Carly Angel

IR- 3 11AP #17

22 January 2019

Compiled Annotation

Bianchi, Constanza, and Grete Birtwistle. “Consumer Clothing Disposal Behavior: A

Comparative Study.” ​International Journal of Consumer Studies​, vol. 36, no. 3, May
2012, pp. 335–41, doi:​10.1111/j.1470-6431.2011.01011.x​.

Fast fashion retailers are making consumers buy more, wear them less times, and then
throwing them out. This has led to an increase in clothing disposal. The two alternative practices
that are looked at in this paper are tried out in two different countries, Australia and Chile, are
giving to family and friends and donating to charity. The results found that the most common
way of clothing recycling is donating to charity. In addition it was found that if consumers are
aware of the environmental effects than they are much more likely to donate to charity. Since
fast fashion brands come out with new lines ever 2-3 consumers now expect to see new styles
that often. An example of how much waste gets disposed is “during 1995 the denim industry
generated more than 70 million kilos of scrap in landfills in the USA”.
This article is very informative and supports a lot of personal hypothesis. If consumers
are expecting to see new styles every couple of weeks then this does not go well for slow fashion
brands. Also this proves that consumer awareness is directly linked to how consumers shop and
dispose of their clothing.

Childs, Michelle. Phone Interview. 3 January 2018.

The topics discussed in this interview were: ​How did Dr. Childs become interested in the
fast fashion industry, and what would you say is your primary interest with in the fashion
industry, what is Dr. Child's primary interest in the fashion industry, how the way that brands
portray themselves affect consumer behavior, if the industry has been so successful due to lack
of knowledge on the consumers part of the environmental and social effects, does Dr. Childs
have any experience in looking into preventative measures for any of the negative environmental
effects of fast fashion from a consumer or a producer perspective, when talking about consumer
behavior do you think that social media has a big impact on what people buy and how often? ---
How to brands use this to support their image?
Overall this interview went very well, and Dr. Childs was very insightful on the topics
that I am interested in. For my research she provided me examples of sustainable companies that
have a very translucent production. This is very valuable because it is a direct example that I can
use in my paper.

da Costa, Ana Gonçalves, et al. “Innovating in the Fashion Industry for a More Sustainable
Production and Consumption.” ​Proceedings of the European Conference on Innovation
& Entrepreneurship​, Jan. 2018, pp. 285–92.
 The main purpose of this study was to be able to see if the fashion industry could be
reorganized so that it would be less waste producing and more sustainable. This was conducted
through a collection of YouTube channels who focus on slow fashion consumption. The
solutions that people came up with were focused on environmentally friendly actions like
recycling and reusing and educating consumers. Some of the actual ideas were opening more
second hand stores, making packaging that is more ecologically friendly, and making it more
appealing to consumers to shop second hand. Slow fashion needs to be introduced to consumers
as an option that opposes fast fashion because it emphasises quality rather than quantity.
This article is helpful because it goes deeper into what steps need to be taken in order to
get to a place that is more sustainable. A point that is very important is consumer awareness
because if consumers don't know what is going on than it is very unlikely that they will be a part
of the solution. It also points out that the first step is going to be recycling and shopping second
hand. The likelihood of people all of the sudden just stop shopping at fast fashion brands is
unlikely but second hand stores provide an alternative.

Danziger, Pamela. ​The Ugly Underside Of The Glamorous Fashion Industry Exposed​.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/pamdanziger/2018/09/30/the-ugly-underside-of-the-glamor
ous-fashion-industry-exposed/#785f6989507e​. Accessed 30 Sept. 2018.

