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Graduate student studies the market for ethical clothing
Clothing manufacturing and the fashion industry at-large have significant, devastating impacts on the environment, workers, and communities around garment factories, according the experts. However, the movement to buy ethical fashion lags far behind other sustainable consumerism trends. After years of studying waste in the fashion industry, Sarah Portway, a fourth-year Ph.D. student in Fiber Science and Apparel Design, has turned her focus to the consumer-behavior side of the equation to ask why consumers are not "buying their values" when it comes to fashion.
As part of her dissertation research, Portway conducted a case study by interviewing 40 people three times over the course of six months. The participants were selected from the Human Ecology community, mostly graduate students and professionals, making the study sample one of highly-educated and relatively affluent individuals with a bias towards sustainability.
Portway asked the interviewees questions aimed at identifying their commitment to sustainability, what it means to them and how it impacts their consumer choices. Over the course of the three interviews, she infused their...