Fast Fashion as a Contemporary Global Justice Problem: Towards more justice in the 'fast fashion' industry

Abstract

Technological, economical, social and political developments have led to globalization of industry. One important, strongly globalized industrial branch is garment industry. A contemporary trend within this industry is to shorten lead-time and to offer new and low-cost products to the market as soon as possible. This concept, called Fast Fashion, has changed the consumers' mentality and buying behavior in the affluent countries on one hand and it has had severe consequences for the environment and working conditions for garment workers in the developing countries on the other hand. National and international law and regulations are insufficient and therefore incapable to control this worldwide process and to secure that it answers to universally accepted environmental and ethical standards and demands. This thesis examines the environmental and social problems, caused by fast fashion, from a global justice and ethical perspective. Solving these problems is a shared responsibility of consumers, garment industry and governments of the countries involved. This thesis proposes a dialectic approach for them to do so. The main conclusion is that a critical self-reflection by the various stakeholders on their vision and values is needed, in order to come to a paradigm-shift in policies, that will lead to morally and ethically sound ways of operating.