Being ethical is all anybody can talk about, and for good reason! And for any business that is looking at making sustainable investments, they have to make very careful choices. This is especially true in the fashion industry. It’s a global industry that is worth £32 billion to the UK’s economy every year. But it’s also the second-highest industry for pollution. From fast fashion to increased waste, it is important to learn how to develop a sustainable and ethical fashion business. How can you do this?
Overseeing the Supply Chain
The supply chain has had a lot more focus on it in recent months due to there being continual problems. Having perspective over your supply chain is vital and there are a number of practices that can make a significant difference. Firstly, investing in high-quality machinery can result in quality output. In the fashion industry, you can invest in a number of commercial embroidery machines that can help initiate a high-quality output. But it’s important to remember that maintenance is just as crucial.
Downtime in the supply chain has a negative impact across the board. Make sure that the workers are being treated correctly and are in good conditions, but above all else, of being paid properly and fairly.
Join Sustainable Clothing Initiatives
If you want to be a forward-thinking fashion entrepreneur, it’s important to be aware of the initiatives that are going to teach you valuable lessons, such as SCAP2020 and Textiles 2030 which is part of the WRAP initiative, which is striving to create a world with sustainable resources. It is important to be aware of the knowledge and expertise of sustainability leaders to make sure that you can accelerate your business towards change.
Being Involved in the Environmental Justice Foundation
Supporting the Environmental Justice Foundation is going to help you understand the impacts of the choices you make for your business. The Environmental Justice Foundation is an organisation that can help you to become more aware of the world at large. Supporting the Environmental Justice Foundation is going to give you the most up-to-date information, but it also highlights yourself as a forward-thinking business.
It’s important to remember that even if you are striving for sustainability and an ethical approach, you are still operating a business, and this means you’ve got to learn the art of promotion. To develop a business of this ilk, you don’t necessarily need to be talking about how environmentally conscious you are all the time, but make sure that you are keeping up to date with the most authoritative information.
Restructuring Your Service Options
In the fashion industry, it is so easy to deliver clothes to people and therefore impacts your carbon footprint negatively. You can change how you provide your service. Structuring your business to offer a number of services such as reusing clothes can make a significant difference in the environment.
When you start to change how you offer a service, you are going to appeal to a certain target market. If you are looking for customers that will do as much as you wish to do, you need to offer more in the way of customer service. It’s a fine line to tread because you need customers on your side, but it’s important to remember that you need to have more quality of customer rather than quantity. And this is a very difficult thing for many businesses to come to terms with.
However, if you are looking to develop a more ethical fashion business, you’ve got to make sure that the people that buy from you also have the same mindset. This is where you have to start leading by example. You can show customers how you are spearheading new initiatives and services to help them, but you could also offer special deals to customers that are going one step further. For example, you could encourage customers to give their clothing to friends, charity shops, or sell online. You can then keep track of this with a hashtag, and use it as part of a social media campaign.
Do Not Underestimate the Importance of Being Local
If you want to reduce your carbon footprint, you’ve got to find ways to work locally. By avoiding outsourcing, you are going to cut back on your carbon footprints and it also becomes easy publicity for your company.
These are just a few ways to develop a more ethical fashion business. It’s not easy, but now we really have to start changing our attitudes to doing business.
