FASHION VALUES: ECONOMY

Glossary of Course Terms

via The Sustainable Fashion Glossary, Conde Nast x Centre for Sustainable Fashion

A
ACCOUNTABILITY Accountability is an aspect of governance which requires that public and
private organizations as well as individuals assume the responsibility for
their actions and impact.

C
CARE Care means attentiveness and consideration for people, things, and the
environment. To care means to take responsibility for the cause and effect
of our own actions, recognizing the interconnectedness of the world and
the human agency in it.

D
DECOLONIZATION The term decolonization refers to the withdrawal of imperial powers from
colonies and the restoration of political and economic independence to
the colonized regions.

E
ECONOMY The term economy, refers to the management of resources by a
community. The most common, current understanding of economy relates
to the condition of a community, nation or region with respect to trade
factors, including production and consumption of goods and services and
financial transactions.

THE ENVIRONMENTAL The Environmental Profit & Loss (EP&L) account developed by the luxury
group Kering is an open-source business management tool that supports
PROFIT & LOSS (EP&L) companies in making an in-depth analysis of their environmental impacts.

EQUALITY Equality is defined in Article 1 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of

Human Rights which states that “all human beings are born free and equal
in dignity and rights”. Equal treatment should therefore be guaranteed
to all people irrespective of their nationality, place of residence, gender,
national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, language, or any other status.

EQUITY The concept of equity is complementary to the principle of equality set out
in the 1948 Universal Declaration for Human Rights and extends these
values by also considering fairness and equality in terms of outcomes.

EXTERNALIZED COSTS Externalized costs, also known as negative externalities, are social and
environmental impacts that businesses offload to third parties, typically
those with no influence over such developments, to maximize their profits.
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G
GLOBAL INEQUALITY The global character of climate change is reflected in its impact on global
communities. Yet, those least responsible for the climate crisis are often
the most vulnerable and unequipped to deal with the threats posed by
extreme weather, natural disasters, rising sea levels or tropical and vector-
borne diseases.

GLOBALIZATION Globalization refers to the economic, cultural, and political interconnect-

edness of the world and the growing interactions between people, busi-
nesses, and political institutions globally.

GROWTH In 1972, The Limits to Growth report commissioned by The Club of Rome
predicted that if current patterns of exponential economic and population
expansion continued, the environmental limits of the planet could be
reached within the next hundred years. An updated version of the report,
Beyond the Limits, whose publication coincided with the 1992 United
Nations Earth Summit, concluded that the environmental limits of the
planet would be reached far sooner than the authors originally predicted.

I
INDIGENOUS RIGHTS Indigenous rights are the human, civil, and legal rights that respond
to the specific conditions of indigenous peoples (also known as tribal
peoples, native peoples, aboriginal peoples or First Nations), who have
historically suffered from unjust practices including genocide, enslavement,
forced relocation, physical attacks, exploitation, eviction, discrimination,
marginalization, and forced cultural and social assimilation.

L
LIVING WAGE A living wage is a decent remuneration for labour that enables workers
to meet their basic needs, sustain healthy lifestyles, and support their
dependants.

LOCALISM The concept of localism draws attention to the power of local responses to
the wider global issues.

M
MODERN SLAVERY Sometimes called contemporary slavery, modern slavery refers to a
situation where a person is exploited and completely controlled by
another person or organization, without the ability to leave.
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P
PLANETARY BOUNDARIESPlanetary boundaries are a concept developed in 2009 by a team
of international scientists led by Johan Rockström, then the director of
the Stockholm Resilience Centre. The team defined nine quantitative
planetary boundaries within which the planet and the human population
can continue to thrive, they include: 1. Stratospheric ozone depletion, 2.
Biodiversity loss and extinctions, 3. Chemical pollution and the release of
novel entities, 4. Climate change, 5. Ocean acidification, 6. Freshwater
consumption and the global hydrological cycle, 7. Land system change,
8. Nitrogen and phosphorus flows to the biosphere and oceans, and 9.
Atmospheric aerosol loading.

POST- GROWTH Post-growth thinking is a branch of economic theory that draws attention
to the fact that exponential economic growth within the finite resources of
ECONOMY our planet is impossible without dire consequences for both people and
the environment.

PROSPERITY Prosperity is the state of thriving and an indicator of quality of life. While
in purely economic terms, prosperity tends to be equalled with wealth, it is
increasingly recognized that economic prosperity is an insufficient metric
to reflect deeper dimensions of prosperity, such as decent and fulfilling
work, health, life satisfaction, and well-being.

R
RESILIENCE Resilience is the capacity of individuals, societies, cultures, economies,
and ecosystems to reorganize and recover from change and disruption in
a way that enables them to retain their identity and develop further.

RESOURCEFULNESS/ The Hindi word jugaad (English resourcefulness, French système D,

Portuguese gambiarra) refers to ingenious, frugal solutions that are
JUGAAD driven by flexibility and improvisation even in the most challenging
circumstances.

S
STAKEHOLDERS Stakeholders are any individuals or communities, whether internal or
external to an organization, that may affect or be affected by its actions.
The consideration of stakeholders, as opposed to just shareholders, builds
on the recognition of accountability and wider social and environmental
responsibility of all commercial and non-commercial organizations.
FASHION VALUES: ECONOMY

SUFFICIENCY The concept of sufficiency is integral to more sustainable fashion futures

as it recognizes the irreconcilability of the finite limits of the planet with
the infinitely increasing rates of production, consumption, and waste of
fashion products.

SUPPLY CHAIN Supply chain refers to all the processes, organizations and individuals
involved in turning raw materials into finished products and delivering
them to customers.

SYSTEMS THINKING In the current climate emergency, systems thinking refers to the urgent
need to rethink our relationship with economic growth in a way that
acknowledges and respects the vital interdependence of all life on the
planet.

SYSTEMS CHANGE Systems change refers to an intentional transformation of the ways in

which a system, such as an organization, industry, society or economy
operate. Systems change focuses on the root causes of problems, instead
of investing time and resources in temporary fixes that can only treat
symptoms.