THE ENVIRONMENTAL COSTS OF FAST FASHION

Graduation Thesis

Presented to

the Faculty of the Department of

English Language and Literature

Notre Dame Seishin University

In Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirement for the Degree

Bachelor of Arts

by

Rie Naohara

2020

Contents

Abstract ⅴ

Chapter One: Background 1

1.1 Introduction 1

1.2 The fashion industry 1

1.2.1 Overview 1

1.2.2 Types of fashion industry 2

1.2.2.1 Handmade Tailoring 2

1.2.2.2 Mass production 2

1.2.2.3 Fast fashion 3

1.3 The impacts of the fashion industry on the environment and society 4

1.3.1 Water 4

1.3.2 Chemicals 5

1.3.3 Forests 8

1.3.4 Transport 8

1.3.5 Packaging 8

1.3.6 Storage 9

1.3.7 Create shopping malls 9

1.3.8 Trash collection/ Trash with garments 10

1.3.9 Recycling 10

1.3.10 Social side 11

1.3.11 Benefits 14

1.3.11.1 Creative industry 14

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1.3.11.2 Design 14

1.3.12 Disadvantage 15

1.3.12.1 Competition 15

1.4 Previous research on people’s understanding of the impact of the fashion

industry 16

1.4.1 What are young Japanese people’s attitudes to Fast Fashion? 16

1.4.2 What do young Japanese people know about the impact of Fast Fashion

on the environment? 17

1.5 Research Questions 18

1.6 Conclusion 18

Chapter Two: The Data 19

2.1 Introduction 19

2.2 The experiment / questionnaire 19

2.2.1 Introduction to the experiment / questionnaire 19

2.2.2 Method 20

1) Subjects 202) Questionnaire design 203) Procedure 21

2.2.3 Results 22

1) Basic questions 232) Specific questions 30

2.3 Summary 36

Chapter Three: The Analysis 37

3.1 Introduction 37

3.2 Summary of the results from Chapter Two 37

3.3 Comparing previous research and these data 39

3.4 Research questions 40

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3.5 Implications 40

3.6 Limitation of the Experiments 41

3.7 Further research 42

3.8 Conclusion 42

References 44

Appendices 49

Appendix 1 49

Appendix 2 57

Appendix 3 66

Appendix 4 69

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Abstract

This thesis discusses the results of a questionnaire about clothing shopping

and people’s awareness of the fashion industry and the environmental problems.

In Chapter One, we looked at the overview of the fashion industry, and some

different kinds of fashion industry. We learned the features of each kind of industry

and their differences. We also learned about the various kinds of impacts the fashion

industry has on the environmental and others. After that, we look at the subjects’

understanding of the fashion industry in comparison to some previous research.

In Chapter Two, we look at the result of the questionnaire about the subject’s

shopping practices. This questionnaire was given to 31 subjects who live in Japan

and other countries. Many of the subjects were college students of Notre Dame

Seishin University. The subjects were asked to answer some questions, watch a

video, and read some sentences about the fashion industry. In the second section,

they were separated into two groups. One group was asked to research a fashion

company they often use, and then fill in the research paper. The other group was not

asked to do anything. After that, we compared the two groups to look for differences

in awareness and attitude.

In Chapter Three, the summary of the results of the questionnaire and

research questions were discussed in detail. Due to this questionnaire, we could find

the change of their attitude and awareness of fashion industry, but there are also

some reasons why they cannot change their attitude, and stop using fast fashion.

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Chapter 1: Background

1.1 Introduction

Today, clothes are indispensable for us to live. There are many kinds

of clothes which have different colors, designs, shapes, materials, prices,

brands, and so on. We can see an infinite number of clothes, so we can enjoy

fashion in various ways. We also can buy clothes easily because we can find

them at the clothes shops in our regular shopping places, online stores, and

so on. Some people think that wearing clothes they choose is one of the ways

to express their individuality, so clothes are important, or even essential, for

them. Nowadays we can also buy many kinds of clothes at a low price, so

more people can buy many clothes and enjoy fashion easily. However, many

kinds of problems are hidden in the fashion industry. What kinds of problems

are there? How much knowledge do people have about the fashion industry

and its relationship to the environment? What kind of situation is the fashion

industry in now?

1.2. The fashion industry

1.2.1 Overview

The fashion industry designs various kinds of garments and items, for

example, underwear, shoes, bags, luxury items, and then sells them to

consumers to make a profit. The fashion industry plays an important role in

investment, revenue, trade and employment around the world. It is estimated

that the global apparel market increasing until 2025 (Project Design Online,

June, 2017), and the Asia-Pacific region is the largest apparel market in the

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world. Every part of the process in the fashion industry needs a lot of human

power from the farm to the factory and retail stores even though some

processes have been mechanized.

1.2.2 Types of fashion industry

Now, there are some types of fashion industry in the world, and we will

look at some of them.

1.2.2.1. Handmade Tailoring (We got the information from “BAUH

designs, 7 Important Benefits of Handmade Clothing”, June, 2017)

These types of items are handmade, not produced by the machines

for all processes, but sometimes they are made with tools. The items are

handmade one by one, so it takes a long time to make them, and these types

of items are not mass produced. Due to their handmade nature, workers

cannot make the same items perfectly each time. Moreover, each item we

buy is unique, and all the processes of making items are unique to that item.

We usually attached greater importance to quality than quantity and fashion,

as they are made from good quality fabrics or materials and so they last

longer than mass produced items or fast fashion, but almost all of them are

more expensive. Handmade items are environment-friendly because they

produce few greenhouse gases, toxic gases, and other waste materials when

items are made by workers. Nowadays, a lot of traditional items which cannot

be made by the machines are handmade items around the world. We can

feel the warmth of workers who made them.

1.2.2.2 Mass production

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This type of industry means that workers produce large quantities of

exactly the same items at once. These are often made by a lot of large

machines. The speed of producing and quantity are the most important

points for them, and most retailers sell mass produced items. They want to

sell items as inexpensively as possible, so they usually use cheaper and

lower quality materials, for example polyester, synthetic fibers, and so on.

They also cut back on personnel expenses to sell items at a low-price so the

consumers can buy the items at a low price and use the shop frequently.

This in turn allows workers to earn large incomes and factories to produce

more items and inventory. However, we often cannot use this type of items

for a long time because these are made from cheap materials and are not

good quality. We need to buy a new one soon. Moreover, these items are

made in large factories, and workers need to use a lot of mechanical power

and chemicals to produce them, so toxic gas and waste materials are often

produced which has a serious impact on the environment.

1.2.2.3 Fast fashion

This type of industry is a type of mass production. Factories produce a

lot of items with comparatively cheap materials with low personnel expenses

at much faster speeds from design to store than traditional manufacturing.

These companies also tend to have complete control over all stages of

production from design, manufacture and retail. These products tend to be

trendy and follow the fashion, so consumers can buy trendy items at a low

price and enjoy their fashion easily. The trend of fashion changes frequently,

so fast fashion changes quickly, and various kinds of products are made

every season. Most trends often do not last long, so a lot of stock can remain

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unsold has to be thrown away. In addition, the poor working condition of

employees is also a serious problem of fast fashion, as is its environmental

impact. The first boom in interest in fast fashion was in the 1990s, and it has

now become common in our daily life. The demand for fast fashion has been

increasing, and it is one of the biggest clothing industries, but there are also

some problems which these industries create which should be solved.

1.3 The impact of the fashion industry on the environment and

society

It is said that the fashion industry is the second biggest polluter in the

world next to the oil industry. There are many impacts on the environment of

the fashion industry and many problems it creates.

1.3.1 Water

A lot of water is used to produce garments in various ways. Cotton is

often used to produce garments, so a lot of water is used to grow the cotton.

About 20,000 liters of water are needed to produce just 1kg of cotton, and it

also takes 2,700 liters of water to make one cotton T-shirt (Leahy. S, World

Water Day: the cost of cotton in water-challenged India, March 20, 2015). This

amount of water is equivalent in two-and-half years of personal consumption

of water. In India, 100 million people do not have access to drinking water

because about 85% of their daily necessity water is the water used to grow

cotton.

