An introduction to sustainability
1. Social equity — people
Our role as Closit
As a platform that promotes itself as a sustainable fashion app, it seems worthwhile to discuss the term sustainability to highlight what it is we are striving for and where we position ourselves in the evolving world of production and consumption.
We will address this topic in a series of short blogs surrounding its 3 pillars — social, economic and environmental — which, in order for something to classify as sustainable, demand a balanced interaction.
The term sustainability is becoming increasingly mainstream although it is not a new concept.
But what does it mean?
Sustainability: “An ecosystem, a lifestyle, or a community that is sustainable is one which supports itself and its surroundings”
If something is sustainable it is able to stay at the same level and will not be depleted therefore proving useful to both current generations and future ones.
Remember: sustainability does not refer solely to the environmental impact of production.
It can be broken down into 3 components
- Social equity
- Environmental protection
- Economic development
This first blog will discuss the first component: social equity.
These components are sometimes referred to as: people, planet and profits.
What is social equity?
It is the commitment to moral equality, the equal and fair treatment of all people. It refers, mainly, to three areas: equal life chances, equal concern for people’s needs and meritocracy.
Social equity requires policy change on a national level, yet small steps can also be done on a personal level to initiate change.
An example of inequity in the fashion industry
Does the term sweatshop ring any bells?
A sweatshop is a workplace, normally a factory, with very poor and often illegal working conditions. For example, employers pay wages significantly below the minimum wage, force employees to work unreasonable hours and oftentimes enforce child labour.
Such workplaces came to be in order to maximise profit by cutting costs of production and manufacturing. In other words, so that large corporations continue earning into the billions at the expense of hundreds of thousands of garment workers and their livelihoods. Household name brands whose manufacturing processes involve, to some extent, sweatshops, include Adidas, Nike, H&M and Forever 21.
Where are they?
Sweatshops are most prominent in the garment industry — though also in electronics, coffee, cocoa and cotton industries — and drive the economic growth in many third world countries, namely Bangladesh where the garment industry employs 3.6 million workers out of a total population of over 150 million.
The ignorance and abuse directed towards garment workers often leads to the neglect of the workplace making fast fashion factories dangerous environments for workers.
The fast fashion documentary The True Cost — see trailer here— sheds light on the Rana Plaza garment factory near Dhaka, Bangladesh, that collapsed in 2013 killing more than 1000 people and injuring around 2,500. The eight-storey building collapse was due its poor construction and large cracks in the walls, pointed out to management by employees but ignored.
This exploitation of garment workers is not limited to third world or developing countries; there are as many as 22,000 garment shops in the USA that classify as sweatshops, bearing in mind that sweatshops are illegal by law.
Why is social equity important and how can we address it?
Social equity is essential for long term change and development
As explained in further detail in ODI’s Equity in Development article, solutions include: providing universal public services for fair treatment, targeted action for disadvantaged groups, social protection, redistribution of money and challenging power imbalances.
On a higher level
In order for a business or workplace to develop sustainably, it must care for and protect its workers’ wellbeing and human rights.
This might demand a change, or enhanced enforcement, of national policy and certain requirements regarding workers’ rights and wellbeing will indeed need to be implemented as law if they are not already. Businesses should also be held to account.
In terms of sweatshops, the first steps to achieving this is to provide fair living wages and fair working conditions to employees who are, by law, able to work. In turn, workers will be able to perform better as they will have the energy, means and incentives to do so, which will help the business develop and flourish.
On a personal level
On a more personal level, before buying a piece of clothing, it is important to consider Who made this?
💡Would you still buy a T shirt from H&M if you knew the age of the person who made it, their wage and the working conditions in which it was produced? Perhaps not…
As you would hope, a 2004 study found that consumers would pay much more for an item to know that it was not made in a sweatshop. Doubling the salary of sweatshop workers would only increase the consumer cost of an item by 1.8% though consumers claim they would pay 15% more.
Think: Who made my clothes? Where did they come from? What am I endorsing?
If everyone considered the same question when shopping, this small action would send an important message to manufacturers. Buy secondhand and help reduce the fast fashion demand!
Change starts from within and on a small scale
Our next blog publication will address the second pillar of sustainability: environmental protection.
Stay tuned and remember to download the Closit app to #findyournextclosetsale
