2019_06_11_ICS_fraile

"The fashion consumer, at present, has ecological awareness, but their convictions are not reflected in their behavior". So says María Jesús Freire, a student of the III Promotion of Master's Degree in research in Social Sciences of the University of Navarra, who is doing her work of End of Master's Degree on beliefs, feelings and behaviors of the sustainable fashion consumer.

Freire points out that the fashion industry generates 20% of the toxic spills in the oceans, produces 1.2 billion tons of greenhouse gases and 58% of textile fibers come from oil. "To these environmental consequences must be added the human cost derived from the precarious conditions in which people work in the fastfashion production process," he adds.

He explains that the consumer is not oblivious to this reality even though it does not normally influence the purchase. For example, he explains that in recent years activist movements have arisen, pro-worker measures have been created and many celebrities are involved in sustainable fashion. These initiatives were boosted after 1,138 people died (mostly women and children) and 2,437 were injured following the collapse of a factory in Bangladesh in 2013.

However, why does fast fashion continue to be consumed at a time when environmental awareness has increased? Among other reasons, Freire quotation the limited supply, high prices, the aesthetics of the garments (which usually do not match the trends of the moment) or the strong pressure from the 'fast fashion', which offers garments 'to the last', renewed every week and at low prices.

Thus, the consumer "is frustrated in his desire to be sustainable". The student believes that knowing the behaviors and feelings of the consumer could help to know the sustainable fashion sector, "very recent in the academy and is currently booming". In this way, a paradigm shift could be made for the benefit of the planet.

Slow fashion: another way of consuming fashion

Currently, the fast fashion industry is based on producing a lot and selling at low prices, generating profits by the amount of sales. This system generates a great environmental impact, not only at the time of production, but also on the part of the consumer who discards clothes easily to follow trends or because the garments spoil quickly.

"We consume fashion, we are not interested in the product, but in the trend, and this lasts for one season," she says. The solution? The student bets on changing the system for 'slow fashion': buying fewer garments but of better quality and, therefore, more durable and for which you can pay a little more. In this way, less will be produced and fewer clothes will be thrown away, thus reducing waste issue .

To make this work, Freire has reviewed the bibliography on sustainable consumption, has conducted an analysis of consumer habits with CIS surveys of 3,000 people and has made a study on the use of the term 'green fashion' in social networks.

He has been able to develop this research thanks to the knowledge he learned at Master's Degree at research in Social Sciences. He considers that the Master's Degree has given him "an essential research methodology" in addition to an analytical orientation and precision very applicable to many professional fields beyond academia. "In the Degree you learn the content but the MICS gives you an essential methodology to get to knowledge".

In addition to the tools of research, he values the MICS the academic staff "of great academic and human category" and the personalized accompaniment in the study pathway staff , in his case of Communication.