BUS6500 Governance for Sustainability

What is your relationship with fast fashion?  Canadians love to purchase affordable clothes that are constantly evolving in style. The average Canadian purchases 70 articles of clothing every year ) and throws out 81 pounds of clothes each year Can we change consumer shopping habits when much of the negative environmental and social aspects don’t seem to affect us directly? Command and control models have been a staple in Canada in order to address air and water pollution. Do you think that governments can regulate the fast fashion industry? What might such a model look like? The extended producer responsibility program has been used to manage end of use electronic waste in Canada. This program makes the producer responsible for the entire life cycle of the product including the disposal. What are your thoughts about using the EPR model for clothing? Many brands synonymous with fast fashion have published sustainability goals and adopted programs to make the industry seemingly less wasteful. H&M for example is offering a discount on new purchases to customers who return old clothes. I think that we can argue that H&M is simply encouraging people to purchase more of what they may not need. Do you think industry has incentive to change their business model? What does it mean to be a sustainable clothing brand?  Do you think that sustainable fashion is accessible and ethical to all?