Our Research Problem
Fast fashion is a global phenomena in the trending fashion industry that emphasizes manufacturing trendy clothing styles quickly and cheaply available
to consumers. However, fast fashion entails offshore manufacturing where labor is cheapest, with the use of low-wage workers without adequate safety and rights; and cheap, low quality materials, where clothes degrade after just a few wears and are thrown away. The fast fashion industry promotes throw-away culture among consumers so that millions of pounds of clothing are thrown into landfills yearly. The fashion industry it is responsible for 10% of all carbon emissions globally and is the second-highest polluter of clean water. |
Research Questions
Research Direction: Throughout our research, we aim to disrupt the purchase, use, and discarding process of clothing by examining consumer behavior and attitudes and consider an alternative to discarding clothes on a college campus. Thus, our project aims to answer several questions:
- Can a system of collecting, recycling, donating, and reselling textiles be developed to create a zero fabric waste campus? Can this be replicated for application on other college campuses?
- How have the attitudes towards fast fashion/collection of clothes changed? Do attitudes change/can we change attitudes?