Various kinds of fertilizers and agricultural chemicals are often used to

produce cotton which stay on the soil. They also pollute the water, especially

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groundwater, so using fertilizers and chemicals to produce cotton is a cause

of water pollution.

Most countries which produce garments dump untreated toxic

wastewater into the rivers directly. Wastewater contains toxic substances

such as lead, mercury, arsenic, and this water comes from cotton fertilizers

and from dyeing garments. These are harmful to the aquatic life and people

living on and by the river. China is the world’s top textile exporter to the

fashion companies, and about 30% of water pollution in China comes from

manufacturing textiles, garments and fashion goods for export. (Conklin. S,

Fashionable Water- Water use and pollution in the textile dyeing process,

2012) In addition, the Chinese textile dyeing industry produces 70 billion tons

of wastewater every year, and about 70% of rivers, lakes, and reservoirs in

China are polluted. It affects Chinese people, and one quarter of them do not

have access to clean water. These problems show that the Chinese water

system is one of the most severely polluted in the world. It is said that we can

know the color of next season’s fashion by the color of the rivers in China.

Now a lot of factories have closed down, as they are pressured to upgrade to

more efficient and less polluting equipment.

The global fashion industry used 62 million tonnes of water in 2015,

and water consumption is expected to keep going up in the future. In 2030,

about 102 million tonnes of water will be used, meaning the fashion industry

would need to use 50% more water.

1.3.2 Chemicals

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Many kinds of chemicals are used in garments and fashion industry,

which creates some problems. The apparel industries emit about 10% of

global carbon and greenhouse gases in production, manufacturing, and

transportation. In addition, the textile industry emits more greenhouse gases

than international shipping and aviation industries, and the apparel and shoe

industries emit about 8% of global greenhouse gases. Most of the greenhouse

gas emission comes from fiber production, thread manufacturing, dyeing and

finishing. It is also estimated that the emission of greenhouse gases in the

fashion industry will reach the total amount of emission level as America.

There are mainly two kinds of fibers which are used in the textile and

fashion industry; natural fibers and synthetic fibers. 70 million tons of fibers

are used in the clothing industry every year. Synthetic fibers are used in 72%

of clothes, including polyester, acrylic, nylon and so on. Polyester is produced

most in the world, and one-third of synthetic fibers used in Japan is polyester.

Polyester is made from the same materials as plastic bottles, and it is used

when producing blouses, suits, shirts, and so on. Nylon has a long history in

synthetic fibers, and it is like silk and is mainly used in producing sportswear.

Synthetic fibers are made from fossil fuels, and are easy to use for mass

production.

Synthetic fiber is made by people and some machines, and they can

control the length of the fiber. It takes some processes to produce filament;

melt, wet, and dry. It is also easy to change the fiber structure, but it is not as

easy to color as natural fibers. Some kinds of chemical solutions are used, so

synthetic fibers are not as comfortable to wear as natural fibers, but the price

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of often lower. Synthetic fibers are more durable than natural fibers, so they

are used in multiple ways, but some of them are not environmentally friendly.

Nowadays synthetic fibers are used in 72% of our clothing, but they take up to

200 years to decompose when thrown away. On the other hand, natural fibers

come from nature, and nature decides the length of the fiber. People do not

need to spin it in production of the filament, do not need chemical solutions,

and they are easy to dye. From the above, we can see natural fibers are

comfortable to wear and environmentally friendly. However, the price is higher

than synthetic fibers, and not so durable, so they are used in limited ways.

Plastics are used in almost all products we use everyday, not only in

clothes. Plastics have been smaller in size and amount as time passed

because the power of nature, and microplastics are the plastics less than five

millimeters, and the same size of a grain of rice. There are mainly two types of

plastics. One is the plastic constructed small as possible because it is used in

medical, personal and industrial industries. These small plastics can be found

in mascara, polystyrene beads, glitter and other products which we use in our

daily life. Another is the plastic created from the breakdown of large plastic

materials for example, plastic bottles, plastic bags, the fibers from netting,

rope, and clothing. Clothing also contains a lot of fibers, especially those

made by fast fashion companies. Sarah Dudas, told in TEDx, showed that a

family of four would generate 3kg load of synthetic laundry for one week, and

the family alone generates about 1,100,000,000 fibers in one year.

We have been using plastics since the 1950’s, and we have generated

8,300 million metric tons of plastics in the past 65 years. We have made and

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used a lot of plastic in a short span, and about 60% of that has been thrown

away and only 9% has been recycled. The rest is still being used. The waste

materials affect our food chain. These materials that contain plastics and

fibers reach the sea and soil, and the microbes eat them, and finally we eat

them. Microplastics are everywhere in our daily life, from start to finish, and

some of them have a negative impact on our health.

1.3.3 Forests

The fashion industry has a serious impact on world forests. They log

more than 100 million trees every year, and it corresponds to a line of trees

going seven times round the earth. These trees are cut to make cellulosic

fabric to produce rayon, lyocell, and viscose. Many of our ancient and

endangered trees are also cut and replaced by new tree plantations to make

these wood-based fabrics.

Many countries have serious problems with their forests. A lot of

forests have been cut by illegal deforestation in Indonesia, the Amazon, and

the Congo. In addition, about 72% of forests have been cut in Indonesia, and

many forests are being cut so quickly in Papua New Guinea because the

advanced nations seek low price forests. Many animals which live in the

forests have lost their habitat and have serious impact on their life.

1.3.4 Transport

Many garments are transported from country to country, and the

majority travelled by ship. It is costly and produces a lot of noxious gas,

especially CO2. Ships often burn bunker fuel, and it makes significant

environmental pollution around the world.

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1.3.5 Packaging

Clothes and garments are packaged when transported from clothing

factories to the shops, we buy them at the shops and online stores, and some

are stored in a warehouse. Most of the packaging uses poly bags made from

polyethylene, and it is estimated that polyethylene accounts for about 34% of

the global plastics market, nearly 87 million tonnes of packaging were wasted

in the EU, in 2016, and each person wasted about 170 kg of packaging or

3 kg per day. While polyethylene can be recycled, this plastic has a low

market value, so many of them are eventually not recycled. Plastics are used

in various scenes in the fashion industry, so it is a very serious problem.

1.3.6 Storage

The fashion industries produce various kinds and amounts of items to

sell at the stores around the world after being stored at the company’s

warehouse. Some items can be sold, but some other items remain unsold and

many items are left at the stores and warehouses. Many fashion items are

seasonal items, so these unsold items would be thrown away without

reaching consumers. For example, high-class brand Burberry has burned

stocks worth about 4.2 billion yen to keep the brand’s value, rather than sell

them cheaply including a lot of clothing, bags, accessories, and so on which

lead to the waste of garments materials, and the environmental destruction.

The fashion industry produces a lot of surplus items per season, per year, and

this is definitely a serious problem.

1.3.7 Create shopping malls

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Today, there are lots of shopping malls around the world, and there are

many kinds of stores, including clothing shops. A lot of people use the

shopping malls everyday, and these malls are so useful for them because

they can buy various kinds of items at one time. However, there are also

some problems. Shopping malls are so big and broad that it takes a lot of

energy to open malls. They make a lot of noxious gas and greenhouse gas,

which impacts global warming. Many people use vehicles when they go to

shopping malls, and it also creates even more toxic gas. Shopping malls are

need to keep be kept clean to make shopping comfortable for consumers.

Shop cleaners clean the malls everyday, and they use some toxic chemicals

which would be harmful to people, to clean them perfectly. As we can see,

there are some serious problems for us and the environment when we create

and maintain the shopping mall.

1.3.8 Trash collection/ Trash with garments

We always wear clothing, and some items are used several times.

However, we also usually buy new items and dispose of old items because of

the damage, incorrect size, outdated fashion, and so on. Even though the

lifespan of clothing is different from the type of garments, Laitala K. and Klepp

I.G. (2016) estimated that the lifespan of all garments is 1-3 years on average.

We can use plant fibers, like cotton, and synthetic fibers items for 2-3 years

on average, and the items made from animal fibers, like wool, silk, leather,

and suede have a longer lifespan, about 3-5 years. In Japan, the fashion

industry disposes of over million items of clothing every year. It is said that we

have used about 1,300,000,000 of clothing for over 30 years, but the fashion

industry has supplied about 2,800,000,000 items for us in the same period.