The fashion industry is truly founded on exploitation and subjugation of its workers. A
book titles “The best job in the world: behind the scenes in the fashion industry” it goes into
depth on how badly factory workers are treated. Precarity is a term that describes the vast
underclass of designers, models, makeup artists, ect who help the fashion industry elites get
richer. “Their midas-sized wealth stands in stark contrast to the hundreds of thousands of their
companies’ workers who have made that wealth possible. These workers who produce and sell
the goods and create the images that keep the system going are not rewarded fairly for their
work.”
This article is helpful because it brings fast fashion into my research and companies that
have been scrutinized for doing this. It very interesting that these large world brands can get
away with all that they do and finding loopholes in labor laws by making all of their goods in
other countries like China. So, if these companies are making so much (advertising included)
then why do not they pay their workers?

Gardner, Jonathan​. “Forever21 and H&M Are the Kings of Fast-Fashion Social Media.”
Business Wire (English)​, Sept. 2017.

H&M at the most successful social media brands so they are able to control the highly
competitive fast fashion brands. An analysis done by Business Wire shows that in the US the top
fast fashion are: H&M, Uniqlo, Gap, Old Navy, Top Shop, Zara, Mango, and American Apparel.
This study show that they use the most visual content to engage consumers. H&M gets about 20
times the content performance compared to the brands at the end of the list. This was measured
by online engagement. Fast fashion in the US outpaces other fashion sectors by $220 billion.
Targeting advertising on Pinterest and Instagram bring back the best results for online
advertising. Visual content compelled consumers in a way that nothing else does, especially
when it is paired with engaging backgrounds. Forever 21 had 53 instagram engagements with
just 1,017 posts, and H&M got 39 million instagram engagements with just 486 posts. Followers
does not account for more engagement though. For example Zara has 16.6 million followers but
only 12.7 million engagements while Forever 21 only has 13.5 million followers and has 53
million engagements on instagram.
This study is very interesting because it shows a lot about how consumers react to
different types of advertising. Visually appealing ads do much better than any type which is kind
of expected. So, why don’t all brands do this all the time?

Gilliland, Nikki. “Four Factors Fuelling the Growth of Fast Fashion Retailers.” ​Econsultancy​, 28
June 2017,
https://econsultancy.com/four-factors-fuelling-the-growth-of-fast-fashion-retailers/​.

Fast fashion is the production needed to get the newest trends into stores as quickly as
possible. This basically means that collections are not seasonal it is just a continuous cycle.
H&M and Zara are said to be some of the first brands that used this technique. One reason why
fast fashion is able to happen is by capturing the millennial customers. Young people like new
fashion and want what's trendy at that moment. ASOS stocks over 60,000 items at all times so
that they can constantly update with ‘new products’. ASOS is always checking what trends are
selling online so then they can promote what's hot as ‘new’ on their website. Another thing that
fuels fast fashion is celebrity endorsement. If celebrities like Kylie Jenner post a picture in an
outfit promoting a brand than that brand gets lots of specific attention. Social media is used by
these brands to promote their clothing since it is targeted at young people. Instagram is the most
effective platform. In this article there is also talk about sustainability and other brands playing
catch up.
This article has a whole section on how brands use social media and online celebrity
endorsements. This article is basically saying that social media advertising is one of the key
contributors to fast fashion.

Gupta, Shipra, and James W. Gentry. “Consumers’ Reactions to Conditions of Perceived

Scarcity: The Case of Fast Fashion.” ​AMA Winter Educators’ Conference Proceedings,​
vol. 25, Jan. 2014, pp. C–34.

This is a case study done on the use of scarcity tactics of fast fashion brands. This is
essentially when brands make consumers think that the clothes they are selling will only be
available for a limited time so they have to buy it now or else they will not be able to get it at all.
This causes consumers to buy more often and in larger amounts. For the “experiment” they asked
13 people from different levels of the fashion food chain what their buying behavior or what
their companies do to promote their clothes. Through this Gupta and Gentry were able to see
how these companies are able to manipulate consumers into buying more than they actually
need. This makes the fast fashion cycle keep going.
This study is helpful because it gives information and data from real people. The average
consumer does not know that they are essentially being taken advantage of by these brands
because they are being told that they need to buy more even though the average person has more
than enough clothes to live off of. It all stems from the mentality that you can not be seen in the
same outfit.
Gupta, Shipra. Phone Interview. 16 December 2018.

