Abstract

In the new global economy, Business ethics is fast becoming a central issue for Multinational
Enterprises, including the fashion industry. Over the past 20 years, business ethics has become a
major problem attracting attention from the public, authorities, business communities and
scholars. As of now, businesses are facing pressure from consumers about ethical behavior,
which can be defined as encourage good behavior of businesses - from marketing activities to
protecting the environment. Good ethical behavior is acting in ways consistent with what
society and individuals typically think are good values. (Business Dictionary, 2014). Business
activities affecting all areas of social life, so traders should also have professional ethics and
being compliant to Government regulations, not just only what the society does not prohibit.
Business ethics of an organisation is now one of the basic elements which make up the reputation
of the business, ensuring the business activities of enterprises to achieve success in the
marketplace, surviving as well as sustaining the increasing competitive environment to
developm. The construction of business ethics, first of all, is the responsibility of the business; at
the same time, it is also the responsibility of the state, the community and society as a whole.
Developing business ethics is the task that needs attention and respect to create motivation for
implementation of social responsibility of businesses.

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1. Introduction:
The more well known the industry is, the more problems it will face. In other words, praises and
blames always come together. Especially for a glamorous and enchanting industry like the
British fashion. The face value of this ever - growing, super hyped industry can distract people
from full realization of its problems. The fashion industry spell bounded people by the charms it
offers. Yet, an emerging group of consumers have been complaining about how this industry has
no positive impact on society (Karen,M. 2013). But in fact, it is seen as being inextricably linked
to society, and indeed part of society. As much as we wanted to deny the importance of British
fashion industry, we have to realize that it has contributed to the economic growth and created
jobs for millions of people worldwide (Sitch, 2014). However, the devastation of environment
caused by the fashion industry in general and by British fashion and textile industry in particular
is undeniable. It is crucial that we, the consumers, should be looking at two sides of the story and
decide whether the benefits provided by the British fashion industry is greater that the implicit
cost it causes to the society as a whole.
2. Benefits provided to society by the industry
Economics: British fashion industry has contributed an impressive 21 billion pound to the British
economy, according to the report by British Fashion Council, having provided 340.000 jobs and
made up for 79.000 businesses. (Sitch, 2014). The UK Fashion industry also makes a
considerable contribution to the VAT revenue by the purchase of fashion products, income tax
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on the wages of the workers and coporation tax by the fashion firms. In 2009, the British fashion
industry was reported to directly contribute 20.9 billion pound to the UK economy and the
majority of this comes from retail distribution. The employment rate in 2009 was estimated to be
2,7% of total UK employment, which was approximately 816.000. In other countries, the fashion
industry can make a big difference in terms of economic and employment. According to 2006
UN Human Development Report, Sub Saharan Africa loses about 5% of GDP through shrinking
trade income, or $28.4 billion annually (www.nivelo.co.uk, 2014). It is estimated that some of
the Africa countries will benefit from the oursourcing of textile production by British fashion
industry. For example, SWAZILAND, where 28,000 jobs were created in the fashion sector,
which benefitted 100,000 people. (Grace I and Myrna B, 2011)
KENYA
30,000 people are employed in the apparel sector- each job generates 5 other jobs (Grace I and
Myrna B, 2011)
LESOTHO
$234 million of textiles and apparel products exported in 2001 equating to 94% of merchandise
exports. GDP increased from $558 in 2001 to $3000 in 2004 (Grace I and Myrna B, 2011)
The British fashion education sector also contributes to the status of UK as an international
center for fashion excellence. The gross value added by fashion educations contribution can be
measured by the wages and salary contribution of the staff involved in teaching fashion subjects
in UK based colleges. (British Fashion Council, 2010) Combining the data provided by the
Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) and Higher Education Funding Council for England
(HEFCE) data (2010), it showed the value added of UK Fashion education sector amounted to at
least 16 million pound in 2008 to 2009, having created 395 jobs.
Figure 1. Breakdown of British Fashion Industry GVA by channel of production

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Employment
The UK fashion and textiles sectors employ an estimated 600 thousand people. According to the
statistic provided by Euromonitor in Retailing in the UK, it indicates that the United Kingdom
is the third-largest fashion employer in the EU-27, surpassed by Italy and Germany.
Figure 2: Direct employment split by channel of production

