THE MASS MARKET ; SUSTAINABILITY AND ETHICS EDITION 2016 1 | Page 16

Fig. 18
THE MASS MARKET ; NOV 2016

THE MASS MARKET ; NOV 2016

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Fig. 19 - 24

Sustainability and ethics does not just have a main
focus on the environment and eco-system, there are many
aspects of the fashion industry, especially within the
mass market that are effected. In present day, with almost
everyone having a mobile phone, mass market sector
retailers are able to connect with their consumers 24/7.
By doing this, retailers are able to show people of great
influence wearing their garments to their consumers,
which in turn is sometimes the main decision maker for
a consumer as to if they should purchase the garment
or not. This begs the question, is it not unethical of
a brand to have influencers (eg. bloggers, celebrities)
wearing their garments in order to appeal to customers?
As well as this, it questions the sincerity of the
brand – do they care for sustainability and ethics
and the issues that arise within that industry or do
they promote sustainability for PR purposes and their
own motives? There is also an underlying question:
are mass market retailers only promoting the issue of
sustainability to avoid public scrutiny? Do retailers
care about the issues that are under the sustainability
and ethics umbrella (eg. animal welfare, worker’s rights,
working conditions)? An article which addresses H&M’s
sustainability report (Quartz, 2014) argues that H&M do
not discuss and hide the “unsustainable reality of fast
fashion”, it states that H&M manufacture approximately
600 million garments each year – which is said to use an
extreme amount of recourses such as electricity, oil and
water. This suggests to the researcher that H&M’s effort
to promote and drive their movement of sustainability
is insincere and is only being done to avoid public
backlash.

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