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This shows that there are a lot of surplus items, and many of them would be

thrown away. As we can see, we waste a lot of clothing for many reasons, but

the fashion industry is also a heavy disposer of clothing.

1.3.9 Recycling

There are a lot of serious environmental problems in the fashion

industry. On the other hand, there have been some efforts to use more

environmentally-friendly materials. Many apparel stores have often used

plastic bags when they give consumers the items, but this has been changing.

Some fashion companies, including fast fashion companies, have been using

plastic bags instead of paper bags because paper can be recycled, and this is

eco-friendly. For example, H&M and ZARA have almost completely stopped

using plastic bags in favour of paper bags. UNIQLO will stop not only giving

plastic bags but also other packaging materials. Some other companies have

also partly converted to paper bags, and we need to pay additional fees if we

want plastic bags. A lot of different plastics are used in plastic bags, and many

of them are thrown away, so this effort to reduce the use of plastics will have

a good influence on the environment.

Moreover, as we have seen, a lot of plastic materials are used in

clothing, and some of them have been replaced by recyclable materials.

Everlane, the famous brand in America, already produces some items from

recycled plastic bottles. This company had produced about 80 billion tonnes

of plastics over the past 60 years which had a serious influence on the

environment, so they started to use some recyclable materials for clothing.

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Some other companies also have been using recyclable chemicals, but the

use of these materials is rather limited.

1.3.10 Social side

Today all people around the world use garments and clothing, but there

are some serious social problems connected to the desire for purchasing

status brands. Some people can afford to buy various kinds of garments even

though they high-grade brand items. The rich can buy something they want

even though their current items are not frayed or, they can buy many of the

same kinds of items, but in different designs, colors, shapes, and so on. They

can follow the fashion in every season or every year. Of course, they can buy

surplus underwear, socks, pajamas, and house dresses as well. Some of

them sometimes buy some expensive items and use them for a long time, and

buy some low-priced items at fast fashion stores. Even though it has some

differences in money they can use, almost all of them can buy comfortable

garments and enjoy wearing items and fashion items because they can wear

different kinds of garments everyday.

On the other hand, some people do not have enough money to buy

various kinds of garments, and they cannot enjoy buying fashion. Despite

there being many different types of fashion brands and garments, they can

buy only low-priced items, especially at the fast fashion stores. Some of them

cannot buy a new garments even though these are torn or ragged, and they

often wear the same items for several days because they do not have so

many garments. Some of them, especially people from developing countries,

can benefit from garment donation because they do not have enough money

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to buy garments. They have a minimum number of garments, and wear them

to protect themselves, for example against for cold weather, viruses and so

on. This difference in purchasing power can lead to jealousies or cause some

to look down on others.

The poverty of garment workers is also a serious problem. Many

garment workers usually work 14-16 hours a day at the garment factory. They

have to produce huge amounts of garments by the deadline, and they are

forced to work until midnight during peak production season. The garment

industry is one of the largest employers of women workers, so many women

workers work almost everyday in harsh environments. Even though the

garment industry workers work extremely hard everyday, they receive quite

low wages. Some garment workers in Ethiopia receive only $26 a month, and

it is the lowest level. According to Figure 1, In Bangladesh it is $95, Vietnam is

$180, Cambodia is $182, South Africa is $244, Malaysia is 267, China is

$326, and Turkey is $340. We would feel that the wage of Turkey is much

higher if we compare with the wage of Ethiopia, but all of minimum wages in

this graph is not so high.

Figure 1: Minimum wage and living wage of the garment industry

labors

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In addition, about 260 million children in the world are forced to work in

several places, and about 170 million of them work in fashion factories

because fashion companies want to reduce the cost of labor in the factory.

The children are forced to work and live in such appalling conditions, and any

of them work in the factory of cotton production. In developing countries,

cotton production is one of the main forms of agriculture, for example, in

Benin, Uzbekistan, India, and Bangladesh. Cotton is so delicate, so children

are more suited to pick up cotton with their small fingers, therefore many

children were forced to work there. In Uzbekistan, a lot of cotton is harvested,

and over one million people are forced to pick the cotton, including children.

Some children cannot go to school, and they pick cotton almost all day during

harvest time.

Nowadays, a lot of young women and children who live in poverty are

working in fashion factories and making our clothing. It is no doubt that they

do not have enough comfortable environment to live in and lack some human

rights judging from their working environment and minimum wages.

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1.3.11 Benefits

1.3.11.1 Creative industry

The fashion industry has various kinds of production processes, and a

lot of people work there. Some workers are connected with the process of

material and fabric production, for example, growing the raw materials,

harvesting, spinning, weaving, dyeing, and manufacturing. Each fashion

company has these processes, and it is often performed by many people

around the world. A lot of garments we often use are made not only in Japan,

but also other countries. A lot of people also work on the same processes in

the apparel industry. They often do advertisement, planning, and develop the

goods. The final step is marketing and retail. Many items are sold at the

department stores, mass retailers, speciality stores, select shops, online

stores, and so on. Shop assistants sell the items to consumers directly except

online store, so a lot of people work there, around the world. Garments have

passed through a lot of production process, and then reach consumers. To

get the garments from the raw materials to the customer takes a lot of time

and effort by many people in truly a global process.

1.3.11.2 Design

Garments have various kinds of sizes, colors, designs, shapes, and

today a lot of fashion brands have been launched, so there are an

incalculable amount of garments around the world. In addition, there are few

strict rules to design and product garments, so garments designers can

design whatever they want without much restriction, and can form their image

easily. They can capture the imagination of the consumers freely. Consumers

also can choose their garments from an incalculable amount and kind of

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goods. They can see and compare them, and enjoy their shopping. New

designs of garments will be made incessantly in the future, and a lot of

garments will be produced.

1.3.12 Disadvantages

1.3.12.1 Competition

The fashion industry is a very creative industry, but it is one of the most

competitive industries in the world. Consumers are susceptible to the

garments’ fashion, design, price, name value, and so on. Fashion companies

consider what kind of items consumers look for, and then they produce them.

Many of them try to produce the popular items so they can help the customers

to discriminate among other companies. Consumers are also susceptible to

seeing new items, so companies try to produce them as soon as possible,

and regularly. It is crucial for the company to have the features and items that

other companies do not have. The fashion and the trend of consumers are

changing incessantly, so the fashion industry also need to change their

production and produce something new continually. This tendency creates the

big competition for fashion industry. For example, if some companies

produce the similar clothes, and one company can sell them a lot,

the other companies would have a lot of surplus and need to sell

them in a sale or throw away. Decreasing birthrate and aging

population is also the reason for making the surplus ( 河合拓　『「アパレル業界を殺した」のは余剰在庫』April, 2019). A lot of fashion

companies have the surplus clothes, and it is one of the most

serious problems of fashion industry competition.

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1.4 Previous research on people’s understanding of the

impact of the fashion industry

Does the average person know much about the fashion industry in

terms of how it works and how it impacts the environment and society? In this

section, we will research people’s understanding of the impact of the fashion

industry by looking at some previous research.

1.4.1 What are young Japanese people’s attitudes to Fast

Fashion?

Oeda, Sato, Tomoko Kato (2013) researched young Japanese

people’s consciousness of fast fashion. They gave some questionnaires to

about 400 college and graduate students. The questionnaire showed that over

50% of men and over 65% of women have been to fast fashion store and

bought their garments, and women have more opportunity to use fast fashion.

It is also said that many of them think that fast fashion is friendly, casual,

youthful, and cheap. Most of them recognize that fast fashion is only one type

of fashion, and they enjoy wearing the fast fashion garments skillfully. On the

other hand, they also think that the quality of the sewing and materials are not

so good, and worry about washing them and then using it. Many of their

subjects did not think that fast fashion is perfectly good, but they use fast

fashion to enjoy their style and life easily. That encourages the spread of fast

fashion among young people.