The topics discussed in this interview were: how Dr. Gupta became interested in the
fashion industry, ​if the industry has been so successful due to lack of knowledge on the
consumers part of the environmental and social effects, will ethically sourcing brands will be
able to reach a point one day when they are in real competition with the big fast fashion retailers,
When talking about consumer behavior do you think that social media has a big impact on what
people buy and how often, does Dr. Gupta have any experience in looking into preventative
measures for any of the negative environmental effects of fast fashion from a consumer or a
producer perspective, and different stems from these original questions. Dr. Gupta was very
helpful and receptive and was able to give very good information.
This interview went very well overall and there was some very good information shared.
Some key takeaways were that a big problem that causes this cycle to occur is the lack of
knowledge from the consumer and the tactics that stores use to keep it that way. Also that bransd
use of “scare” tactics they make a big difference in how you should look at the integrity of
brands.

Jung, Sojin, and Byoungho Jin. “From Quantity to Quality: Understanding Slow Fashion
Consumers for Sustainability and Consumer Education.” ​International Journal of
Consumer Studies​, vol. 40, no. 4, July 2016, pp. 410–21, doi:​10.1111/ijcs.12276​.

There is a growing emphasis for slow fashion which promotes quality over quantity of
production. This study was designed to identify what the slow fashion consumer is and what they
want. There were four groups of consumers that were identified and categorized:
Highly-involved in slow fashion group, Conventional group, Exclusivity oriented group and
Low-involved in slow fashion group. In the last 5 years Zara has tripled sales and Forever21 has
increased sales by 82%. There has been a spike in the interest of slow fashion recently, but the
knowledge of what the slow fashion consumer is still unknown. Because slow fashion is seen as
alternative it is not as popular and it is hard to identify who is actually willing to make the
change.
This study is very progressive and is exploring an area that has not been looked into that
much. So, it is very insightful as to who slow fashion brands should be targeting their branding
to. It is also helpful in understanding the differences between fast and slow fashion and the
people that are going to chose to shop at the different types of stores.

Kerpen, Carrie. “How Has Social Media Changed Us?” ​Forbes​,

https://www.forbes.com/sites/carriekerpen/2016/04/21/how-has-social-media-changed-us
/​. Accessed 17 Sept. 2018.

Social media has affected the way people live their day to day lives, and their personal
brands. This is because it seems like everything gets shared on social media, even the personal
stuff. Over 78% of the US population has a social networking profile. This has many effects on
people including how we spend our time and how we feel about ourselves. People have
developed a sense where they feel like they know someone when in reality you just follow them
on some sort of social media platform. Viewers like to see authentic posts from the people they
follow on social media because it makes them feel like they have a deeper connection with that
person. In the business world it helps people market themselves, because if someone sees your
posts online that is an automatic conversation starter. Your personal brand is determined greatly
by your digital legacy and online footprint. So, being careful what you post is critical, you do not
want people associating you with the wrong message.
Social media has a big impact on teenages lives and what we do on a daily basis, but it
was made clear how impactful it was for adults. Adults make up the majority of the economic
market in our country so they are going to be affected by social media ads just as much as the
average teen. Using social media advertising is capturing all age groups.

Kramer, Bryan. ​Why Social Media Is Reimagining Our Future.​

https://www.ted.com/talks/bryan_kramer_why_social_media_is_reimagining_our_future​.
Accessed 16 Oct. 2018.

This Ted talk is about a man who owns a marketing firm in Silicon Valley. He sees
social media as. The best way to connect with people. After falling into a rut at work he would
spend hours a day on social media and through this he saw the power of sharing. He then wanted
to reinvent himself and his brand. Through social media sites like Linkedin and Facebook he was
able to connect with top executives of companies in the Silicon Valley and beyond. He
interviewed them on their stories and realized that he had a story that people would want to listen
to. His slogan that trended #1 on Twitter is “There is no business to business or consumer to
consumer, it is human to human.” Connection is what is going to make the sale ect. He then went
out on Twitter again and asked people to share their stories and their ideas on “How to change to
world” during the actual presentation. With in hours of this event this idea was trending
nationally on Twitter.
This Ted Talk will be helpful because it has live stats on how impactful social media is,
with the Twitter experiment that was conducted at the end of the presentation. It also shows how
people and companies use social media to define their personal and professional brands.

