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Fashion Sustainability

Forrest Schield

Introduction

The Fashion industry has been a booming industry for a long time and shows no indication that it

will be slowing down anytime soon. While the fashion industry is huge with Weeks dedicated to

the industry and ads and commercials for some of your favorite brands airing every minute. The

fashion industry is not immune to the green movement. The fashion industry has come under fire

for its sustainability and ethics. Some major companies have started to change their supply chain

and ethics to combat this but some are better at it than others. Achieving sustainability is not

without its Pros and Cons.

Pros

Sustainable fashion has a lot of Pros. Some of the ones that immediately jump out that making

your supply chains more sustainable helps the environment overall and this has been a big topic

with the climate initiatives over the last few years. Another great pro is that as stated "When

considering the pros and cons of sustainable fashion, we can’t look past the fact that generally,

sustainable fashion companies are better for their workers"(8 pros and cons of sustainable

fashion in our eco-system  2022). So, a more sustainable company usually has a happier

workforce which is better for everyone involved. A great pro also is that yes this may cost more

but this will gain your brand a new outlook and people will equate your company with a higher

quality therefor increasing your revenue.

Cons
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Now the sustainability cause is not without some cons the main one being that it is going to be a

lot less cost effective to pretty much every company. By becoming more green or sustainable

these companies are usually going to be using either high quality products or less obtainable

products therefor increasing cost. Unfortunately, some promising brands are making a difference

but have no interest in saving the world (8 pros and cons of sustainable fashion in our eco-

system  2022).

So, as you can see it is a grind to get the sustainable initiates going in the first place and it really

has to be a group effort on a bunch of different companies' parts.

New York Act

The New York Act or what people have started to call it the Fashion Act is a bill in the

state of New York that would " effectively hold the biggest brands in fashion to account for their

role in climate change" (New York could make history with a fashion sustainability act 2022).

So, this act comes with a whole roadmap of how each company is to proceed with each initiative

ranging from the beginning of the process such as raw materials to the end product. Currently the

bill is in committee so it has yet to be officially passed and it might be some time before it does. I

believe that it has a chance to cause real change but only if enough companies are willing to

accept it. I think the fashion industry will continue pretty much as is until this gets passed and

then maybe a little better condition but I do not believe that it will have the giant changing effect

on the industry that everyone is hoping for.

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Survey and Ranking

So, I usually shop at mostly athletic apparel store like Nike and Adidas and Target. So, my

rankings are pretty in line with a lot of my friends since we mostly shop at the same places my

ranking is from the (31-60) range and I had actually never heard of the Index before this so i was

surprised that it even existed. But overall, I am happy with my ranking I guess seeing as it is

pretty high.

Participants

Steve Schield – 65-year-old, Real Estate Agent

Cameron Kawcak – 30-year-old, Car Finance Manager

Savannah Schield – 27-year-old, Town clerk

Josh Kawcak – 38-year-old – GM of car dealership

Quinn Tibbetts - 30-year-old – Real Estate Agent

Rankings

Steve Schield- Mostly shops at Target and Nike (31-60)

Savannah Schield - Mostly shops Target and Lululemon (31-60)

Cameron Kawcak - Mostly Shops Costco and Nike (6-60)

Josh Kawcak - Mostly shops Calvin Klein and Nike (51-60)

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Quinn Tibbetts - Mostly shops Patagonia and H&M (41-70)

How do you fell about your Fashion transparency index ranking?

Steve - "I was not aware there was one and it appears mine is pretty good so overall I'm satisfied

with it."

Savannah - "I have heard about the index but never paid too much attention but I am aware of

what some companies are trying to do so it makes me feel good that the companies I like seem to

care."

Cameron - "Hadn't heard of this before you told me about it but I guess I'm happy that my

favorite companies are at least semitransparent."

Josh - "Seems to me that the companies I seem to shop at tend to be pretty high so I'm pleased

that they are showing us what they actually do"

Quinn - "I was aware of the index but never paid too much attention to it but i like where my

ranking is and am happy that these companies are on the higher end."

Conclusion

So, in conclusion the ability to turn fashion supply chains sustainable and greener is a

slippery slope. You have some very good pros in doing it and even some laws that may be

passed helping to move it forward but that is still up in the air. But on the flip side you have

some cons with the green movement mainly cost of products and workforce and if there is one

thing that companies are looking to do it is making a profit. So, in the end i think we are just

going to have to wait and see how New York handles this before we will move on to the world.

References
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8 pros and cons of sustainable fashion in our eco-system . JD Institute of Fashion

Technology. (2022, June 15). Retrieved December 2, 2022, from

https://www.jdinstitute.edu.in/8-pros-and-cons-of-sustainable-fashion-in-our-eco-system/

New York could make history with a fashion sustainability act. NY State Senate. (2022,

January 12). Retrieved December 2, 2022, from https://www.nysenate.gov/newsroom/in-the-

news/alessandra-biaggi/new-york-could-make-history-fashion-sustainability-act

Ny State senate Bill S7428a. NY State Senate. (2022, November 18). Retrieved

December 2, 2022, from https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2021/S7428

Rachel Cernansky, B. W. (2022, November 17). New York's fashion act gets a

makeover-is it enough? Vogue. Retrieved December 2, 2022, from

https://www.vogue.com/article/new-york-fashion-act-update-sustainability