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Shrum, and Lowrey (2016) researched 570 French and U.S. teenagers

attitudes toward luxury fashion brands from a social identity perspective. Their

study said that uniqueness and susceptibility influence the teenagers’

attitudes toward luxury brands. American teenagers require more uniqueness

from the brands than French teenagers, and French teenagers ask more

susceptible to brand image than American teenagers. This results also

showed that these two things are important for retailers to develop their

brands and to appeal to teenagers in different countries or cultures.

1.4.2 What do young Japanese people know about the impact of

Fast Fashion on the environment?

Very little evidence is available to determine the attitudes on young

Japanese people’s attitudes to the impact of Fast Fashion on the

environment. However, McNeil (2015) found that there are three types of

buyers. People who are concerned with their hedonistic needs are called “Self

consumers”, people who are concerned with their social image are called

“Social consumers”, and people who are concerned with reducing their

negative impact on the environment and the world are called “Sacrifice

consumers”. Her essay showed that their view on fashion differ so their value

of fast fashion and sustainable shopping are also significantly different.

Rathinamoorthy (2018) researched the consumer’s awareness of

sustainable fashion. She surveyed people in the 20-35 age group, mostly

college students, entrepreneurs, and employees from India. The result of this

survey showed that subjects know the environmental impact of the fashion

industry, and their knowledge level of sustainable fashion is high. However,

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their behavior and attitude when purchasing have not improved so much

because of their lifestyle. McNeil wanted to say that some consumers are

aware of the environmental impact of the fashion industry, but it is difficult for

them to change their behavior and attitude of shopping.

1.5 Research Questions

This thesis has two research questions.

1. How much do Japanese students know about the impact of fashion on the

environment and labour?

2. How did their attitude change after being told about it?

1.6 Conclusion

In this chapter we looked at the fashion industry, and various kinds of

impacts the fashion industry has on the environment and society. We also

looked at people’s attitudes to fast fashion and its impact on the environment.

In Chapter Two, we will look at the data from a questionnaire about shopping,

and the subjects’ knowledge or interest in fashion.

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Chapter 2: The Data

2.1 Introduction

In Chapter One, we looked at the background of the fashion industry.

Also, we looked at the effect of the fashion industry on the environment and

labor. We could find that there are a lot of serious problems in the fashion

industry, and many of them do not have easy solutions. Clothes are essential

for our life, and everyone wears something everyday, so it goes without

saying that everyone is a consumer in the fashion industry. If we are all

consumers, we should all know about the fashion industry and be aware

about how correct and wide our knowledge about the fashion industry is.

This chapter presents the data for a questionnaire about shopping and

the fashion industry with data gathered from students of Notre Dame Seishin

University and the other university students who live in Japan and America.

Their questionnaire data aims to reveal their life with fashion, and ideas or

opinions about the fashion industry. It also will show how different their

knowledge and opinions about the fashion industry are, and how interested

they are in it.

2.2 The experiment / questionnaire

2.2.1 Introduction to the experiment / questionnaire

The questionnaire was designed to find out what basic and

understanding people have, and how aware they are of the reality of the

fashion industry. We also examined how their awareness differs and if their

20

awareness of the fashion industry changed after learning about its impact on

the environment and society.

2.2.2 Method

In order to carry out the questionnaire and collect the data for this

thesis, we gave the questionnaire to 31 Japanese people who live in Japan

and America. The aim of the questionnaire was to know their value and

image about shopping and fashion, and how interested in the fashion industry

they are.

1) Subjects

The subjects of this questionnaire were 23 Notre Dame Seishin

University English major students aged 21-22, one Human life major student

aged 21, and one Modern society major student aged 21. They have been

studying English, human life sciences, and modern society for four years. The

other subjects were 4 Japanese university students who live in Japan aged

20-22, and 2 Japanese university students who live in America aged 21. The

two Japanese male students who live in America have been studying English

and dance performance.

2) Questionnaire design

The main aim of this questionnaire was to let people know about fast

fashion and what kind of problems happen because of this industry’s

operations.

First, we asked the subjects what shops they often use and the reason

why they use them in order to understand their lifestyle in relation to fashion.

21

Also, we examined how many clothes they use and how long they use them

to know how their purchasing cycles of the clothes differ. From this, we also

can learn about their values when buying clothes, their image about the

fashion industry, and how interested in they are in their clothes and the

fashion industry. We asked them some basic questions and specific

questions. Some specific questions were based on Shen, Richards, and Liu

(2013).

Next, we separated the subjects into two groups. Both groups were

then required to learn about the impact of the fashion industry. One group was

asked to research the fashion companies which they often use, and the items

they have. They were given the company research sheet, and they filled in the

information about the company and the details of the items they bought from

them. Through this research it was hoped they would be more aware of the

way they purchase items in the future. The other group was not given any

such instructions. The aim was to find out if requesting action made a

difference to their understanding about the fashion and reaction to this issue.

3) Procedure

Google Forms was used to collect the data. After answering the

background questions outlined above, the subjects were asked to watch a

video “Fast Fashion Explained In Under 5 Minutes”, with a summary. This

video tells us the basic information about fast fashion, and the advantages the

fast fashion company and consumers. The video also tells us some problems

and the present circumstances of fast fashion. They were asked to watch it to

ensure they understand the accurate information of fast fashion, and to see

22

fast fashion from various points of view. Next, we asked them to read a text

that explained the environmental problem of fast fashion, especially

microfibers. After reading the text, they answered some questions that was

connected with the text. The aim was to know more about themselves and

how they view fast fashion, and if, and how, their awareness changed.

They answered all of questions, and then they were separated into the

two groups. One group of 13 subjects was asked to research about the

clothing company they often use. We gave them the company research sheet,

and they wrote the information of company policy, corporate philosophy, the

problems, and the information of the clothes. The aim was to think about the

policy they use when employing people and the whole company, and the

country where the products are made. We also want them to know about the

company correctly. The other group was asked to do nothing. The first group

started to research the company from August, and two months later, both

groups subjects were asked how their behavior changed when they buy

clothes and use them. The aim was to compare how different their behavior

and awareness was between the two groups by requiring them to do different

things.

Lastly, the data from the two groups were compared and analyzed to

find out how different their awareness of the fashion industry and clothes was.

The questionnaire was made in Japanese, and were sent to 31 Japanese

college students, and 25 of those are women and 6 were men, by LINE. We

asked subjects the first questionnaire in June and July and the second

questionnaire about clothing company in August.

23

2.2.3 Results

First, we will look at the basic information data. Next, we will look at the

data from the specific questions. In the questionnaire, they read some

sentences about the fashion and the environment, and answered “yes” or

“no”. If they thought it was suitable fashion, they chose “yes”, or if they did not

think that, they chose “no”.

1) Basic information

Figure 1: Have you ever spent much time learning about garments or

the fashion industry? Have you ever had the opportunity to know about that?

Figure 1 shows that many of the subjects did not have any

opportunities to learn about the fashion industry, but about 13% of the

subjects had learned about garments or the fashion industry before.

Figure 2: Where do you usually buy clothes? (shop names if you can

remember / Each subject answered some shop names)

24

Figure 2 shows that about 71% of the subjects buy their items at the

fast fashion shops or buy low price items, but some subjects do not use these

shops and buy some high price items. This figure also shows that about 9% of

the subjects buy some used clothes. They buy them at the used-clothing

shops in Okayama, or America.

Figure 3: Why do you buy clothes there? (Each subject answered

some reasons.)

25

Figure 3 shows that two thirds of the subjects think that price and

design or taste are important when they choose shops and clothes, and one

third of the subjects choose reasonably priced items. It also shows that price,

design and taste are more important basis than the quality of items.

Figure 4: How many items of clothes do you buy each month?

Figure 4 shows that about half of the subjects buy one or two items

each month, and nobody buys more 5 items each month. Some of the

subjects usually do not buy any items each month. About 60% of the subjects

buy from 1 to 4 items each month.

Figure 5: How long do you use these clothes for?

26

Figure 5 shows that about one third of the subjects use items for one

year, and another one third of the subjects use items for two years. It also

shows that most of the rest of the subjects used items for more than two

years. Most subjects use clothes for a long time.

Figure 6: What is your main basis for choosing clothes? (Each subject

chose some choices.)

