Sustainable fashion and its possible developments in the Japanese fashion industry

Abstract

The paper will first focus on the many dark spots in fashion’s glittering façade and its impact on the lives of both garment workers and consumers alike. By outlining the general situation of the current clothing market and how the modern fast fashion business model has come into being we will try to understand what makes said model so solid and successful in terms of economic effectiveness. The goal is also to explore the attempts made to change the fashion industry in the form of the so-called ‘sustainable fashion’: what is it and what are the chances this model will survive the competition of the infamous yet more than consolidated fast fashion model? After that, the focus will shift on the Japanese market and on the extent to which the idea of sustainability has been absorbed by the domestic clothing business, and also how Japanese customers perceive such concept as a whole. Case studies of Japanese sustainable businesses in the clothing sector will be analyzed in order to try and deliver a more thorough understanding on the matter. Through the analysis of the changes that occurred in the Japanese consumer society over the last century we will attempt to theorize what direction the Japanese fashion market will take in the future and what are the chances that Japan will turn out to be a driving force for the international development of an alternative, sustainable fashion business model.