Manganello, Kristin. “Wool Over Our Eyes: How a Fragmented Fashion Supply Chain Hides
Global Social Issues.” ​ThomasNet News​, Aug. 2018, p. 1.

All over the world there are sweatshops that have people of all ages working in horrible
and dangerous conditions. Some of the biggest examples of this are in China, India, and
Uzbekistan. One of the biggest disasters that happened in one of these sweatshops was on “April
24, 2013, the Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh, which was home to several clothing factories,
collapsed, killing over 1,100 people and injuring approximately 2,500. Hundreds of the survivors
were left with permanent disabilities. During the day before, cracks had appeared throughout the
building. Despite their apprehensions, workers were instructed to go to work as normal”.
Because of this incident it made it apparent to everyone in the fashion industry and the world that
there were some serious problems in the infrastructure of the fashion industry. But, this event in
Bangladesh was able to pull the curtain back on all of other factories where workers are put in
danger every day going to work and they are barely getting any money for it.
 This information about the production system within the fashion industry is imperative
to understanding the fashion industry as a whole. The more demand for clothing by consumers
that shop at fast fashion brands, then the more these people have to work in factories. As the
amount of clothing that is being produced goes up than the safety of the workers goes down
because they have to make more in the same amount of time.

Mckinsey & Company. “Fashion in 2018 | 08. Sustainability Credibility.” ​The Business of
Fashion,​ 2 Jan. 2018,
https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/intelligence/top-industry-trends-2018-8-susta
inability-credibility​.

Sustainability will be a big focus for lots of designers in 2018. Companies are striving to
close the loop of products life cycle by incorporating recycling goods and using a circulatory
economy. A circular economy will force sustainability to happen because it is integrated into the
entire fashion value chain. A way that this movement will take flight is when sustainability
leadership evolves more. An example of this that can be seen now is with Patagonia, it has a
large customer base and this is partially because of their sustainability efforts. Millennials like
the idea of sustainability and are 66% more likely to buy something if it was made by a
sustainable brand, do companies want to follow this trend to capture this generation's attention.
As attention does grow the leading brands will be profiting more and more as the movement
gains momentum. Some companies are even now devoted to making textile for the circular
economy. Some companies like C&A have been doing this for years and act as a model for
others that are switching over. Another important part of this is cutting back on waste.
This article shows what the current economy of the fashion industry is based on and what
its moving toward. If companies are worried about sustainability and waste then it would make
sense why they would be more inclined to digital ads then print ads. It also gave me insight into
what consumers want these days and what appeals to younger generations.

McNeill, Lisa, and Rebecca Moore. “Sustainable Fashion Consumption and the Fast Fashion
Conundrum: Fashionable Consumers and Attitudes to Sustainability in Clothing Choice.”
International Journal of Consumer Studies,​ vol. 39, no. 3, May 2015, pp. 212–22,
doi:​10.1111/ijcs.12169​.

The fashion industry has been taking a turn for sustainability and ethically sourced
production. But consumers are not to happy about it. There is an overall sense of reluctance
towards slow fashion from consumers. Fashion consumers can be put into three categories:
‘Self’ consumers, concerned with hedonistic needs, ‘Social’ consumers, concerned with social
image and ‘Sacrifice’ consumers who strive to reduce their impact on the world. Because
everyone's different there is no way to target everyone since everyone thinks differently. Fashion
as a whole is a way that people can express themselves, so if you try to limit that then there will
be some backlash. Sustainable fashion brands in theory have the means to support consumers.
But consumers are not taking advantage of it because of previous stigmas.
This journal covers fast fashion and slow fashion and how they interact with one another.
It is important to look at the relationship between the two and how consumers react to the both of
them. This does a very good job of that. This article also points out a very strong point that
people see fashion as self expression and do not want to be told what to wear and where to buy
clothes. This is a big issue with trying to transition to slow fashion because people like what they
like and do not like to change.