Figure 6 shows that all of the subjects have a great regard for design

as a main basis for choosing clothes. Price is also important for them when

choosing clothes, and about two thirds of the subjects chose price as one of

27

the main reasons for choosing clothes. Some of the subjects think that

necessity and functionality are also important to choose clothes.

Figure 7: Do you know the company's policy regarding how the clothes

are made? (the shop you answered in the first question.)

Figure 7 shows that almost all of the subjects do not know the policy of

the clothing company which they often use. They might not be interested in it,

and not consider it as important when they buy clothes.

Figure 8: Do you know where your clothes are made?

28

Figure 8 shows that over half of the subjects know where their clothes

are made, and the rest of the subjects do not know. For the subjects who

know where clothes are made, more than half of their items are made in

China. This figure also shows that all of their items are made in East and

Southeast Asia.

Figure 9: Do you think the fashion industry is light on the environment,

or heavy on the environment? Why?

29

Figure 9-1 shows that about 70% of the subjects think the fashion

industry is heavy on the environment, and some other subjects think the

30

fashion industry is light on the environment. The rest of the subjects cannot

judge whether the fashion is heavy or light on the environment, or they do not

know.

Figure 9-2 shows that many of the subjects think the fashion industry is

heavy on the environment because mass production and mass consumption

have a bad influence on the environment. They also think that using

chemicals and a lot of cloth are heavy on the environment, and the fashion

industry causes water pollution.

Figure 9-3 shows that some of the subjects think that the fashion

industry is light on the environment because many of their clothes can be

recycled into new items or materials. They also think that using eco-friendly

materials is good for the environment.

Figure 10: Do you know how much water do we need to produce 1kg of

cotton?

Figure 10 shows that most of the subjects do not know how much

water is needed to produce 1kg of cotton, but a few of the subjects answered

31

their expectations regardless of the correct answer. However, no one could

answer the question correctly.

Figure 11: Do you know how long does it take to decompose synthetic

fibers (polyester, plastic fibers)?

Figure 11 shows that most of the subjects do not know how long it

takes for synthetic fibers to decompose, and some of the subjects answered

“yes”, but no one could answer the question correctly.

2) Specific questions

Figure 12: A garment is made by a company which follows the

standards of environmentalism and social policy in areas related to production

of goods. Is this sustainable fashion?

32

Figure 12 shows that most of the subjects think that a garment which is

explained in this question is sustainable fashion.

Figure 13: The maker of the garment has comfortable working

conditions and enjoys a good quality of life thanks to higher wages. The

products is likely to last season after season, thus reducing your need to buy

a new item. Is this sustainable fashion?

Figure 13 shows that about half of the subjects think this is sustainable

fashion, but about the other half of them do not think that.

Figure 14: Anything that has been made from already existing

materials, fabrics, metals or fibers. These are often reclaimed from previously

33

made clothing and accessories and reworked into new ones. Is this

sustainable fashion?

Figure 14 shows that many of the subjects think this is sustainable

fashion, but some of them do not think so.

Figure 15: Products that have been crafted using artisan skills such as

embroidery, which preserve the perpetuation of ancestral traditions. Is this

sustainable fashion?

Figure 15 shows that over half of the subjects think that this is

sustainable fashion, but over 30% of the subjects do not think so.

34

Figure 16: A made-to-order garment, which is also called demi-couture.

This is a way of encouraging quality and "slow fashion" over mass-produced

disposable fashion. Is this sustainable fashion?

Figure 16 shows that many of the subjects think that a made-to-order

garment sustainable fashion, but about a quarter of the subjects do not.

Figure 17: When purchasing the locally made product, it's like investing

in your local community. Is this sustainable fashion?

35

Figure 17 shows that most of the subjects think that purchasing a

locally made product is sustainable fashion, but a few of them do not.

Figure 18: A garment is made from materials grown without the use of

pesticides, such as organic cotton. Is this sustainable fashion?

Figure 18 shows that many of the subjects think that such a garment is

sustainable fashion, but some of them do not think that.

Figure 19: Did you know about the problem of the fashion industry such

as water pollution, the use of toxic chemicals and increasing levels of textile

waste?

36

Figure 19 shows that nobody knows about the problem of the fashion

industry in detail, but 60% of them know the existence of these problems.

About 40% of the subjects did not know anything.

Figure 20: What image did you have the fast fashion that focuses on

speed and low costs?

Figure 20 shows that about 50% of the subjects had a good image of

fast fashion, and 30% of the subjects had a bad image. About 23% of the

subjects did not know about fast fashion before.

37

Figure 21: Do you think your awareness can change when you buy

clothing after this?

Figure 21 shows that 83% of the subjects think their awareness can be

changed when they go shopping, but about 16% of the subjects think their

awareness cannot change.

2.3 Summary

In this chapter we looked at the data from the questionnaire. In the next

chapter we will review the data from Chapter Two and compare it with the

previous research in Chapter One.

38

Chapter 3: The Analysis

3.1 Introduction

In Chapter One, we learned about some types of fashion industry, and

the differences between them. After that, we learned about the impact of the

fashion industry on the environment and society. We focused on various

points of view related to the impact of the fashion industry, and we learned

about their benefits and problems. We also read some previous research

about people’s understanding of the impact of the fashion industry. In Chapter

Two, we looked at some data about the perception of shopping, their

shopping style, and their awareness of the fashion industry. We collected

these data from 31 Japanese college students. Most of the subjects have

lived in Japan and are the students of Notre Dame Seishin university, but a

few of them have lived in foreign country. The subject range in age from 20-

22. After the first questionnaire, we separated the subjects into two groups,

and asked them to do different tasks related to their shopping habits with the

aim of finding differences, if any. In this chapter, we will discuss the result of

the 31 subjects’ data in more detail.

3.2 Summary of the results from Chapter Two

In Chapter Two, we looked at the data of the questionnaire from the

subjects. In the first questionnaire, the subjects answered a questionnaire,

watched the video about fast fashion and read some sentences about fast

fashion. The reason why we asked them to do these questionnaires was to

understanding of the fashion industry. The result of the first questionnaire

39

shows that most of the subjects often use fast fashion, and about half of them

have a good impression of fast fashion that attach greater importance to mass

production, low costs, and speed. On the other hand, over half of the subjects

have been aware of various kinds of problems of fashion industry. Most of

them did not know about the problems in detail, but they were aware of them

generally, and they could judge what is sustainable fashion, or not. Many of

the subjects also think that the fashion industry is heavy on the environment

because they know mass production has a serious impact on the

environment, and many of them could realize the environmental impact on the

fashion industry more in detail than before.

As we mentioned in Chapter Two, we also separated the all subjects

from two groups after the first questionnaire to find out if asking them to

research the company that made their purchases made a difference to their

understanding about the fashion and their reaction to this issue. The subjects

who researched about the fashion company they often use said that they

could gain more knowledge of the fashion industry, and think about the

problems more deeply. Some of them changed their shopping behavior, for

example they buy clothing that is of better quality, and they also sell clothing

which they do not use for a long time, and try not to throw away items too

soon. However, some other subjects think that they cannot change their

attitude and behavior because fast fashion has some good points, and that is

easy to use for them. They also cannot feel near these problems to them.

Almost all of the subjects could recognize that the fashion industry and fast

fashion have a very serious impact on the environment, but they cannot quit

using them because they are one of the users of the fast fashion.

40

3.3 Comparing previous research and these data

In the previous studies mentioned above, Oeda, Sato, and Kato (2013)

said that many of the subjects have been using fast fashion, and they think

fast fashion is friendly, casual, cheap, and so on. According to the results of

our questionnaire, about 71% of all subjects reported they often use fast

fashion or buy low price clothes, at a reasonable price, with good design, and

good taste as important for them when choosing clothes. This previous

research also reported that many of the subjects know about some of the

problems in fast fashion. Our questionnaire also showed that over half of the

subjects are aware of various kinds of problems generally even though almost

all the subjects did not have any opportunities to learn about the fashion

industry. The results of our questionnaire were mostly similar to the first

previous research.

McNeil (2015) presented three different types of buyers. From the

results of our questionnaire, many of the subjects use fast fashion, and price

or design are mainly important for them, not the functionality or sustainability.

