Just use what you have : ethical fashion discourse and the feminisation of responsibility

The rise of fast fashion has meant that young women (even those on relatively low incomes) are able to ‘regularly consume and discard fashionable clothing’ (Buckley and Clark, 2012, 21). While this development may be aligned with the democratisation of fashion – the fact that the supply chains that deliver fast fashion are not consistent with the principles of global democracy is now also relatively common knowledge in the democratised West. This, along with growing awareness of the ecological harms associated with the fashion industry has contributed to what Elke Gaugele (2014) has termed the ‘ethical turn’ in fashion. However, despite the fact that young women are often not deemed capable of translating their (ethical) attitudes into (ethical) behaviours (McNeill & Moore, 2015), nor able to be “trusted to consistently make good decisions” (Brooks, 2015, 241), they are also increasingly being called to recognise their individual role in the politics of the global supply chain. This paper explores the discourse of ethical fashion via online peer to peer communications. Through my analysis I seek to shine a light on some of the moral, material and pragmatic negotiations involved in consuming ethical fashion.