Can ethical consumption exist in fashion?
I was preparing an Instagram guide the other day with several things I wish to own in the near furure. Things I thought might interest fasfem’s little community. While picking up staff, a feeling of frustration began to take over me. Because I was making the guide with the goal of ethical consumption in mind…But what does that even mean?
I paused the guide and did what I do most of the times when numb and indecisive. I googled.
Ethical consumerism: practiced through the buying of ethically - made products that support small scale manufacturers and local artisans, protect animals and the environment.
Yes, that was actually what I had in mind. To buy from brands that actually try to make things better or buy second hand. A form of BUYcott where I support those whose actions align with my ethics. A form of action through my wallet.
It is not unusal for a consumer nowadays to expect companies to have a purpose. According to the 2017 Weber Shandwick’s research, The Company behind the Brand: In Goodness We Trust, 46% of global consumers are increasingly buying from companies or brands that make them feel happy and good, and 30% are increasingly buying from companies that have a social purpose or strive to make a positive contribution to the world or market they operate in. You see consumers are in need to rise up and fix a broken world themselves. They also look up to brands who make a strong effort to be part of the solution. Because even when investors seem to decrease when a brand chooses the clear path, sales do not.
I am not alone for sure. As a woman, I even belong to the part of the consuming force who are more empathic and willing to buycott. So why don’t I feel like I am making an impact most of the time? Because I actually DON’T. There so many issues that remain unresolved in fact and in my mind.
Big supply chains, where the origins of goods are somehow lost until they are delivered, could be the first. Sometimes it is impossible to know who made our clothes and under which circumstanses. Brands on the other hand who claim to support charity have been exposed to use the cause as another form of marketing strategy. A strategy that can be enhanced by the smart use of social media platforms. Which surely I am not against at when it actually makes a difference. But in many cases the support is just a very pety amount of money in comparison to the actual profit from a product being labeled as ‘ethical’.
And then there is the paradox of higher prices. Due to raw materials quality, transparency in manufatcturing and distribution and small scale production, most of ethical choices are more expensive. I get it. But I can’t stop thinking about the fact that people of lower income are excluded from the so called ethical consumerism because they just can’t afford it. Is ditching a coat from ZARA in order to buy from a smaller sustainable brand just not possible for some? How can we reverse that just by changing shopping habits?
I know that there are no right or wrong anwers sometimes. There are a lot of things to take under consideration and lots of systemic issues to be examined further. I have decided to think things through on a personal scale. What is there possible for me as person to do in order to help? Educate myself better. Try and shop by people whom I look up to. Small scale businesses whose products are made with love and lots of effort. People I actually know personally sometimes. According to my income with no guilt. Take part in actions that lead to change. Support causes each way possible. Just do the best I can. Hope that in the post pandemic era the lessons are actually learned. And allow myself to take some joy while purchasing..
For some interesting views about ethical consumerism you can read here, here and here. For data about ethical consumerism in pandemic here. I leave you to go and finally finish my reading on Fashionopolis…
Credits:
Photographer Craig McDean captured the above picture for British Vogue February 2019. Styling by Grace Coddington.