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Fashion retail is the most importance source of jobs in the sector, which accounted for almost
80% of jobs in the fashion industry, as illustrated in Figure 2. This can be further explained by
the fact that the retail sector requires more workers to create an extra pound of GVA, in
comparison with the wholesale/ manufacturing sectors in terms of fashion items. (British Fashion
Council, 2010) Over 2.9 million people were employed as at the end of December 2009 by the
retail industry. This equates to 11% of the total UK workforce. The Textile and Apparel sector
have more than 35 million employees, while the Apparel sector alone employed over 6 million
people. (National Statitistics Office (on UK business bysector and location).
3. British fashion industry ethical problems:
Labor conditions, wages and workers rights:
Sweatshops are the norms in the fashion industry, it is a workshop where workers have long
hours of work under bad condition and low wages. Many factories in developing countries
scrabble for valuable contracts with garment companies, hence pushing down the price of the
production to attract contracts. In Bangladesh, according to the statistics of Ethical Trading
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Initiative of 2006, the minimum wage was at 7.16 (2006) a month. Adjusted for inflation, that
had been 2.5 times less than its value of 18 in 1994. With the rising in price of necessities such
as rice, sugar and utilities like water and electricity by 200%, making it almost impossible for
garment workers to support their families. (Ethical Trading Initiative, 2006)
Garment workers all over the world still face harsh, unfair and unsafe working conditions with
few rights. Ana, a Honduran garment worker, voiced her thought: We have buried our dreams.
Our only concern for the future is to make sure that the same thing doesnt happen to our
children. Especially in the light of the collapse of Rana Plaza building in 2013, Ali Enterprises
fire in Pakistan in September 2012, then the Tazreen Fashions fire in November 2012.
Because of increasing public exposure to these stories in Britain, consumers have gradually
begun to view ethics in fashion industry as a compulsory requirement. Cumulatively, after these
horrific incidents, if one cares enough about ethical labor standards, consumers will realize that
sweatshops still make their clothes and making ethical choice would limit their range of clothes.
(Dickson, 1999) It is not ground breaking news that the majority of garment manufacturers are
concentrated in some of the worlds most impoverished countries. The British fashion industry
presents an enormous opportunity to create sustainable livelihoods and to lift communities out of
poverty. However, rock bottom wages, unfair and unsafe conditions for garment workers still
continue to be widespread.
Phan, a 22-year-old machinist in a Thai garment factory said that she and other workers had to
work from 8 am till 5 pm, with 1 hr lunch break. In the peak season, they had no choice but to
work overtime because their basic wage was too low. Their employer even demanded them to
keep working if they wanted to have a break. ( Ethical.org.au, 2014)
Elina, a garment worker in PT Busana Prima Global, an Indonesian factory shared her
experience: the workers in the company get a lot of verbal abuse and physical abuse as well.
Their

ears

are

often

pulled

and

the

managers

yell

directly

into

their

ears.

(Ethicalfashionforum.com. 2014)
.Another horror story is the forced labour. Every year hundreds of thousands of people are
systematically sent to work in the cotton fields by the government. Campaigners and activists put

