Ethical Purchasing in the Fashion World - Research Paper Example

ETHICAL PURCHASING IN THE FASHION WORLD Introduction Ethical purchasing is defined as the purchasing of products that are environment friendly which are considered to have less negative impact on the society (Janson, 1988). The research that my group conducted was based on ethical purchasing in the fashion industry. It has been noted that ethical purchasing has been featuring in the news but not for the reasons it stands for. Instead ethical purchasing in the fashion industry has recently been shown on the news for all the wrong reasons (Siegle, 2011). The aim of the research was to find out why people did ethical purchasing more so in the fashion industry. Moreover, the research aimed at finding out what influences and prevent people from practicing ethical purchasing. This research was conducted on the students of Oxford Brookes University students alone. Before beginning the research which included interviews and questionnaires we posted online the consent form to the respondents so that any legal issues might not arise later. It can be seen on the appendix along with the questions we had to clarify to our respondents before they could agree to the questionnaires. The group had five people: Gabby, Brigit, Isaac, king and me, Aziz. Research Theory According to our findings we found out that ethical purchasing in the fashion industry despite being on TV for the wrong reasons has improved a great deal. Seminars on ethical purchasing on the fashion industry state that recently, students are tenfold more likely to buy ethical purchasing especially in the fashion industry unlike four years ago. In addition to this, we also found out that the recent outcry by the government and public on fashion inventers and manufacturers should emphasize on producing ethical products (Ethical standards in government buying, 1996). Now as it turns out, manufacturers and inventers have gained exceptional interest in ethics and now the manufacturer’s intentions of being ethical is crystal clear, for example, H&M, Marks and Spencer and Gap have been named best ethical stores in the world(Bergin, 2014). The question to the research was ‘what influences and prevents oxford Brookes students from purchasing ethical garments?’ The main reason we found out from the research was that the students from oxford Brookes University did not care if they bought ethical garments because for one, nearly half of the students were not aware of the ethical purchasing issue. In addition, we also found out that these students did not practice ethical purchasing of garments because of the prices. Ethical garments were found to be highly priced and most students could not afford to buy them thus they took readily available garments that were unethical. Data Collection In order to find out the things that influence people not to practice ethical purchasing was none other than university students. Therefore, we decided to interview and post questionnaires online to students of Oxford Brookes University for various reasons. It was time favorable to us since it was near thus it was not such a big hustle neither getting the questionnaires out nor interviewing our fellow students. In addition, the finance was almost zero as we had no major expenses. The questionnaires ensured that we got response from a large number of students within a short time and the interviews were to follow the interviews. This was to get the attitude and perspective of the respondents concerning the interview. We also used sampling to determine our respondents where we used quantitative and qualitative methods to gather data. Structure of Questionnaire and the Interviews Structuring of the interview question and the questionnaires was the most difficult of all the research method and group work. This was because the questions had to be tactical yet be able to answer all research questions at the same time. Therefore, we used a blend of one on one interviews with strictly structured interviews. Moreover, in the questionnaires, we decided on using closed question questionnaires and multiple choice questions. This we decided will really give us efficient and effective data that was realistic and dependable. Deciding on the questions for the questionnaire and interview questions was done in our weekly group meetings. Everybody had to come up with their own questions after researching on the topic that was ‘what influences and prevents oxford Brookes university from purchasing ethical garments?’. We shared ideas on a whatsapp and Facebook page that we had created to enable us put our input and develop the necessary questions. Moreover, after brainstorming and coming up with relevant questions for the questionnaire, we put it on a questionnaire creating tool on the internet. This was to make sure we had relevant questions that would enable us get the relevant responses for our research question. Our research question also required secondary and primary data as this kind of data sources would effectively answer the research question. In my point of view, the secondary data and primary data that the group used were the best since they addressed the topic question qualitatively and quantitatively. Furthermore, in the secondary data the group also did a literature review which was to source for more information. Therefore, the sourcing of the data was done in primary data, secondary data and literature review of the secondary data which includes the other seminars we used. Secondary Data According to our findings we separated the secondary and primary data. For the secondary data we researched on the reasons why the students of oxford Brookes University did not practice ethical purchasing. We found out those factors like price, lack of awareness and availability of unethical fashion were the major influencers (Miller & Stafford, 2000). When we questioned students on whether they would change their purchasing behavior suppose price and availability of such unethical fashion were eliminated and a majority were on the affirmative. We also used seminar materials to find out the reality and found out that lack of information was also a major factor. To achieve further secondary data in our research we used seminars to expound and get more information of the topic of ethical purchasing. In our weekly group meetings we decided that it was best if every group ember could research on their own on the topic and formulate questions that would best answer our research topic. Moreover, we decided that each group member should come up with at least two articles on the topic issue. This was because we did have five topics to choose from and we wanted to find out which one every member felt comfortable to research on. We ultimately chose ethical purchasing in the fashion world. Our research was to be conducted on oxford Brookes University since it was near us and it would save us time and finances as we did not have much of either. On my part, I researched and came up with two articles named “Ethical fashion and its effect on consumer buying behavior” and “The Impact of ethical fashion on consumer purchase behavior”. The other members also had their own two articles each which further added to our literature review materials. We used all these secondary materials to gather qualitative and quantitative data on the research. Primary Data We had a total of 120 respondents who answered our questionnaires and interviews. Of the respondents 70% were females, 30% were male students while the remaining 20% did not mention their sex and did not want to be placed on either side. This was brought about by