Title: Identify ethical considerations related to merchandising apparel and fashion products.
Course: Fashion Careers I (19201-36) > Section: Exploring the Marketing of Fashion

Identification should include

- environmental degradation (e.g., toxic chemicals used in textile production)
- counterfeit goods (e.g., knockoffs, forgeries)
- ethical treatment of employees (e.g., abusive employment practices including unhealthy, unsafe, and undignified working conditions in factories; child labor, general exploitation in the industry; labor laws)
- marketing practices (e.g., bait-and-switch tactics, misrepresentation of product quality or safety, breach of consumer privacy).

Process/Skill Questions

Thinking

- How does counterfeiting of luxury fashion items hurt designers? How does it hurt consumers?
- What factors have caused clothing prices to decrease dramatically in recent years? To what extent may unethical practices play a role in this price decrease?

Communication

- How can large design companies communicate their support of ethical practices in the fashion industry, such as environmental protection and improvement of working conditions for production employees around the world?
- How can fashion consumers communicate their support of ethical practices in the fashion industry?
- How can fashion employees communicate the unethical practices of fellow co-workers?

Leadership

- What can an individual designer do to promote more ethical production and buying practices within the industry?
- How could designers promote the environmentally friendly practice of garment recycling?
- How has the United States improved fashion industry working conditions in the past century (e.g., safety devices installed, sanitation was improved, passage of the Occupational Safety and Health Act)?

Management

- What unethical environmental and safety practices should fashion design managers avoid?
- What are the consequences of using unethical marketing strategies for the consumer, merchandiser, and manufacturer?