1.Some of the ethical dilemmas faced by the fast fashion market often start at the manufacturer level. Many of these manufactures in order to mass produce their product not only in a fast pace, but also at the lowest labor price possible, they have essentially created what is called a sweatshop. A sweatshop is a factory or workshop where manual workers are employed at a very low salary, and long hours creating an unsafe and poor condition environment for the labor force. Another issue arises when a good portion of these labor workers are often children whose human rights are regularly violated.

After watching the video "The environmental disaster that is fueled by used clothes and fast fashion" it is made very clear the amount of waste that is created from fast fashion clothing. Clothes that are no longer used by the original purchaser, are ultimately resold in the second market in bulk. Those clothes that are no longer in good condition, are disposed or burnt creating a pile of fumes, and garbage that ends up polluting the air, water, and land. "According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 17 million tons of textile waste were generated in 2018, of which only 2.5 million tons were recycled."

After clothes hit the second market, and are sold in bulk there is no control or oversight of the market. In the video it is seen a group of Nigerians fighting over a pallet of clothes that had just been opened, as kids fighting over candy after hitting a piata. Fights will start over control of the better quality used clothing with a potential of injury. I believe there should be an oversight of what happens to clothes after they are discarded or sold in order to recycle and avoid further pollution.

As a corporation representatives have a moral duty to and are obliged to follow and maintain rules that will not only protect their employees, but also the environment. These are rules set forward, but are not often followed therefor creating a constant battle to ensure companies are responsible.

References:

What Is Fast Fashionand Why Is It a Problem? (2022, October 5). Treehugger. https://www.treehugger.com/fast-fashion-environmental-ethical-issues-4869800

2.The ethical dilemma in purchasing fast fashion products is that although nowadays consumers can purchase more goods for cheaper, we are disposing of these goods at an extremely fast rate. This creates an ethical concern as most of these clothes are then disposed and are destined for landfills. Clothing take up to 200 or more years to fully decompose in these landfills (Brown, n.d.).

There is numerous environmental concerns that can be anticipated through the vast purchasing of fast fashion products. One is stated above about the amount of clothing being in landfills and how long it takes to decompose. Another possible environmental concern is clothing getting into the drains and into the ocean. An example of where this is happening is in Ghana where because of their tropical climate they have bad rain storms which takes clothing off the streets into the drains and then from there to the ocean.

As a corporation in the clothing industry they have CSR obligations. What this means is that the company needs to oblige by certain actions in order to manage its industry and take responsibility for its social impact (Reckmann, n.d.). In the clothing industry, the company's that are creating these fast fashion clothing should be also thinking about solutions to the massive amount of clothing that is disposed of each year. An example of a company in which has done this Patagonia, in which allows customers to come in and get their clothes worked on in order to promote not buying new products but rather fixing ones you already have. This then allows for individuals to keep wearing their current clothes and not just throw a piece of clothing out when their is a small issue with it.

I am against the purchasing of fast fashion products as it leads to environmental concerns as a result of our greed for numerous amounts of clothing. The environment in your country but also numerous country's around the world are being affected negatively through fast fashion. Landfills are pilling up with clothing which does not decompose at a fast rate and will be there for years.

My recommendation is that as consumers we try our best to not purchase vast amount of clothing and reduce the amount of clothing in which we through out. On the other hand, my recommendation for clothing businesses is to promote fixing products instead of just buying brand new products. This will reduce the number of products bought my individuals and reduce the amount of clothing thrown out.

Sources:

Brown, R. (n.d.). The environmental crisis caused by textile waste. Roadrunner . Retrieved January 9, 2023, from https://www.roadrunnerwm.com/blog/textile-waste-environmental-crisis

Reckmann, N. (n.d.). Corporate Social Responsibility. Business News Daily. Retrieved January 9, 2023, from https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/4679-corporate-social-responsibility.html

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