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Sustainability out the Window? Corona is the new Trend
How coronavirus is pushing sustainability to the side Prior to the outbreak of COVID-19 back in January 2020, sustainability was becoming a major talking point among fashion retailers, but now Coronavirus has taken over every aspect of our lives. Consumers were becoming hungry for information from their favourite brands in relation to how garments were being created in the fast paced environment. But has COVID-19 caused consumers to forget about sustainability? Post-pandemic The fashion world prior to the outbreak was ready for a change, with big brands focusing on how they can incorporate more sustainable and environmentally friendly practices into their production and supply chain processes. This has come as…
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Covid-19: the Impact on Garment Workers
Covid-19 has instilled panic in so many of us and has impacted a multitude of aspects in our daily lives. The days of shopping until you drop seem like a distant memory as strict lockdown measures keep our high-street stores closed until further notice. Most of us in the Western world have now come to accept our newfound lives. Days filled with online shopping and baking banana bread every chance we get have become the new normal. However, it’s important that we don’t forget about the impact that these changes are having on the people behind our brand-new tie dye sweatshirt. I’m talking about those people who work tirelessly and…
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Fashion’s future: during difficult times and post-pandemic
There is very little break from the complete coverage of coronavirus across the news currently. A lot of fear for public health is still hanging (and quite rightly so) but a lot of perspective is starting to come to light. People are looking more at their values and what matters to them. With people staying home to help keep the population safe, this is of course having an impact on the local and global fashion industry. Of course, the news closer to home for many of us in the UK will be the concern around fashion retail workers and job uncertainty (regardless of the 80% government initiative). However, as usual,…
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How the global pandemic will affect the fashion industry
The global pandemic of COVID-19 has brought the world to a standstill, with numerous countries in lockdown to slow the spread of the disease. While it is difficult to escape the news and panic surrounding this, businesses like the fashion industry can provide some escapism from the new reality. However, this current situation highlights how insignificant the latest trends can be. This is having a huge effect on the industry as people are turning to news articles rather than fashion blogs. Many companies have been forced to close for safety reasons and economic loss. With everyone staying indoors as advised by the government, retail therapy is out of the question…
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Unprecedented: global crisis, fear and fashion
After catching glimpses of the news back in January, it never crossed my mind that coronavirus could have even the slightest impact on my life. I presumed it would be perceived as an anomaly that we would soon forget in about a month. Admittedly, I was totally naïve and ignorant to the extent of the situation. Now I tune into the live conferences filmed at Downing Street each day waiting for the next series of bad news. Trust and distrust A global crisis such as this has the capacity to recreate and reshape the ways in which we personally live our lives, the way certain industries work, and also the…
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Is fashion killing our planet?
The UN has predicted that the global population could reach a whopping 9.8 billion people by 2050. If this happens, we will need the equivalent of 3 planets to provide the resources needed to sustain our current lifestyles. So how can one planet create all these resources? And how can we as consumers change our behaviour to stop us killing our planet? How Bad is the Fashion Industry Environmentally? We all know that fast fashion is causing the fashion industry to be one of the main pollutants of the environment. Each year we, as a planet, consume more than 80 billion items of clothing. Another £12.5 billion worth of clothes…
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Who wants to be a fashion influencer?
According to a recent survey by Morning Consult the US, being an influencer is an appealing career to 86% of people between the age of 13 to 38. In this article, India Metson takes a closer look at what today’s hottest dream job really looks like…. Fashion Influencers Fashion influencers. Those people we don’t actually know but through Instagram we somehow pretty much know their life story. The daily pictures we are obsessed with that always manage to spark a little jealousy as we think, “Why is that not my life?”. But when you look to the future, how secure are these dream jobs? How many more influencers are going…
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How Instagram has changed the face of fashion
It is no secret that social media influencers produce heavenly posts where the colours of their clothes pop against idyllic clean backgrounds. They modify their image to maximise engagement and ultimately sell the content highlighted within. This article considers whether Influencers are to blame for the meteoric rise in fast fashion, or are we – the consumers – the ones at fault? From sewing machine to screen In the 1950’s only people of means could buy “ready made” clothes. It was the norm for many to spend hours designing, planning and making their own garments. The high street was their Instagram and the sewing machine their screen. My mum enjoyed…
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Slow Fashion, Slow Progress
‘Haul Culture’, paid promotions and needless merchandising are contributing to global patterns of overconsumption. The rise of the ‘influencer’ as an opinion leader is a phenomenon that doesn’t seem to be dissipating any time soon. Research now shows that one-in-five British children now aspire to a career as a ‘social media personality’. As the ways in which we consume and share marketing material have evolved, so too have the opinions we trust and the actions we replicate. For some, this means adhering to the lifestyle choices of an influencer you admire, even if their actions place highly unsustainable choices in a positive light. The growth of Youtube-centric trends such as…
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Fast fashion’s identity crisis
Fast fashion has created an identity crisis; we're trying so hard to keep up with trends that we've forgotten who we are and what we really matters. Exploring the dynamics of supply and demand, brands and consumers, Vidya Giridharan shares her story of conscious fashion.