Many of them also said that their behavior and attitudes will change after

taking the questionnaires, so some subjects might become “sacrifice

consumers”. McNeil (2015) also showed that these three different types of

buyers have different values towards fast fashion and sustainable shopping.

The results of our questionnaire showed various values of the fashion industry

and shopping, but many of them were also aware of the problems of fast

41

fashion or fashion industry. From this result, buyers have different values on

the fashion industry, and have some have the same values of it.

Many of Rathinamoorthy’s (2018) subjects had a level of high

knowledge about the present situation and the problems of the fashion

industry, but it is difficult to change their behavior or their shopping patterns.

The situation here is a little different from the Rathinamoorthy (2018) study

because our subjects were only college students. They said that they will

change their awareness and attitudes to their shopping, and showed their

behavior also can be changed, but there are some reasons why it is difficult to

change their behavior perfectly. The result of our questionnaire is close to the

result of the previous research.

3.4 Research questions

This section will answer the research questions from Chapter One.

1. How much do Japanese students know about the impact of fashion on

the environment and labour?

According to the result of the questionnaire, we can say that many of the

subjects do not know about the impact of fashion on the environment and

labour in detail, but they know about it generally.

2. How did their attitude change after being told about it?

According to the result of the questionnaire, their awareness and attitudes can

be changed to the better, but it is also difficult for them to change their

behavior because fast fashion has taken root in our daily life.

42

3.5 Implications

We could find that we can change our awareness of the fashion

industry or fast fashion if we could get accurate information about the fashion

industry and know about the present situation and its problems. If we do not

know about the present situation and the problems of fashion industry, we

should know about it and get basic information before buying. Also, we should

know about the features of the clothing we choose, and use sustainable items

as long as possible, for example, the clothes that are made from natural

materials, not the synthetic fibers. We also can donate the clothes that we do

not need to a relative or others, or to another culture or countries, and remake

or reuse the items, rather than throwing them away soon. We should buy

clothes with good functional, quality, or material if we have enough money to

buy them. We also can produce clothes more local to reduce the cost of

production, materials, and employees, and we can reduce the use of synthetic

fabrics. We should use them for a longer time than the fast fashion items. We

can use eco-bags when we go shopping, and we can reduce the use of

packaging. Therefore, there is a lot of ways to solve the problems of fashion

industry. If we can change our awareness about fashion and clothes, we

should change our shopping behavior.

3.6 Limitations of the Experiments

There are several limitations with this study. Firstly, most of the

subjects were female university students. Many of them were English majors

of the same university, so if I could give the questionnaire again, it would be

better to give it to the subjects who have different kinds of majors and go to

43

different colleges. We also could ask people from various age groups and

sex.

Secondly, we asked only Japanese students, and we could not ask

foreign countries subjects. The two subjects were living in America, but these

data are not enough to collect the data of people from other countries. We

should ask the people who live in foreign countries and compare their

awareness and attitude with same or different countries if we could give the

questionnaire again.

3.7 Further research

In the questionnaire, we asked 31 Japanese subjects to answer the

question. We could find some different values and attitudes towards fashion

among young Japanese people, but it is quite limited. We need to ask a wider

range of subjects to research into the similarities and differences in

awareness of the fashion industry in detail. We also can ask people who live

in other countries, not only in Japan. If we could do that, we can compare the

awareness, behavior, and attitude with people from different countries or

cultures. Also, we can find the different and common values of people who

live around the world. For example, we can know about the image of fashion

industry and fast fashion, their shopping style, the knowledge of the

environmental impact, and how it is related to clothes and the fashion

industry, and so on. We can get wider and deeper level of data about the

people’s awareness of fashion industry in detail.

3.8 Conclusion

44

In this thesis, we researched the environmental impact of the fashion

industry and people’s understanding and awareness of the fashion industry

and its impact. We found about various kinds of environmental problems in

the fashion industry more in detail than before, and this action could be one of

the opportunities to change our awareness of the fashion industry and our

shopping habits because many of the subjects think that their awareness or

behavior will change to become more sustainable. However, as the previous

research mentioned, there are also some reasons why we may not change

our behavior perfectly. Now, fast fashion has taken root in our daily life, and a

lot of people around the world use it. Some people are given a great help by

fast fashion because they can buy clothing at a low price. It is one of the

reasons why we may not quit using fast fashion, so we learned it is hard for us

to change our behavior soon. However, we can change our behavior little by

little, for example, we can sometimes choose more sustainable items than fast

fashion and use them as long as possible. We can find the best way for now

ourselves and make the change more sustainable.

45

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pay $6.50 a week. Daily News newspaper.

McNiell, L. Sustainable fashion consumption and the fast fashion conundrum: fashionable consumers and attitudes to sustainability in clothing choice

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Rathinamoorthy, R. Consumer’s Awareness on Sustainable Fashion

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-13-1262-5_1 Accessed October 24, 2019

46

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https://www.sustainyourstyle.org/en/whats-wrong-with-the-fashion-industry Accessed April 8, 2019

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BAUH designs, 7 Important Benefits of Handmade Clothing

https://www.bauhdesigns.com/blogs/news/important-benefits-of-handmade-clothing Accessed October 28, 2019

47

3 dinsider, Mass Production in the Fashion Industry: How quantity outweighs quality and leads to waste and financial loss

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Kenton, W. Fast Fashion Definition

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/fast-fashion.asp Accessed October 30, 2019

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https://insideoutstyleblog.com/2018/11/life-expectancy-of-clothing.html Accessed October 11, 2019

Lamport, I. Discover The Average Lifespan of Clothes and What You Keep Longest Even Though You Do not Wear It

https://insideoutstyleblog.com/2018/11/discover-the-average-lifespan-of-clothes-and-what-you-keep-longest-even-though-you-dont-wear-it.html Accessed October 11, 2019

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Cernansky, R. Wasteful packaging is going out of fashion

https://www.voguebusiness.com/technology/eco-friendly-reusable-packaging-sustainability Accessed October 4, 2019

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Appendices

Appendix 1

Shopping questionnaire

This questionnaire asks how interested you are in the fashion industry and its supply chain. Please answer as best as you can.

51

*必須Name *

回答を入力I accept that these data can be used for research *

Agreed

No

Have you ever spent much time learning about garments or fashion industry? Have you ever had the opportunity to know about that? *

Yes

No

1. Where do you usually buy clothes? (shop names if you can remember) *

回答を入力2. Why do you buy clothes there?

回答を入力3. How many clothes do you buy each month? *

I usually do not buy on every month.

1~2 clothing

3~4 clothing

5~6 clothing

More

4. How long do you use these clothes for?

52

Less than one season (less than 1 year)

One season (1 year)

Two seasons (2 years)

More

5. What is your main basis for choosing clothes?

The fashion

Design (your favorite design, you looks smaller, slimer...)

The price (easy to buy or not)

Necessity

functionality

Others ( )

6. Do you know the company's policy regarding how the clothes are made? (the shop you answered in the first question.)

回答を入力7. Do you know where your clothes are made?

回答を入力8. Do you think the fashion industry is light on the environment, or heavy on the environment? Why?

回答を入力9.Do you know how much water do we need to produce 1kg of cotton?

回答を入力

53

10. Do you know how long does it take to decompose synthetic fibers (polyester, plastic fibers)?

回答を入力

Is this “sustainable fashion” Yes, or No?

Please read the following statements. If you think that is sustainable fashion, you can answer "Yes", or if you don't think that, you can answer "No".

1. A garment is made by a company which follows the standards of environmentalism and social policy in areas related to production of goods. Is this sustainable fashion? *

Yes

No

2. The maker of the garment has comfortable working conditions and enjoys a good quality of life thanks to higher wages. The products is likely to last season after season, thus reducing your need to buy a new item. Is this sustainable fashion? *

Yes

No

3. Anything that has been made from already existing materials, fabrics, metals or fibers. These are often reclaimed from previously made clothing and accessories and reworked into new ones. Is this sustainable fashion? *

Yes

No

54

4. Products that has been crafted using artisan skills such as embroidery, which preserve the perpetuation of ancestral traditions. Is this sustainable fashion? *

Yes

No

5. A made-to-order garment, which is also called demi-couture. This is a way of encouraging quality and "slow fashion" over mass-produced disposable fashion. Is this sustainable fashion? *

Yes

No

6. When purchasing the locally made product, it's like investing in your local community. Is this sustainable fashion? *

Yes

No

7. A garment is made from materials grown without the use of pesticides, such as organic cotton. Is this sustainable fashion? *

Yes

No

Please watch this video

I also want you to watch this video. This video tells us about the problems of the fashion industry. Please watch it and think about your shopping again. (You can read the subtitle of this video on the next section.)

