PEOPLE
The People pillar, focuses on consumer’s demands in regards to fashion movements and “fashion transparency” (O.De Castro, Lecture, 2023) – peeling back layers of supply chains and dissecting fashion ethics. Generation Z; ‘born between 1996 and 2010’ (Mckinsey Article, 2023), are shaped by ‘digital age, climate anxiety, a shifting financial landscape and COVID-19’ (McKinsey Article, 2023) so are urgent to demand answers from the industry.
The spotlight falls on Gen Z to correct the past, as the emphasis as Orsola De castro stated is that “the fashion industry is not an industry that has gone wrong but an industry that has historically chosen to exploit”. Orosla’s #whomakesmyclothes movement, highlights the disconnected state of supply chains and the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) that hasn’t consistently existed amongst the fashion industry.
Due to pressing truths that the industry was always originally constructed with an allowance of business exploitation for financial benefits (O. De Castro, Lecture, 2023), the gap between luxury and affordable therefore is questioned. What is the difference? Neither pay a living wage to employees, provide dignified work or are 100% traceable, a concept Orsola De Castro opens up as a pinnacle for why luxury must be “redesigned”, so that the products “afford luxury to the people who make it- to the entire supply chain” (O.De Castro, Lecture 2023).
“CSR and sustainability have been inextricably linked in the fashion industry” (Londirgan et al. 2018) as CSR concepts developed as early as 1930, yet the incorporation into the industry was considerably late.“Catalyst for the CSR movement”: the scandal of Kathie Lee Gifford’s exploitation of child labour in 1996 (Londrigan et al. 2018), allowed social impacts by brands to now be held accountable.
Keeping fashion political, is therefore, essential to improving working quality amongst the supply chains and maintaining the idea of ‘Vendor compliance’; focusing on the care of people and the environment by meeting standards, “signing policies, procedures and protocols for sourcing, inspecting and shipping”(Londrigan et al. 2018).
Consequently, management of responsible sustainability intertwined with embracing diversity, attracts Generation Z. Their character has evolved around security, stability and inclusion. For a brand to be successful in the face of Gen Z, it’s therefore about ethics, principles and morals; calling for “circular fashion” (Mckinsey Article 2023), an acceleration in Inner Development Goals and the key skills to address consumers through effective e-commerce and technological platforms such as DRESSX that encourage sustainability. This is how brands successfully encounter Generation Z.
Reference list:
Orsola De Castro, (2023), Lecture
‘What is Gen Z?’ (2023) McKinsey & Company
Available at: https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/mckinsey-explainers/what-is-gen-z
‘Fashion supply chain management’ (2018) Londrigan, M.P and Jenkins, JM.
Published at: Fairchild books