The Consumer Social Responsibilities

Brands always tend to be in the spotlight for how they do their business including the production and its effect on the world. The topic of sustainability specifically has been in the media with brands critiqued for their lack of commitment to the cause.

With the rise of the fast fashion, consumer shopping has completely restructured in the last 50 years. The 1960s is when the demand for faster product began. Businesses have shifted the focus from quality to quantity, with the demand for faster product, and the consumers have embraced the disposable product. Where do you draw the line of blame? Is it the brands fault for feeding the fast fashion movement or the consumers for buying it and maintaining the demand? Faster product for the consumer means you’re able to stay up to date with the trends on a daily basis however there is always a price to pay.

The consumer social responsibility (CSR) is something that we don’t tend to hear about in the news. How can you blame the consumer if the brand is providing the product? With that being said, without the consumers, there would be no one buying the product. We, as the consumers, have to take some of the blame and start to make more conscious purchases. Products are now made abroad as the workers are underpaid, overworked and unappreciated and that’s just the human consequences. There is also the water consumption in the fashion industry, animal exploitation and environmental disruption in product making.

“Fashion's need for raw materials and labour intensive production processes make it an industry particularly vulnerable to environmental disruption — as are the profit margins of businesses that operate within it.”

I guess what I’m trying to say is who knows, maybe this is the thing that makes us fall. It might just be the reason that pollutes the environment, melts the ice caps and evidently ceases our existence. Maybe not as dramatic as that but it is a huge issue affecting our day-to-day life. Let’s take control over our decisions and re-evaluate our shopping morals. It all starts with one person.