Stella Marina Mohlulis

‘Purpose’ is the last of the four pillars of sustainability.  A brands purpose is their reason for their creations beyond for making money.  A purpose for a brand is very important because it shows the buyer the ethics, morals, and reasons behind a brand.  A purpose tells the buyer more about the brands values, for example, if a brands purpose was to help children who are less fortunate and cannot afford to buy clothes, it would show the client the core values of the brand and make people more likely to buy from them.  

Brand philosophy is important for the same reason that a brands purpose is important.  There is Mission, Vision, and Values.  The mission statement tells the customer why a brand exists.  The vision statement tells the customer what the brand wants to accomplish in the future.  This is very important because the buyer will want to know what to expect moving forward from the brand.  Values show what is important to each brand and how they want to work moving forward.  For example, Tess Whitford is a designer who’s brands mission statement says, “strives to create clothing that doesn’t harm people, animals, or the environment while maintaining her signature edgy streetwear style.”  This shows the customers that they can stust her brand to be sustainable while still having an edgy style that is shown in figure 1. “Designers can develop a new garment by reworking existing clothing or working with unwanted stock and/or surplus materials” (Gwilt, 2014). This is something that Tess Whitfort does and that works for many brands.

Tess Whitfort upcycling design, (Gwilt, 2014)

Brands communicate their purpose to Gen Z through their mission, vision, and values statements.  These are usually found on a brands website and they show the customer all about the reasons behind why the brand does what they do.  One way that will really get through to Gen Z is by social media.  With an active instagram account with a good balance of posts and quality content any Gen Z-er will be interested and give the brand a follow.  Tik Tok is also a way to get Gen Z’s attention as the app has 2 billion downloads with over 60% being from Generation Z (Fanbytes, 2022). Brands should post their purpose on their social media bios so that people can see them from their instagram or tik tok because many generation Z citizens do not even know that brands have a purpose statement.  

References:

Fanbytes, 2022 Gen Z Tiktok: What the rise of TikTok says about generation Z (2022) Fanbytes. https://fanbytes.co.uk/gen-z-tiktok 

Gwilt, A. (2014) University of the Arts London weblogin. https://www-bloomsburyfashioncentral-com.arts.idm.oclc.org/encyclopedia-chapter?docid=b-9781350067059&tocid=b-9781350067059-chapter7&pdfid=9781350067059.ch-007.pdf 

‘Profit’ is the third pillar of sustainability. The fashion industry’s worth reached 1.55 trillion dollars in 2021, but in 2022 is said to reach up to 1.7 trillion dollars.  Also, in 2022 retail prices will go up by 3.2% (Radonic, 2022). One must also consider why people buy what they buy.  21% of UK residents say that the reason they purchased a garment was because of the low price (Radonic, 2022). That brings up the topic of sustainability and how buying something because it is the cheapest means it’s most likely not sustainable.

The global apparel manufacturing market size in 2022 is $861.5bn and has had a 4.3% growth this year (IbisWorld, 2022).  It has growed because of new digital frontiers such as NFTs, and new efforts to make the fashion industry sustainable.  

One area of the fashion industry that is not doing well is manufacturing.  In this day in age, “new fashion designers have become famous “name” designers, such as Coco Chanel or Calvin Klein, who create prestigious high-fashion collections, whether couture or prêt-á-porter” (Major, 2022). Now, instead of making a name of themselves, designers sell there designs to high end fashion brands or names in the industry so that they are anonymous with their work, but they still make the money from it.  Only a small number of designers and manufacturers sell their own apparel.  Pattern cutting and assembly used to be a highly skilled profession but is now done by technology and machines.  

The main way a brand can remain competitive in certain economic times is through social media.  As mentioned before, social media is a big way for companies to reach Generation Z. Having an active Tik Tok, Instagram, or Snapchat will really help to spread awareness for a brand.  Doing frequent polls and surveys will help brands know what their customer wants and what to produce next and at what prices.  The brand Nike has over 300 social media profiles and over 150 million followers on instagram.  They beat every sports brand in social media engagement, and as seen in the graph for figure 1, they have the most engagement on instagram.   