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pressure on the Uzbek authorities, in 2012, Uzbek authorities banned the use of child labour in
the cotton harvest. However, that ban is usually ignored and flouted. In 2013 there were 11
deaths reported during the harvest, including a six year old child, Amirbek Rakhmatov, who
accompanied his mother to the fields and suffocated because he fell asleep on a cotton truck.
(Hoskins, 2014).
These are just a few complaint and they shed some light into the ethical theories that the British
fashion industry, in general, and garment manufactures, in particular, apply. It can be seen from
the examples and complaints of the workers, these garment manufacturers are consequentialist as
the outcome are desirable then the action is morally right and otherwise. It could be interpreted
into a specific condition where both are following Utilitarianism model. Also known as the
greatest happiness principle, they focus mainly on the consequences of an action. For example in
the case of Phan, a machinist in a garment factory, the manufacturer now wants to maximize the
profit and production quota, they decided to jeopardize the health and rights of workers. Take the
collapse of Rana Plaza building in 2013 in Bangladesh, workers were forced to work in an illconditioned garment factory with poor fire safety and weak infrastructure when the fire broke
out, causing casualties of over 1200 people. By examine the example of doing the deal,
Bangladesh dealer and product manager of many fashion and textile manufacturers see this as a
good deal for the business with potential for personal bonus. The low wages and harsh working
condition make sense that the manufacturers will benefit more. However, the pain of doing the
deal is possible risk for the company reputation and potential dangers for the workers in the
sweatshops. Secondly, in the case of Uzbek authorities forcing people into cotton labour, it can
be seen from the example that the authorities pay little attention to the well being of the workers
and justify their decisions by the outcome performance. (Haesun P.P, 2010) Uzbekistans
economy is known for relying on commodity production, especially cotton production. At
cotton-harvest time, students and teachers are mobilized as unpaid labour to help in the fields.
(News.bbc.co.uk,2014). Therefore, it is good business deal for Uzbekistan, even if the Uzbek
authority seriously violated their citizens rights. It still can be justified by the desirable outcome
in terms of economic growth. However, the workers are still working in those harsh condition
despite the threats posed to their well-being. Because they are able to secure the familys income
although the wages are insufficient to sustain their lives, but still, having little income is better
than having no income at all.
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4. Environment
The fashion industry is inexplicably backtracked to the environmental devastation. One of the
most notorious examples is the dried up of Aral Sea basin. (Hoskins, 2014) It may pose question
such as what has the fashion industry got to do with the dried up of Aral Sea basin. The fashion
industry in general is linked to this horror by the fact that crop being grown there is cotton - a
hugely water intensive crop. According to fashion designer and environmentalist Katherine
Hamnett, Conventional cotton uses a huge amount of water and also huge amounts of pesticides
which cause 350,000 farmer deaths a year and a million hospitalizations Also, after examining
the bottom of the Aral Sea basin, it concluded that The exposure of the bottom of the lake
has released salts and pesticides into the atmosphere poisoning both farm land and people alike.
Carcinogenic dust is blown into villages causing throat cancers and respiratory diseases.
(Hoskins, 2014). Acknowledging the environmental and ecological impacts of such actions,
British fashion industry is putting a lot of effort to be more environmental friendly and
environmentally sustainable.(Catrin.J, 2006) The concept of ethical fashion represents an
approach to the design, sourcing and manufacture of clothing which maximises benefits to
people and communities while minimising impact on the environment. (Fashionunited.co.uk,
2014). In which a few environmental-related criteria have been drawn:
1. Using and developing eco- friendly fabrics and components
2. Minimising water use
3. Developing or promoting sustainability standards for fashion (Fashionunited.co.uk, 2014)
British fashion designers are coping up for the new and interesting concepts which are organic
fashion and eco fashion. Consumers are also taking interest in the consumption of sustainable
fashion, hence putting pressures and demanding transparency on the chemical designers and
manufacturers using in the treating process, as well as the residue discharged into the
environment. (Tingyan. C, Christina W.Y. Wong, 2012) An organic product is a product that
has at least one of a number of recognized certifications such as: The Soil Association, Ecocert
ecolabel. Organic fashion refers to clothing and accessories created with a minimum use of
chemicals, hence limited its impact on the environment. While eco fashion is a broader term
refers to all clothing, fabrics and accessories manufactured in an environmental friendly way.
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According to the Ethical Fashion Forum, technological developments in the British textile
industry have turned environmentally friendly textiles into a viable alternative to conventional
fabrics. The underlying causes of these positive changes in the British fashion industry can be
interpreted into the ethics of duties. Established by Immanuel Kant (1724 1804) an
Enlightment thinker, he suggested that humans as rational actors who could decide these
principles for themselves. He developed the categorial imperative framework in which the
three maxims are test for every possible action, and an morally right action is the one that
survives all three test: In the ethics of duties analysis, we can see that using pesticides and
toxic chemicals in treating and creating artificial fabric or forced labour are immoral actions
because if we allow the textile industry to continue using this method, there will be a destruction
beyond repair for the environment as well as serious violation of human rights. Lesson drawn
from the dried up of Aral Sea basin, shows that if the fashion industry keeps perpetuating this
destructive method, it will encourge the use of harmful chemicals and exploitation of human
labor in other countries as well. Finally, consumers are fighting against the use of animal fur,
which again display the ethics of duties when they witness the horrendous images of animals
skinned alive for fur. This shows that consumers are now caring for the ethical fashion more than
ever and it can be explained by these modernist ethical theories.
Conclusion
We are witnessing the destruction of environment, the unfair treatment of workers because of the
unethical behaviors both manufacturers and fashion industry are perpetuating and if the fashion,
manufacturers, and print industries are still encouraging these actions, society and environment
will continue to suffer as it has been for decades. However, it is crucial that we understand it will
take efforts and voices of many people, both consumers and fashion designers, environmentalists
and activists to hold the fashion industry, notably the big companies, accountable for their
actions. It is imperative that the consumers awareness of ethical fashion should be raised and
frequently mentions in the social media, as well as developing an ethical policy framework
tool in consultation with leading ethical sourcing and certification bodies, including the Ethical
Trading Initiative, The International Fair Trade Association, the Fairtrade Foundation, and more.
(Brito, M.P., Carbone, V. and Blanquart, C.M, 2008) This allows all the party involved (NGOs,
Trade Union, Consumer union) to work systematically with British fashion business members to
9

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improve sustainability practices, and facilitate the transparency of communication through an

ethical policy document.
Words count: 2457

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