Socio-environmentally friendly framework for South African fashion design entrepreneurs: An exploratory study.
Mollel-Matodzi, Nailejileji V.
Mollel-Matodzi, Nailejileji V.
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Abstract
Global warming is the continuing tendency of increasing average worldwide
temperatures. Societal processes and practices are the main contributors to climate change. The textile and clothing industry is one of the main contributors of pollution globally. The fast-fashion business model intensifies the pollution crisis. There is an upsurge of fast fashion in South Africa, and this indicates that South African customers choose to purchase fast-fashion clothes. Sustainable development is the solution to reducing environmental harm. Sustainable development is the ability to enhance everybody's standard of life, and that of succeeding generations, by restoring and maintaining equilibrium in environmental responsibility, social equity, economic viability, and cultural vitality. Sustainable development is applicable to the textile and
clothing industry because of the negative socio-environmental and economic impact it causes. For the textile and clothing industry to have a profitable and reputable name in the marketplace, sustainable development measures have to be implemented in the way the textile and clothing industry interacts with the environment, society, and economy. One of the ways the textile and clothing industry can protect the environment and society is through the production of socio-environmentally responsible clothes. Socio environmentally friendly clothes refer to clothes made from durable fabrics that are recyclable and have a longer life cycle. These fabrics do minimal environmental and social harm in the sourcing, design, and manufacturing
stages of the supply chain. Fashion design entrepreneurs can be providers of creative, innovative solutions to irresponsible social and environmental challenges posed by the textile and clothing industry. South African Fashion Week has a record of 580 fashion designers. However, only a small number of fashion designers are socio-environmentally friendly. The aim of this study is to develop a socio-environmentally friendly framework that promotes the production of socio-environmentally friendly clothing by South African fashion design entrepreneurs. This study has six sub-aims, four of the sub-aims explore fashion design entrepreneurs’ awareness of sustainability and their current supply chain practices. Two of the sub-aims explore customers’ desired socio-environmentally friendly clothing attributes and how knowledge about sustainability influences their purchasing behaviour. Customers have the potential to stop or reduce the negative impact of unsustainable textile processes and practices on the environment by buying socio-environmentally friendly products. This study has two phases. The first phase was the case study, which involved semi-structured interviews with fashion design entrepreneurs, and the second phase involved a survey type of research, which used questionnaires to solicit information from customers and potential customers of socio-environmentally responsible clothes.
During data collection, it became clear that it is necessary to gain insight from socio-environmentally friendly South African practitioners, as this will provide understanding on how far the practice is in existence in South Africa. Semi-structured interviews were also used to collect data from five socio-environmentally friendly practitioners. Participants for this study were selected purposively. Participants for the qualitative phase of the study were contacted via email and social media platforms and semi-structured interviews were conducted telephonically. Credibility, transferability and dependability criterion were used to maintain trustworthiness of the qualitative data. The initial participant target for the quantitative phase of the study was 300 responses,
and I was able to obtain 340 responses. However, only 305 responses were viable. This study used Survey Legend, an online survey application for quantitative data collection. Reliability and validity criteria were used to maintain the quality of quantitative data. Five of the participants from qualitative phase of the study demonstrated awareness of socio-environmentally friendly fabrics. This study found that knowledge about socio-environmentally friendly fabrics does not necessarily lead fashion design
entrepreneurs to purchase and use the fabrics in their clothing ranges. The five participants revealed that they found socio-environmentally friendly fabrics to be more expensive than other fabrics. Socio-environmentally friendly participants concurred with five of the participants regarding the expensive price of the fabrics. Only three participants manufacture socio-environmentally friendly clothes on a small scale for the upper class. All of the participants showed minimal awareness of socio-environmentally friendly design method. All of the participants save their fabric offcuts. Two of the participants revealed that they save fabric off-cuts for monetary
reasons. Majority of the participants for the quantitative phase of the study were women represented by 85%. The skewed representation of the female majority would influence the findings of this study. Women tend to participate in surveys more than men, this may explain the skewed representation. This study revealed that durability (75%) was the highest-ranked attribute, followed by look (71%), feel (67%), and price (53%). The majority (60%) of the participants indicated that they would most likely purchase the clothes if the look resembled that of mainstream fashion. There was a significant association (0.033 Ë‚ 0.05) between age and the likelihood of participants
purchasing socio-environmentally friendly clothes if the look resembled mainstream clothes. More than half (56%) of the participants indicated that they tend to purchase the clothes when they are on special offers. Furthermore, 60% of the participants indicated that they purchase the clothes occasionally. The findings of this study revealed that the majority (63%) of the participants purchased socio-environmentally friendly clothes due to their knowledge about the benefits. This study found that there was no significant association (0.417 ˃ 0.05) between age and participants purchases based on knowledge of socio-environmental benefits. Findings of this study revealed that it is important to develop an in-depth knowledge and skills development hub as a socio-environmentally friendly framework for South African fashion design entrepreneurs. In order to change and improve participants’ socio-environmentally friendly clothing consumption, the look and feel of the clothes has to be transformed so that they are similar to mainstream clothes. Findings regarding the influence of knowledge on purchasing behaviour shows that continual awareness creation among customers is necessary to promote socio-environmentally friendly purchasing behaviour. Insights from this research can aid in the effective design and production of multifaceted socio-environmentally friendly clothes. The study makes recommendations to fashion design entrepreneurs, textile and clothing industry organisations and customers.
Description
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree, Doctor Technologiae: Fashion and Design Technology in the Department of Design Studies, Faculty of Art and Design at the Tshwane University of Technology.
Date
2020-10-01
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Tshwane University of Technology
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Keywords
Fashion design entrepreneurs, Clothing consumption, Socio-environmentally friendly practitioners, Textile and clothing industry, Society