Solutions
There is no quick fix solution to creating a more sustainable and ethical global fashion industry , consumers need to change their attitudes towards fashion , and the speed in which the industry moves means it ’ s not possible for it to change over-night because creating a new retail strategy promoting sustainable and ethical clothing and creating a more sustainable and ethical business overall will take years , but changes do need to start now .
Governments need to take action to slow fashion down again , they have the ability to put in place laws on working conditions and trading quotas to stop globalisation becoming more of an issue , it was because of the abolishment of these quotas in 2005 which allowed more free trade internationally , permitting fashion companies to source more production globally ( heath , 2005 ), and exploit the less developed countries , which then leads to disasters such as Rana Plaza . After discussing the cradle to cradle theory earlier , it ’ s important the solutions to follow this through are presented . Social media promotes fast fashion greatly but it also helps us to recycle our clothes through websites like eBay and reselling apps such as DEPOP who had 200,000 items being sold worldwide at a value of 5 million pounds in 2013 so as a society we ’ re reselling , which doesn ’ t only benefit us as we get money back but also stops those items from ending up in landfill ( basetom , 2014 ). Another way to continue the cradle to cradle theory is by taking items to clothing banks or charity shops or even just taking them down to your local recycling bank to make sure those natural resources don ’ t get wasted with the 126 million cubic yards of landfill space a year that the fashion industry creates ( Anna , b , 2016 ).
Not only do consumers need to take responsibility so do retailers , and as it says earlier in the report the mass market has the most influence over all the different fashion sectors , so they need to be spreading the word but not just on their small tabs of information on their websites but through real human to human contact , lush employees are trained to know about their ethical buying , production , and encourage consumers to bring
back empties of products to be recycled ( master , 2014 ). Why can ’ t it be applied to all of the mass market fashion industry , where customers are approached by sales assistants and told about sustainable clothing is more expensive but why they should buy it , in accessorize monsoon , James Macaulay stated “ all of our staff are trained to approach and inspire consumers with our ethics and sustainable practices ”, so if this was implemented in stores like H & M there could be a rise in sales of their “ conscious collection ” and also more of an awareness of ethics and sustainability in younger consumers who are prone to fast fashion buying habits . Encouraging consumers to think more about sustainability and ethical practices , this may spread the fundamental message of slow fashion , where they would buy less but spend a bit more on higher quality sustainable and ethical items , and learn to love their clothes again , not put them in landfill . Consumers in the United Kingdom alone have an estimated £ 30 billion worth of unworn clothes lingering in their closets ( Messenger , 2014 ), proving fast fashion is not the way forward .
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