Consumer understanding of ethics and scandals in the fashion industry

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Consumer understanding of ethics and scandals in
the fashion industry

• Lise Skov
• Copenhagen Business School
• ls.ikl_at_cbs.dk

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PROBLEM AREA environment labour conditions morality
PRIMARY LOCATION IN VALUE CHAIN provision of materials clothing industry fashion world
TYPICAL ISSUES pesticides in cotton farming, chemicals in textile treatment, petrochemical resources and technology in synthetic fibre production, animal welfare in wool, fur, leather and cosmetics industries sweatshops, union assembly rights, child labour, inefficient codes of conduct gender representations, celebrity scandals, eating disorders, drugs
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PROBLEM AREA environment labour conditions morality
PRIMARY LOCATION IN VALUE CHAIN provision of materials clothing industry fashion world
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PROBLEM AREA environment labour conditions morality
PRIMARY LOCATION IN VALUE CHAIN provision of materials clothing industry fashion world
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PROBLEM AREA environment labour conditions morality
PRIMARY LOCATION IN VALUE CHAIN provision of materials clothing industry fashion world
Tom Heineman A Killer Bargain
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Mediated visibility

• John B. Thompson
• The media produce visibility which is selective
  and which allows close-up views of people and
  things that are spatially and temporally distant
  from the receiver.
• 1st order scandal (original transgression) often
  lead to 2nd order scandal (cover-up,
  indifference) which may be more damaging than the
  original scandal.

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Risk society

• Ulrich Beck
• Risk conflicts occur when the system of dealing
  with risk have broken down. Finger pointing is a
  sign than a risk conflict is out of control, and
  more and more people and institutions get
  involved in the conflict.
• The success of a campaign depends on the grammar
  of dramatization.
• Paradoxical inverse relationship of power and
  legitimacy
• Companies high power, low legitimacy
• NGOs Low power, high legitimacy

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Campaigns
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Intentional crossovers Noir/Illuminate
II American Apparel Diesel Edun
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Exhibitions Oslo Museum for Folk Culture
(Spring 2007) Gothenburg Museum for World
Culture (Autumn 2007)
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Trust

• A. Zeitlin
• Trust is a consequence rather than a precondition
  for practical cooperation. Consensus is less the
  antithesis of conflict than its succesful
  resolution.
• Niklas Luhman
• Trust reduces complexity
• System trust

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Learning points

• Avoid 2nd order scandals (take transgressions
  seriously).
• Dont point fingers at developing-country
  governments.
• Dont drop problem cases. Collaborate to find
  solutions.