Fast Fashion Vs. Fast Food | Fashion Sustainability Part 2

After watching The True Cost, we were given a brief whereby we had to research fashion ethics and environment further, by partaking in both secondary and primary research. Once we had our research we then had to come up with a ‘big idea’, which raised awareness of the issue to NTU students.

It’s actually disgusting what farmers and garment workers have to go through in order to satisfy the expectations of the employer. Garment workers, for example, work for up to 12 hours a day, for as much as $2 a day. Cheap labour at the bottom of the value chain means cheap prices for consumers at the top of the value chain. In a book I read called ‘What Am I Wearing’ by Kelsey Timmerman, garment workers express their opinion on the situation. One girl told Timmerman that they don’t want people to boycott the brands because they don’t want to lose their jobs; what they do want is less working hours for higher pay. I think that’s fair enough. Therefore, in order to solve this issue, consumers need to stop purchasing so much so often, meaning that demand decreases.

With this in mind, as well as an interview with one of my group’s flat mates who told us he is obsessed with eating organically but doesn’t care when it comes to fashion, we came up with our idea: #fastfoodvsfastfashion. We wanted our fellow students to realise that it was just as easy to live organically in other aspects of life, and that there are alternatives to spending money on high street brands. Only 1% of all cotton grown worldwide is organic, but why should that be acceptable? We made a list of comparisons between Fast Food &  Fast Fashion and An Organic Food Lifestyle & An Organic Fashion Lifestyle; from that we came up with our campaign:

The Main Event

• Place a giant, open, burger box by the student union
• Inside the top lid there will be a hanging rail with cotton t-shirts hanging off
• The branding will be our hashtag
• The box will be covered in shocking facts

Supporting elements to our campaign include:

• A second hand fair where all the local charity and vintage shops can promote themselves
• A swing label, which has a list of how the garment was made (underneath the size/barcode/price) and will be found in local shops
• A slide including photos and facts before lectures start, which students can read while they wait 
• Cups with the hashtag printed on
• The hashtag in the form of a sticker to stick onto mirrors both at home and in shop changing rooms

Georgia.xo