
• A ‘good’ natural fibre?
• Pesticides & fertilisers
• Huge water footprint
• Soil erosion
• Farmers living in poverty – suicides not uncommon
• In the news: Loss of Aral Sea, Endosulfan – toxic pesticide
caused death and deformities, Uzbekistan enforced child
labour
8

Ethical Fabric Alternatives
• Organic & Fairtrade cotton
• Colour grown cotton
• Hemp, nettle and flax
• Bamboo
• Milk
• Soy Ethical fabric supplier:
www.offsetwarehouse.com
• Ingeo (corn)
9

Fashion & International Development
• Cut & Stitch manufacture
• Out-Sourcing Production into Developing Countries
• Global Industry – 23.6 million employed worldwide
• Clothing Production and Trade = Economic Growth
and Job creation
• Sweatshops and Labour rights abuses
• Situation is complex having global, local and national
institutional facets
10

Fashion & International Development
Global Level
• Consumer demand for fast fashion and cheap
clothing
• Short lead times and mass production
• Bargaining buyers – suppliers on pricing
• High level local competition
11

Fashion & International Development
Local Level:
•Industrial relations systems between workers and
managers not developed
•Poor regulation labour law
•Low level education workers
•“Global Competition” rhetoric
•Government- Industry relations
•Poor systems governance
•Regulation dependent buyer pressures – codes of 12
conduct

Fashion & International Development
13

Fashion & International Development
Codes of Conduct – “Ethical” Clothing across the
Scales: Voices from South Asia
•Fieldwork Pakistan and Sri Lanka
•Codes of Conduct ineffective tool
•Discrepancy between which codes are upheld
14

Fashion & International Development
New Strategies: Impact, UK
•UK ethical retail consultancy, based London, China,
India and Bangladesh
•Opportunities development and trade good
•Business-led approach to improving worker conditions
•Change attitudes on the ground
15

Law & the role of the State
• Ecological’, ‘sustainable,’ and ‘ethical’, are all terms now
frequently used in the fashion industry but with no clear
legal definition
• Lack of transparency
• Consumer confusion
• Country of origin labelling not compulsory
• Should ethical clothing get tax breaks?
www.ecofashionrules.com
16

Second-hand Fashion
• Re-use = most sustainable way of
(not) shopping!
• An ethical future? Consume less
• Fewer clothes, better quality,
wear them for longer.
• Is their a stigma attached to
second-hand clothes? How has
the ‘vintage’ trend helped?
• Financial motivations
17

Conclusion - Ethical Fashion Futures – An
Oxymoron?
• Where consumers lead brands will follow
• Fashion supply chains are complex, management needs
collaborative effort
• Demands change established conventions and practices
• Supply chains need greater transparency
• Training for future industry professionals
• Consumers need educating
18

Conclusion - Ethical Fashion Futures –
An Oxymoron?
19

Thank You
Ellie Tighe
E.Tighe@soton.ac.uk
@EllieTighe
http://thepursuitofgoodshoes.wordpress.com/
Emma Waight
E.J.Waight@soton.ac.uk
@EmsWaight
www.emmawaight.co.uk
www.geographypostgrads.com
20

Multidisciplinary Research Week
2013
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