References

Ahmed (2013), Bridging the gap between art and business | Ajaz Ahmed (2013) The Guardian. Guardian News and Media. https://www.theguardian.com/media-network/media-network-blog/2013/oct/16/bridging-gap-art-business 

IbisWorld, (2022) Industry market research, reports, and Statistics IBISWorld. https://www.ibisworld.com/global/market-size/global-apparel-manufacturing/

Major, (2022)  Fashion design and manufacturing Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. https://www.britannica.com/art/fashion-industry/Fashion-design-and-manufacturing 

Radonic, (2022) The most important fashion industry statistics in 2022, FashionDiscounts. https://fashiondiscounts.uk/fashion-industry-statistics/ 

‘People’ is one of the four pillars in the intro unit of fashion marketing. In the world there are 7.75 people who make it up (datacommons, 2022).   Focusing on generation z, there are 2.56 billion people who make up this generation in 2022 (TrueList, 2022). People are the most important aspect of the fashion industry. Without people, there would be no one buying clothes, or clothes to be designed.    

Generation Z is a very unique generation all about inclusivity, equality, and diversity.  This generation challenges the ideas of the past and pushes boundaries especially in the fashion industry. As the New York Post states, “Generation Z and their loud and unapologetic fashion choices are here to stay” (Salemann, 2022). 

In addition to this generation being unapologetically themselves, they are more intuitive to technologies such as the metaverse.  As Drapers say, “61.6% of Gen Z say they are familiar with the concept of the metaverse, compared with 39.5% of millennials” (Drapers, 2022). Gen Z is the first generation to start putting their artwork and designs on the metaverse.  As seen in figure 1, gen Z cares more about brand name than millennials and what is surprising is that they do not care as much about style, quality, or price.

In fashion marketing students are focused on the four main pillars of sustainability. These pillars are about preserving what people have of a specific resource.  ‘Planet’ which fits under the environmental pillar, is what students are concentrated on right now.  With the fashion industry setting to reach 2 trillion dollars by 2026 (Smith, 2022), this will cause negative effects on the environment and planet. 

“The circular economy is a systems solution framework that tackles global challenges like climate change, biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution.” (EllenMacArthurFoundation,2022) Circular economy helps to tackle issues with sustainability in and out of the fashion industry. Circular economy helps to lower carbon emissions and to reduce non-renewable sources as well as helping the environment.  In the environment people take things, use them, and then throw them away.  A circular economy makes it so that when one is done using things, they do not throw them away but instead they reduce, re-use, or recycle them so that they do not produce waste or pollution that harms the planet. In a circular economy there two categories of material.  Finite material and renewable material as seen in figure 1. Finite material is able to be recycled and re-used.  Renewable material can be turned used for farming, biochemical feedstock, biogas, etc.(EllenMacArthurFoundation,2022) 
Figure 1 

Renewable and Finite material

Oxford dictionary defines ‘sustainability’ as “the ability to be maintained at a certain rate or level.” (Oxford Dictionary, 2022). In the fashion industry this can mean a variety of things. Quality over quantity is a great example of sustainability in the fashion industry.  Buying things for a higher price that will last one longer rather than buying something for cheaper but that will only last a few months is a good way to minimize waste. Investing into more sustainable fashion brands and shopping in secondhand stores/vintage stores are some ways to reduce waste and detrimental effects to the planet. “..the fashion industry contributes to the use of natural resources, such as fossil fuels, to create energy for production processes which release toxic emissions into the atmosphere.” (Gwilt, 2020) The fashion industry produces 100 billion garments every year.  Out of 100 billion we send 40 million tons of fabrics to landfills (EarthDay, 2022).  Cotton is used greatly in making garments which is a problem because to make one cotton t-shirtit takes almost 3000 liters of water. Knowing the materials that are used to make your clothes is important to making sustainable choices when shopping.  

SDG number 15 of, ‘Life on Land’ ties into preserving the planet and the topic of sustainability in the fashion world.  Life on land is to “protect, restore and promote the sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, halt and reverse land degradation, combat desertification and halt biodiversity loss” (Iberdrola, 2022). This SDG plays a big part in the fur and leather industry. More than 100 million animals are killed each year for the production of fur garments and 95% of those animals are put in fur farms (FurFreeAlliance, 2022).   