Saravanakumar and SuganthaLakshmi, “Social Media Marketing.”

http://www.lifesciencesite.com/lsj/life0904/670_13061life0904_4444_4451.pdf​.
Accessed 25 Sept. 2018.

Social media is the main way people of the 21st century communicate, it allows us to
express our beliefs in a totally new way. Without a good plan social media marketing has no way
of standing out on its own. Social media has transformed research methods, it allows companies
to connect with consumers on a much more personal level. marketing rules are constantly
changing according to the needs and developments taking place around it. Big companies will
use social media to reinforce their presence and to create buzz and even to learn from their
consumers. Businesses will also use apps like Facebook to crowdsource their consumers. This is
when they offer some sort of deal or reward to people who like or “activate” their posts. Retailers
have now made it possible for people using sites like Facebook to directly buy products. Making
the process easy and simple.
This journal is goes into a lot of different aspects of social media marketing. Much more
in depth than any other article I have come across. The only drawback is that it is from 2012 and
lots of other sites have become popular since then so some of the data will not be as relevant.

Solér, Cecilia, et al. “Construction of Silence on Issues of Sustainability through Branding in the
Fashion Market.” ​Journal of Marketing Management,​ vol. 31, no. 1–2, Feb. 2015, pp.
219–46, doi:​10.1080/0267257X.2014.977331​.

This article focuses on “the performativity of fashion brand discourse, in particular the
performativity of ‘muted sustainable’ brands and the subsequent construction of eco-fashion
consumption”. When coming from the viewpoint of sustainability it is important to construct
ideas of how eco-fashion brands can minimize waste and produce in a way that is better for the
environment. There are some indications that the fashion industry is taking some steps to reduce
some of the negative environmental and social impacts. But they are not branding it in this way
to consumers or advertising it all. This is called a ‘Muted Sustainable’ brand. Why brands are not
coming out with their sustainable efforts has had little research, so there is not a clear answer.
This article is interesting because it is confusing why brands would not want to advertise
their sustainable efforts. It could be because they do not want to expose that they have not been
producing in the most ethical way previously or because they do not want to be labeled with
some of the labels that slow fashion brands are given.

Tan, Oliver July 3, 2017. ​How Social Media Contributed to the Rise of Fast Fashion.​
https://www.adweek.com/digital/oliver-tan-visenze-guest-pot-fast-fashion/​. Accessed 4
Oct. 2018.

Everywhere you go there is always going to be someone on their phone and posting on
social media, is it hard to recall life without it. There are 2 types of social media users, the
sprinklers and the vacuums. The sprinkles share social media content and the vacuums suck it
up. It is compared to a food chain, one cannot live without the other. Social proofing is the
combination of these two things, it is was fuels social influence. Social proofing is also referred
to as the most powerful psychological trigger in marketing. Fast fashion is an industry that gets
direct results for this. Clothes used to be seen as an investment meaning that people would buy
fewer item but for higher costs. But, now with social media consumers want to see what's new
from the big influencers and get what they have so that they can mold to a certain style. Social
media puts out the message that once an outfit has been shared on a social platform it can not be
worn or posted in again. So, consumers now are more likely to purchase more low end products
so that they can always stay on trend. Today people do not look in a store for their next outfit
they look on social media. Fast fashion brands have realized this and now know how to cultivate
an audience by always having what is trendy. According to consumer studies, ​81 percent of
people are influenced by friends’ posts​ and 85 percent of people are influenced by celebrity
endorsements.
This article is going to be extremely useful in my research. This is because it really
encompases all parts of my current research, social media, advertising, and fast fashion. I know
that this is probably not the most scholarly source, but there were some good statistics and juse
overall good information. I definitely plan on using this article in the future.

