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Fast fashion. Liz Barnes and Gaynor Lea-Greenwood, Manchester Metropolitan University
Introduction
The ethical consumer market is going through a significant period of growth. Also in the fashion industry a change is taking place. New ethical fashion brands, such as American Apparel and People Tree, are trying to bring a fresh approach to the market and to gain interest from the ordinary fashion consumer. Their recent success and business growth in the fashion market raises the question whether or not ethical consumerism is "back in fashion" and if the alteration to a new consciousness really hits the fashion nerve of mainstream consumers of our times. It is debatable whether the majority of consumers would truly forgo their self-interest in order to purchase alternatives produced under ethically acceptable conditions.
Surveys have produced evidence that consumers will reward businesses that treat their workers and the environment fairly and sanction those that do not ([3] Creyer and Ross, 1997; [9] Forte and Lamont, 1998). However, limited research has been conducted concerning the consumers' view on ethical issues in the fashion industry and its influence on their purchase behaviour ([5] Dickson, 1999, [6] 2000; [1] Balzer, 2000). Since ethical concerns exist globally, this study has the aim to analyse the effect of ethical issues on consumers' fashion purchasing behaviour in the UK and Germany. In order to fulfil the aim, the research objectives are:
- to define ethical fashion;
- to analyse the awareness of ethical issues in fashion of consumers and its effect on the purchase of fashion products;
- to compare ethical attitudes towards the fashion industry in both England and Germany; and
- to examine consumers' attitudes towards ethical fashion.
Defining ethical fashion
Ethical fashion is not only hard to define, as there is no one industry standard. Moreover, it often has common characteristics with other movements such as fair trade and ecology or green fashion. The term ethical fashion is a new approach of "fashion with conscience" in the market and refers to a growing number of ethical clothing companies such as American Apparel, Edun, or Gossypium that strive to attract young mainstream consumers by producing fashionable clothes. The principle is to source garments ethically while providing good working standards and conditions to workers and to...