Capstone Project – Fair Trade Clothing

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The garment industry is global, and it is one of the most unethical and unsustainable industries in today’s society. As a 1.2 trillion dollar industry globally, fashion can do better. We, as consumers, have the ability to make choices the empower and protect our people and our planet by putting a stop to fast fashion and making fair-trade purchases. Fast fashion is the concept of large corporations creating over 52 different style “seasons”, consistently marketing the need for new, inexpensive clothing to the masses. This idea has resulted in the demand for cheap materials and cheap labor, and both of those things mean that farmers and workers in foreign countries are paying the price with their livelihood and, sometimes, even with their lives. Fair trade companies ensure that everyone down the chain of production- from the farmers planting crops for the material to the artisans sewing the clothes by hand- is compensated fairly, protected from harmful toxins, and provided a safe and empowering way of life.

To help inform people of the injustices imposed by the fashion industry, as well as how they can make more ethical clothing choices, I will be creating an infographic file to help convey statistics that are vital to the issue. To help illustrate and personalize the issues, I will be making a remix video that highlights some of the working conditions, industry catastrophes (such as the avoidable Rana Plaza collapse that killed 1,100 workers), and what free-trade clothing companies are doing to combat the issues.

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