References: 

Smith, P. Apparel market worldwide. Statista. October 8, 2022, https://www.statista.com/topics/5091/apparel-market-worldwide/ 

Oxford languages . Oxford Languages. (n.d.). October 8, 2022, https://languages.oup.com/google-dictionary-en/ 

Ellen MacArthur Foundation.Circular economy introduction. (n.d.). October 8, 2022, https://ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/topics/circular-economy-introduction/overview 

EarthDay. Fashion for the Earth. (2022, April 21). Retrieved October 8, 2022, from https://www.earthday.org/campaign/sustainable-fashion/ 

Iberdrola. Iberdrola is committed to achieving zero net loss of biodiversity by 2030. October 8, 2022, https://www.iberdrola.com/sustainability/committed-sustainable-development-goals/sdg-15-life-on-land 

Fur Free Alliance. Fur farming – animal welfare problems. October 8, 2022, from https://www.furfreealliance.com/fur-farming/ 

Gwilt, A. (2020). A Practical Guide to Sustainable Fashion. London: Fairchild Books.https://www-bloomsburyfashioncentral-com.arts.idm.oclc.org/encyclopedia-chapter?docid=b-9781350067059&tocid=b-9781350067059-chapter1&pdfid=9781350067059.ch-001.pdf

In fashion marketing we are focused on the three main pillars of sustainability. These pillars are about preserving what we have of a specific resource.  ‘Planet’ which fits under the environmental pillar, is what we are concentrated on right now.  With the fashion industry setting to reach 2 trillion dollars by 2026 (Smith, 2022), this will cause negative effects on the environment and planet. 

“The circular economy is a systems solution framework that tackles global challenges like climate change, biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution.” (EllenMacArthurFoundation,2022) Circular economy helps to tackle issues with sustainability in and out of the fashion industry. Circular economy helps to lower carbon emissions and to reduce non-renewable sources as well as helping the environment.  In our environment people take things, use them, and then throw them away.  A circular economy makes it so that when we are done using things, we do not throw them away but instead we reduce, re-use, or recycle them so that they do not produce waste or pollution that harms the planet. In a circular economy there two categories of material.  Finite material and renewable material. Finite material is able to be recycled and re-used.  Renewable material can be turned used for farming, biochemical feedstock, biogas, etc.(EllenMacArthurFoundation,2022)   

Oxford dictionary defines ‘sustainability’ as “the ability to be maintained at a certain rate or level.” (Oxford Dictionary, 2022). In the fashion industry this can mean a variety of things. Quality over quantity is a great example of sustainability in the fashion industry.  Buying things for a higher price that will last one longer rather than buying something for cheaper but that will only last a few months is a good way to minimize waste. Investing into more sustainable fashion brands and shopping in secondhand stores/vintage stores are some ways to reduce waste and detrimental effects to the planet. “..the fashion industry contributes to the use of natural resources, such as fossil fuels, to create energy for production processes which release toxic emissions into the atmosphere.” (Gwilt, 2020) The fashion industry produces 100 billion garments every year.  Out of 100 billion we send 40 million tons of fabrics to landfills (EarthDay, 2022).  Cotton is used greatly in making garments which is a problem because to make one cotton t-shirtit takes almost 3000 liters of water. Knowing the materials that are used to make your clothes is important to making sustainable choices when shopping.  

Describe 1 SDG from the UN SDG which has relevance to and an impact on the fashion industry

SDG number 15 of, ‘Life on Land’ ties into preserving the planet and the topic of sustainability in the fashion world.  Life on land is to “protect, restore and promote the sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, halt and reverse land degradation, combat desertification and halt biodiversity loss” (Iberdrola, 2022). This SDG plays a big part in the fur and leather industry. More than 100 million animals are killed each year for the production of fur garments and 95% of those animals are put in fur farms (FurFreeAlliance, 2022).   

References: 

Smith, P. Apparel market worldwide. Statista. October 8, 2022, https://www.statista.com/topics/5091/apparel-market-worldwide/ 

Oxford languages . Oxford Languages. (n.d.). October 8, 2022, https://languages.oup.com/google-dictionary-en/ 

Ellen MacArthur Foundation.Circular economy introduction. (n.d.). October 8, 2022, https://ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/topics/circular-economy-introduction/overview 

EarthDay. Fashion for the Earth. (2022, April 21). Retrieved October 8, 2022, from https://www.earthday.org/campaign/sustainable-fashion/ 

Iberdrola. Iberdrola is committed to achieving zero net loss of biodiversity by 2030. October 8, 2022, https://www.iberdrola.com/sustainability/committed-sustainable-development-goals/sdg-15-life-on-land 

Fur Free Alliance. Fur farming – animal welfare problems. October 8, 2022, from https://www.furfreealliance.com/fur-farming/ 

Gwilt, A. (2020). A Practical Guide to Sustainable Fashion. London: Fairchild Books. https://www-bloomsburyfashioncentral-com.arts.idm.oclc.org/encyclopedia-chapter?docid=b-9781350067059&tocid=b-9781350067059-chapter1&pdfid=9781350067059.ch-001.pdf