TEDx Talks. ​Fast Fashion’s Effect on People, The Planet, & You | Patrick Woodyard | TEDx
University of Mississippi.​ ​ ​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPM9lhackHw​. Accessed
16 Oct. 2018.

The $3 trillion dollar fashion industry is now defined by a lack of connection between the
producers and consumers. In the 1960’s 95% of clothes were made in the US, but now less than
3% are. Trade barriers have softened, so this has allowed brands to to make clothes in 3rd world
countries for cheaper. A big problem with this is that these countries are almost 100% dependent
on coal for their energy, so it is awful for the environment. Prices have gone down a lot in recent
years, but consumers are buying a lot more. This cycle is horrible for the environment, but
consumers are unaware even though they are half of the equation. The fashion industry is
responsible for 10% of the world's carbon footprint. Also, a lot of freshwater is used in the
production of clothing and all of them chemicals that these factories use are outputted into
streams and rivers nearby. Polyester, used 4 times more than cotton, is made up of microplastics,
and these non disintegrating plastics end up in oceans a lot of the time. Another environmental
concern is that 4 billion lbs of textile waste ends up in landfills every year. This industry is the
2nd most polluting industry in the world behind oil. But, there is hope because there are many
sustainable US brands emerging. As said by a new entrepreneur social media and technology can
keep the supply chain in contact with one another.
In this Ted Talk it gives lots of stats on how bad the fashion industry actually is for the
environment and the people who produce the textile. This is eye opening because people do not
realize that every piece of clothing they purchase has such a negative effect on people and the
planet.

TEDx Talks. ​The Wardrobe to Die For | Lucy Siegle | TEDxSalford​.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YglyHzvBqpA​. Accessed 16 Oct. 2018.
 This Ted Talk is about fashion by numbers as Lucy Siegle the speaker states. She
estimates that there are about 80 billion garments made every year, but a lot of this textile ends
up in landfills. This much is made because people now consume without realising. In order to
make one pair of genes it takes 11,000-20,000 gallons of water. This is not good for the
environment at all. The other reason why so many garments are made every year are because of
micro-trends. Looks are seen on the catwalk, then into wardrobes, and then onto the streets. Big
brands rarely restock items because the next trend is already happening before they have a
chance. This is also a problem for small businesses because they are unable to produce to keep
up with all of these micro trends. The 3rd richest man in the world owns Zara and the man who
owns H&M is also in the top 10. On the other side 80% of Bangladesh's income is from the
fashion industry, they have 5,600 factories.
This Ted Talk is very informative on the fast fashion industry. It uses lots of statistics that
show just how bad the industry is for the people who are essentially forced to work in it and for
the planet. This presentation will be helpful because it has hard data.

Tim, Yenni, et al. “Digitally Enabled Affordances for Community-Driven Environmental

Movement in Rural Malaysia.” ​Information Systems Journal,​ vol. 28, no. 1, Jan. 2018,
pp. 48–75, doi:​10.1111/isj.12140​.

There are so many environmental issues that we have in our world right now. So, how
can media help out and relieve some of the stress we have put on the environment? There is only
a small amount of research that has been done on how digital media can help with environmental
issues, but this study is changing that. This study is a “ social media-enabled grassroots
environmental movement in rural Malaysia, this paper aims to illuminate and understand an
under researched phenomenon of community-driven environmental sustainability”. The two
results that were made from this study were that they “draw on the perspective of technology
affordances to shed light on both the enabling power and unintended consequences of social
media in the pursuit of environmental sustainability; and on that account, ( ​2​) we contribute rich,
empirically informed insights toward understanding the under researched phenomenon of
digitally enabled, community-driven environmental sustainability”.
While this article does not have to do directly with the fashion industry it looks into how
social media can help with environmental effects of different fields and fashion could be one of
these things. You can relate this to fashion by realizing that many fashion brands use social
media for advertising and how if they started using it to promote sustainability it could really
help.