Sixteenth International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic & Social Sustainability

Abstract

The fashion industry is criticized for unsustainable practices such as environmental foot print, waste, low wages, etc. A major challenge within the industry arises from its fragmented supply chain wherein fiber/fabric may be produced in one country, product sewn in another to be sold in a third country. This leads to lack of transparency and understanding of sustainability-related issues within the fashion industry. Thus, it is essential that future professionals of the fashion industry, students, gain a holistic understanding of the fashion supply process to be equipped with tools to make changes towards sustainable development. For this purpose, a cross-functional collaborative course project was created to provide students with a holistic understanding of sustainability at various stages within the fashion supply process. The collaboration was between fashion design (n=38) and fashion merchandising students (n=165) at a public state university in the US. Each team, consisting of 5-6 student merchandisers and 3 student designers created a sustainable fashion brand that implemented sustainable practices throughout its supply chain. Student merchandisers developed a business plan and branding strategy for a sustainable apparel retailer for a specific target market while student designers created a sustainable capsule collection to meet the needs of the market. Through this project, students were exposed to the cross-functional nature of the fashion industry and engage in functions of the supply chain outside of their primary focus area to gain a holistic picture of how sustainable practices can be implemented at various stages of the fashion supply chain.