the fact that males do not indulge more in fashion than females (Manchiraju & Sadachar, 2014). The statistics of the research show that 50% were aware of ethical purchasing topic the rest had no idea whether they were practicing ethical purchasing or not. Of the all the factors that influenced ethical purchasing price, lack of awareness and availability were found to be the major influencers (Miller & Stafford, 2000). The interviews and questionnaires were done online and thus the members had little control on how to clarify some things for the correspondents. This can also explain why some respondents failed to mention their sexes since they did not deem it necessary or rather it was an unintentional omission. According to the data collected we found out that students did not care how they bought garments and from the research statistics that nearly half of the respondents had no idea what ethical purchasing was did not even know whether they had purchased an unethical garment once in their life. Moreover, we found out that students of oxford Brookes University who were aware of ethical purchasing in the fashion world were prevented from purchasing ethically since they did not simply have the money. Furthermore, they claimed that unethical garments were readily available and their prices made them an easy target for them. However, the twist is that the students who were aware of ethical purchasing in the fashion world were ready to shift and make ethical purchasing especially in the fashion world if the situation was different. This means that if they had more money they would probably be purchasing ethical garments. However, the students who were not aware of the ethical purchasing issue but were now aware were also confident that would purchase garments ethically if they could. Conclusion Ethical purchasing practice has been on the rocks especially in the fashion industry. Our group work was to research and find out what influences and prevent people from practicing ethical purchasing. We decided to perform our research on the students of Oxford Brookes University since it was near us and it would save us time and finances. We interviewed a total of 120 students who consisted of 70% females, 30% males and 20% undecided students. We found out that although ethical purchasing has improved a lot since a few years price and availability of unethical purchasing especially in the fashion industry were the major influencers. This is because a majority of students confirmed that they would change their ethical purchasing methods if circumstances were different (Favier, 2013). Moreover, the answer to our research question was found out that students did not care what they bought thus they did not care about ethical purchasing. However, they major influencers were the prices, availability and lack of awareness. They said that the prices of ethical garments were high and therefore the unethical garments were readily available for those who were aware of the ethical purchasing issue. The remaining group was not aware of the issue of ethical purchasing but they also agreed that could change their purchasing of garments to ethical purchasing if the situation was different. We used questionnaires and interviews to collect data from the students. In addition, we also used seminar materials to gather more information on this issue. In general, group work is a good and bad experience but more of good experience than bad ones. The good part is that in a group I learnt a lot like confidence in talking out my mind and sharing my ideas and opinions with people I have early known. The bad part was that it is tough dealing with different people with different personalities especially when you have to give them a piece of your mind and tell them your opinion. References Bergin, O. (2014). H&M, Gap and Marks & Spencer named worlds most ethical clothing companies - Telegraph. [online] Fashion.telegraph.co.uk. Available at: http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/article/TMG10724470/HandM-Gap-and-Marks- and-Spencer-named-worlds-most-ethical-clothing-companies.html [Accessed 7 May. 2015]. Ethical standards in government buying. (1996). West Perth, W.A.: State Supply Commission. Favier, M. (2013). Consumer Attitude and Behaviour in the Ethical Fashion Industry. [online] Available at: • Butler, S. (2013) Ethical shopping growing in popularity, survey suggests [Online]. Retrieved from: http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/aug/19/ethical- shopping-growing-popularity-fairtrade [Accessed 7 May. 2015]. Janson, R. (1988). Purchasing ethical practices. Tempe, Ariz.: Center for Advanced Purchasing Studies. Miller, R., & Stafford, A. (2000). Economic issues for consumers (9th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning. Manchiraju, S. and Sadachar, A. (2014). Personal values and ethical fashion consumption.Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management: An International Journal, 18(3), pp.357-374. Siegle, L. (2011). To die for: Is fashion wearing out the world? London: Fourth Estate. Appendix CONSENT FORM Full title of Project:What influences and prevents Oxford Brookes’ students from purchasing ethical garments? Name and contact details of Researchers: Gabrielle Putt, Isaac Peltz, Elliot Liston, King Yat NG and AbdulazizAlmahruqi. If you have any concerns please contact us on the following email address: 13024315@brookes.ac.uk Please put a tick in the box 1. I confirm that I have read and understand the information sheet for the above study and have had the opportunity to ask questions. 2. I understand that my participation is voluntary and that I am free to withdraw at any time, without giving reason. 3. I agree to take part in the above study. 4. I agree to the use of anonymised quotes in publications. 5. I agree that my data gathered in this study may be stored (and that it is anonymised) in a specialist data centre and may be used for future research. INFORMATION SHEET You are being invited to take part in a research study. Before you decide whether or not to take part, it is important for you to understand why the research is being done and what it will involve. Please take time to read the following information carefully.  Why is this study being undertaken? Ethical purchasing in the fashion industry has recently been in the news for the wrong reasons. The aim of our study is to find out what influences and prevents people from purchase ethical purchasing. Why have I been invited to participate? The sample group chosen to study was Oxford Brookes University students. Once invited, is it compulsory to finish the questionnaire? It is not compulsory. Even once started, you will be able to withdraw at any time, without having to provide reasoning. However, once answers have been submitted, the data cannot be withdrawn. What does the questionnaire entail? Around 15 questions, most regarding the consumer behaviors towards ethical purchasing in the fashion industry. Does the information remain confidential? All information we receive from this questionnaire will be seen by Oxford Brookes University, however it will not be published online. How do I begin the questionnaire? Complete the informed consent form and begin the questionnaire.  What will happen to the results of the research study? Results will be analyzed, along with fellow participants’ data, for our 2nd year research project. Who has been organizing and funding the research? The research is being conducted by 2nd year Business and Management/Business and Marketing Management students. This project is has been organized by the University of Oxford Brookes. Read More