THE MASS MARKET ; SUSTAINABILITY AND ETHICS EDITION 2016 1 | Page 10

Fig. 12

THE MASS MARKET ; NOV 2016

THE MASS MARKET ; NOV 2016

S U S T A I N A B I L I T Y ;

Garment from Zara’s
#JoinLife Campaign, 2016

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With the increasing demand from
the public for more ethical
goods, as well as naturally
and organically sourced fibres
and materials, this can put
pressure on the major mass
retailers to make a difference
to which suppliers they go to
for their garments or products.
A report suggests that the UK’s
sustainable and ethical fashion
industry has an incoming revenue
of approximately £175 million.
(Mintel, 2009) This is most
likely due to consumers becoming
more aware of issues within the
fashion industry when it comes
to sustainability. This suggests
that the sustainable fashion
industry has and is actively
becoming appealing to the general
demographic. Contrary to this
statistic, consumers will state
an opinion but act in a way that
contradicts it. For example: taken
from the researcher’s survey,
studies show that 89% of 17 – 25
year olds who took part in the
survey said that they buy their
clothing from the leading mass
market companies for the quality
and price rather than looking at
matters of sustainability – this
is because of the mass markets low
prices and because of fast fashion
from the leading retailers is so
accessible whether it be in its
brick and mortar stores or its
e-commerce stores. The primary
findings gathered by the researcher
also suggests that over 50% of 17
– 25 year olds buy their clothing
based on the quality of the
garment. Data taken from a report
on Issues and Insights (Mintel,
2016) states, “62% of

women say low pricing is an
important factor when clothes
shopping, rising to 69% of
16 – 24 year olds”. Other
factors as to why consumers
often buy into fast fashion
rather than buying sustainable
clothing are: the pressures
of society, influencers and a
lot of consumers now have been
branded the ‘wear it once’
consumer meaning they buy
garments and wear them once
and then the garment more than
often goes to waste.
Fig. 13

Fig. 14

‘H&M Conscious & Zara’s #JoinLife Tags’

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