Carly Angel

IR 3-11AP #17
6 June 2019

Project Summary

What:
Consumer awareness seminar for students at River Hill High School

When and Where:

May 22, 2019 from 2:15-2:45 in Mrs. Sassers room (141)

Introduction:
I conducted research on the fast fashion industry. More specifically the negative effects it is, how
consumers and brands contribute to the industry, and how people and brands can help the
negative things that fast fashion causes. This led me to research the sustainable fashion industry
as well. The goal of my project is to bring awareness to teens on the effects of fast fashion and
what they can do as teen consumers to help.

Benefits:
This seminar was very beneficial to members of my community. Not a lot of teens know what
fast fashion is, as seen from the evaluation forms given out at the end of the seminare, but it is
something that everyone should know about. This is because everyone has to buy clothes and is
involved in this market whether they realize it or not. So, bringing awareness to this topic to
teens can help them in making smarter purchasing decisions in the future, and not contribute to
the problems that fast fashion causes.

Major Discoveries:
At the end of the presentation the attendees were given a form that asked them how
knowledgeable they were of the topic before the presentation and almost everyone said that they
had little to no knowledge. This was very eye opening because it is concrete proof that teens are
oblivious to the fast fashion industry and are unaware that they are participating in it. Another
point on discovery was the diverse group of students that showed up. There were students of all
genders and grades in attendance, and they were all attentive during the presentation. This was
unexpected because you would not assume that a 17 year old boy would be interested in a topic
like fast fashion.
Unexpected Information:
During my research I came upon a lot of things that were unexpected. For example, the extent of
the environmental effects that fast fashion has. I was able to incorporate these statistics into my
product and present students with cold hard facts. This is beneficial because students may not
always listen to their peers, but there is no disputing proven statistics.

Next Step:
The next phase of my research is going to be to write an article for the school newspaper to be
published next year. This is a great way to get the information out to an even larger group of
kids. If I were to continue this research I would want to focus more on teens knowledge and
involvement within the industry, and find ways to get them to try alternatives to fast fashion.

Conclusion:
This year has opened me up to so many things that I didn't even know were out there. I have
learned so much through this topic and researching it. I still do enjoy my topic and know that if I
chose to there would be a lot of different paths I could go with it. I like how personal it is and
how just about everyone can relate to it since we all wear clothing everyday. I also think it is
important for young people to become more informorned because we as teens can have bigger
impacts on things then we can even imagine.