People
Among the 4 pillars, “People” establishes a more profound relationship between consumer individuals and the fashion industry. By exploring this pillar, impacts on the society can be analyzed, while discover how fashion brands can be successful in the long term, with regards to the consumption habits of generation Z.
The Generation Z, which comprises the world’s population born between 1996 and 2010 (McKinsey & Company, 2023), is the second youngest generation right after Gen Alpha. With daily lives surrounded by the internet, they are also known as the “digital natives” (Francis & Hoefel, 2018). As climate anxiety arises, Gen Zers are influenced to develop strong values regarding green practices, hence gaining the habit of preferring brands with sustainability commitments as well as social ethics.
Despite Gen Z’s zeitgeist of possessing uniqueness and trend chasing habits may occasionally overcome ethical concerns, this generation still holds progressive ideology towards climate change, people of diverse and underrepresented genders etc. Francis and Hoefel (2018) pointed out that the identification among the ethics of a brand, its partners or suppliers, and the company that owns it can be confused by Gen Zers. As profoundly-conscious consumers, they won’t be fooled when a brand isn’t making real efforts to act upon ethical claims. Therefore, in order to attract them, brands’ actions and ideals must form coherence and infiltrate through all stakeholders.
Vivienne Westwood has gone viral over the past few years, especially among Gen Zers. As shown on Fig 1, Westwood’s official website demonstrated the brand’s execution of its sustainable beliefs, in terms of preferred low-impact textiles, sustainable packaging, total transparency of supply chain and activism to campaign for a better world.
Under “preferred materials”, the brand listed out the sources of all textiles used. For example, in 2022, Westwood introduced wool certified by NATIVA™. (nativapreciousfiber.com/), every step of the supply chain from farm to production is displayed (Fig 2). Currently, all wool used in the brand is 100% mulesing-free (viviennewestwood.com). Providing these information to consumers