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Video: Fast Fashion Explained In Under 5 Minutes

https://youtu.be/fR7bXsoNwwE

Summary of the video. Please read this carefully as there will be some questions later.

What is Fast fashion?

・cheap price, follow the latest fashion

・speedy goods change

・sell new items many times in a week to keep following the new fashion

Advantage of consumers

・buy fashionable items at a low price

・buy new items frequently

Advantage of company

・make new products instead of replenishing their stock

→consumers want to buy them as the new fashionable items

→company can make profit

・steal and copy ideas from independent artists as the design of items

→make the fashionable and popular items at a low price

・use advertising

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→stay relevant and further promote their constant changing trends

Problems of fashion industry

・workers are employed at inhumanely low wages for long hours and under poor working conditions

ex) Bangladesh: workers earn thirty three dollars per month

　→That is way below the living wage of $60 a month.

・workers forced to work from 14 to 16 hours a day in often hazardous working conditions.

・Since 1990 more than 400 workers died and thousands have been wounded in 50 major factory fires

・Female workers also face sexual harassment and no access to maternity leave

・Company in many cases prohibits the creation of trade unions which prevents the workers from defending their rights.

・Workers are exposed to harmful and carcinogenic chemicals

・child and slave labor are also prevalent in sweatshops

・toxic chemicals often used to create vibrant colors prints and fabric finishes

→chemicals can enter our bodies through our skin, so they also harm the workers and pollute the water and soil

・choose to incinerate their old stock rather than donated

→they claim it "Ruins their image"

Present

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・Five percent of all landfill space is textile waste on average every US citizen alone throws away 70 pounds of clothing every year

・the textile industry emits more greenhouse gas emissions than international shipping and aviation combined

→it's the second dirtiest industry in the world

Please read this statement and answer the following questions

Fast fashion focuses on speed and low costs in order to deliver frequent new collections. But it is particularly bad for the environment, as pressure to reduce cost and the time it takes to get a product from design to shop floor means that environmental corners are more likely to be cut. Criticisms of fast fashion include its negative environmental impact, water pollution, the use of toxic chemicals and increasing levels of textile waste.

Vibrant colours, prints and fabric finishes are appealing features of fashion garments, but many of these are achieved with toxic chemicals. Textile dyeing is the second largest polluter of clean water globally, after agriculture. Polyester is the most popular fabric used for fashion. But when polyester garments are washed in domestic washing machines, they shed microfibers that add to the increasing levels of plastic in our oceans. These microfibers are minute and can easily pass through sewage and wastewater treatment plants into our waterways, but because they do not biodegrade, they represent a serious threat to aquatic life. Small creatures such as plankton eat the microfibres, which then make their way up the food chain to fish and shellfish eaten by humans.

Cotton is also used to product clothing, and its growing requires high levels of water and pesticides to prevent crop failure.

Textile waste is an unintended consequence of fast fashion, as more people buy more clothes and do not keep them as long as they used to. The international expansion of fast fashion retailers exacerbates the problem on a global scale.

Busy lifestyles make many people more time-poor than previous generations, and with the loss of sewing and mending skills over time, there is less impetus to repair our garments. The rise of supermarket fashion that can be purchased alongside the weekly shop and the regular occurrence of seasonal sales make clothing seem “disposable” in a way it did not used to be.

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There are lots of problems in the fashion industry, not only the problems I explained here.

1.Did you know about the problem of the fashion industry such as water pollution, the use of toxic chemicals and increasing levels of textile waste? *

I know the problem in detail.

I know the existence of these problems, but not in detail.

I didn't know anything about that.

2.What image did you have the fast fashion that focuses on speed and low costs? *

Good image

Bad image

I didn't know about fast fashion before.

3.How do you change the image about the fast fashion? If you don't know about that before, what image do you have? or if you don't change the image, please write "didn't change". *

回答を入力4.Do you think your awareness can change when you buy clothing after this? *

Yes

No

Maybe

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Any comments?

回答を入力

Appendix 2

服を買うことについてのアンケートこのアンケートは、アパレル産業についてあなたがどれくらい興味・関心があるかを調べるためのものです。あなたに最も当てはまる回答を選ぶ、または記入してください。※質問６～１０については、分からない場合は”分からない”と回答してください。

*必須

名前 *回答を入力私は以下の情報を、卒業論文作成のために利用されることを許可します。 *

はいいいえ

あなたは過去に、服飾やアパレル産業に関連する授業を受けていましたか？またはそのようなことを学ぶ機会がありましたか？ *

はいいいえ

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１．あなたは普段どこで服を買いますか？（お店の名前を記入してください）回答を入力２．あなたはなぜそこで服を買いますか？理由を教えてください。回答を入力３．あなたは月にどれくらいの量の服を買いますか？

毎月のペースでは服を買わない。１～２着３～４着５～６着それ以上 （ ）

４．あなたはどれくらいの期間その服を着続けますか？１シーズン以下（一年以内で着るのをやめる）１シーズン（約一年間）２シーズン （約二年間）それ以上 （ ）

５．あなたが服を選ぶ上での主な基準は何ですか？流行デザイン（好みなデザイン、体系が良く見えるものなど）

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値段（お手頃な価格かどうか）必要性機能性その他（ ）

６．あなたは、服を作る会社（１で答えた会社）の方針について知っていますか？知っていればそれを記入してください。

回答を入力７．あなたは自分の服がどこで作られているかを知っていますか？（国名など）回答を入力８．アパレル産業は環境にやさしいと思いますか？それとも負荷を与えていると思いますか？またそう思うのはなぜですか？回答を入力９．１ kg のコットンを生産するためにどれくらいの量の水が必要か知っていますか？知っていればその答えを記入してください。回答を入力

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１０．ポリエステルやプラスチック繊維などの合成繊維を分解するにはどれくらいの時間がかかるか知っていますか？知っていればその答えを記入してください。回答を入力

次の文章を読んで、環境に配慮されたことだと思うものには「はい」、そう思わないものには「いいえ」で答えてください。１．環境保護における基準や商品生産に関連する分野についての社会政策に従っている会社によって、衣服が作られている。

はいいいえ

2．製造者たちは快適な労働条件の元、より高い賃金のおかげで満足のいく生活を送っている。製品はシーズンをまたいで作られるため、消費者は新しい商品を買う必要性が減る。

はいいいえ

3. 全ての製品が既存の素材、布、金属、繊維から作られている。それらの素材は以前に作られた服やアクセサリーから回収され、新しいものに作り直されている。

はい63

いいえ４．先祖の伝統を永遠に守り続ける、刺繍などの職人技を使って製品を作る。

はいいいえ

５．大量生産をすることよりも品質を奨励する「オーダーメイド」の服を作る。

はいいいえ

６．地元で作られた製品を買うことで、自分の住む地域社会に投資をする。

はいいいえ

７．オーガニックコットンなどの農薬を使用せずに育てられた素材で衣服を作る。

はいいいえ

次のビデオを見てください。次のビデオではアパレル産業の問題についていくつか説明をしています。この動画を見たうえで、もう一度あなたの服の買い物について考えてみてください。このビデオ

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は英語版のものですが、次のセクションでビデオの内容をまとめたものを読むことができます。

ビデオ：Fast Fashion Explained In Under 5 Minutes

ビデオ内容のまとめファストファッションとは・値段が安く、流行を追っている服・商品の移り変わりがとても速い。・常に新しいトレンドを追い続けるために、一週間の間に何度も新作を出す会社も多い。

