In her essay, Kate Fletcher looks into the implications of fast fashion, a process that she defines as being used as an economic tool by the fashion industry in “order to increase throughput and grow profit.” Although she accepts that this business model is the universal goal for business globally, she pinpoints on several issues that arise from this model within the framework, from the use of cheap materials and labor, to exploiting the consumers desire for novelty. Yet, she argues that the fashion industry contains several more negative externalities, increase pollution, resource depletion, and climate change. With this in mind, she questions the impact of the volume-budget model on society and the environment. With this in mind, she argues that the other end of the spectrum, slow fashion, which involves the creation of durable products, traditional production techniques that tend to have a smaller impact on the environment, and designs that are season-less, lack the credibility that it deserves. Following this idea of slow fashion, opens the floodgates for an evolution within the fashion sector that can effectively change the world for the better. I found her paper very interesting because it effectively questions the traditional business model in the fashion industry, and the problems that arise from the ideas of fast fashion. Personally, I have never been a consumer of fast fashion, purchasing clothing maybe once a year and wearing them until they are effectively worn beyond use. I completely agree with her arguments, and think that further support for slow fashion, especially when locally produced, can have a massive impact on revolutionizing the way people think about fashion, and effectively improve the relationship between the fashion industry and the environment.
In her talk, Li Edelkoort argues that the issue with the fashion industry is that they are outdated, and questions the unethical practices in the fashion industry still used today, such as the use of unsustainable production methods. I loved her idea on of labeling the origin, content, and labor of the product to rationalize the price. Nowadays, when you go to the store to buy salmon, it is law that the above labeling is in place in order to assure the consumer that they are buying from an ethical, sustainable source, thus enforcing the relatively higher price than that of the alternative. Consumer awareness in the choices that they are making is of utmost importance in revolutionizing any industry, even the fashion industry.