消費者のメリット・流行の服を安い価格で買える。・頻繁に新しい服をたくさん買うことができる。

会社のメリット・ある商品が売り切れると、追加で補充するのではなく、新たな商品を製造する。　→消費者は新しい流行として、その商品を欲しがる。　→会社側の利益になる。・有名デザイナーの手がけるデザインなどを模倣して、服のデザインとして取り入れる。

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　→安い価格で最新の人気アイテムを作ることができる。・CM などの広告を利用する。　→自分たちの動向を消費者に伝え、商品の価値を維持させることができる。

アパレル産業の問題点・製造をする工場では、労働者が低賃金で長時間働かされている。（例）バングラデシュ：・一か月あたり約３３ドルを稼いでいる　　　→一か月最低限の生活をするのに必要な６６ドルをはるかに下回っている。　　　・危険な労働条件のもとで 1 日 14～16時間労働することもある。　　　・1990 年以来、400人以上の労働者が死亡し、50 の大手工場の火災で数千人が負　　　傷した。　　　・女性労働者はセクハラ被害にも遭っており、出産休暇を取得できていない労働　　　者も多くいる。

・自分たちの権利を守らせないようにするため、労働者による労働組合の創設を禁止している会社も多い。・有害で発がん性のある化学物質にさらされながら働いている。・子供や奴隷労働者の増加・服に色やデザインをプリントしたり、仕上げをするために有毒な化学物質を利用　→肌を通して人の体内にも入り、体に害を与える可能性・水や土壌の汚染・会社の古い服を寄付することよりも焼却することを選ぶ。

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　→寄付することがブランドのイメージを「台無しにする」と考えている。現在・ゴミ埋め立て地全体の 5％は、アメリカ人一人当たりの平均繊維廃棄物の量に相当する。　→アメリカ人一人当たり、約 70ポンドの衣服を毎年捨てている。・繊維産業は、温室効果ガスの排出量が国際海運業と航空業界の合計量よりも 多い。　→世界の産業の中で 2番目に排出量が多い。

次の文章を読んで質問に答えてください。ファストファッションは、頻繁に新しい商品を消費者に届けるために「スピード」と「低コスト」に重点を置いています。しかし、販売する商品を考えて店で売り出すまでの時間や、生産などにかかるコストを削減しなければならないというプレッシャーから、環境への配慮が縮小されてしまっている可能性が高いため、環境には大いに悪影響を与えています。ファストファッションへの批判には、水質汚染、有毒化学物質の使用、繊維廃棄物の増加といった環境に悪影響なことが含まれています。鮮やかな色やプリントは衣服の魅力的な特徴ですが、これらの多くには有毒化学物質が使われています。布地の染色は、農業に次いで世界で二番目にきれいな水を汚染している作業です。ポリエステルはファッションに使用されている最も人気のある生地です。しかし、ポリエステルを含む衣服が家庭用洗濯機で洗われるとき、衣服からマイクロファイバーが流れて海のプラスチック量が増えてしまいます。マイクロファイバーは合成繊維の一種で、原料はナイロンやポリエステルです。マイクロファイバーは微細で生分解をしないため、水生生物にとって深刻な脅威となり、下水処理場や廃水処理場をすり抜けて私たちの家庭につながる水路に入ってくる可能性があります。またプランクトン

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のような小さな生き物はマイクロファイバーを食べているため、食物連鎖を通して魚や貝類を食べることによって、人間の口へと運ばれてくる可能性もあります。また、綿も衣服によく使われていますが、その栽培を失敗しないためにも高水準の水と農薬が大量に必要なため、環境に悪影響を与えてしまいます。現在ではファストファッションが私たちの生活に深く浸透しています。またより多くの人たちが衣服を買い、それらを以前よりも短い期間で使わなくなってしまうため、布地の廃棄物が予期せぬ量になっています。そしてファストファッションの小売店が国際的に広がっているため、この問題は世界規模で悪化してしまっています。現代の忙しいライフスタイルによって、多くの人々は以前の人たちよりも時間が不足してしまっています。そして時代の経過とともに裁縫や衣服の修繕の技術が衰退してしまうため、自分たちの衣服を修理することへの気力が少なくなってしまいます。また、スーパーマーケットと同じ施設の中にファッションショップが出現したことで服が買いやすくなったことや、季節ごとの安売りが始まったことから、衣服は「使い捨て」という認識がより強くなっていきました。ここで取り上げた問題以外にも、アパレル産業には様々な問題が存在しています。

1.あなたは、アパレル産業に水質汚染・化学物質の使用・衣服廃棄物の増加などの問題があることを知っていましたか？ *

詳しい問題について知っていた詳しくは知らなかったが、このような問題があることは知っていた。何も知らなかった

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2.あなたは今まで、低コストとスピードを重視した「ファストファッション」にどのようなイメージを持っていましたか？ *良いイメージ悪いイメージ以前はファストファッションについてあまり知らなかった3.あなたにとって、「ファストファッション」はどのようなイメージに変わりましたか？以前知らなかった方は、どのようなイメージを持ちましたか？変わらなかった場合は「変わらなかった」と記入してください。 *回答を入力4.あなたは今後、服を買う時の自分の意識に変化が起こると思いますか？ *はいいいえアンケートを通して感じたことや意見がありましたら、ここに記入して下さい。回答を入力

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Appendix 3

Company research sheet

Name

1. Please choose one clothing company you often use and do some research about it referring to the company website. You can also refer to the examples below. If there is no information about some questions on the website, you can skip it.

Shop e.g.): Uniqlo

Corporate

philosophy

e.g.):「服のチカラを、社会のチカラに。」、Life Wear

Number of

employees

e.g.): about 53,000

Manufacturing

locations

e.g.):China, Bangladesh, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand,

Turkey, Vietnam

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Work・Project e.g.): recycle all of products, recycle solid fuel, support of

clothing, refugees shop employment, supporting refugees to be

independent, developing women readers in Asia women’s

college,

activities giving disaster relief, environmental conservation…

Materials ex): use the down and feather which grown up with good way for the environment and materials, do not use animal real fur...

Problems/ Improvements

ex): overtime working at a part of factory in overseas, unfair

personal changes or dismissal...

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2. Please choose one item that made from the company you chose question 1 and you already had. Please write about information about it. If there is no information about some questions, you can skip it.

Name of item ex): リラックスフィットクルーネックT（半袖）

Material ex): cotton　100%

Producing country ex): Vietnam

Treatment ex): washing available

Please think about the fashion company you chose or you often use, and try to collect more information about it like this paper. Thank you for your cooperating.

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Appendix 4

企業調べシート名前＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿

①　あなたが普段よく利用するファッションブランドを一つ選んでもらい、その会社についてホームページなどを参考にして調べてください。例を参考にしながら記入をしてください。調べても情報が見つからない項目がある場合は空欄にしてください。

店名 例：ユニクロ

企業理念・こだわり 例：「服のチカラを、社会のチカラに。」、Life Wear

従業員数 例：約 53,000人

商品の主な生産国（工場のある国）

例：中国、バングラデシュ、日本、インドネシア、マレーシア、タイ、トルコ、ベトナム

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会社が行っている事業・取り組み（どのような内容でも可）

例：全商品のリサイクル活動、固形燃料のリサイクル、衣類支援、店舗での難民雇用、難民自立支援、アジア女子大学女性リーダー育成、国内・国外の災害支援活動、環境保全のボランティア活動など

使用されている原料について

例：物に配慮した方法で育てられ採取されたダウンやフェザーを使用、動物のファーは使用しないなど

企業の問題点・改善点例：海外一部工場での大量生産による時間外労働、その国の最低賃金を下回る給料、不当な人事異動・解雇など

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②　①で取り上げたブランドの商品であなたが持っている服を一つ選んでもらい、その服についての情報を記入してください。調べても情報が見つからない項目がある場合は空欄にしてください。

服の種類 例：リラックスフィットクルーネック T（半袖）

素材 例：綿　100％

生産国 例：ベトナム製

取り扱い 例：洗濯可能

◎ここで調べた企業理念や取り組みが本当に実現されているかどうか、また上記の内容から、あなたが選んだ会社はどのような会社なのかを、買い物を通してイメージを持ってみてください。そしてそのイメージを持ちながらぜひ買い物をしてみてください。ご協力本当にありがとうございます！

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