This course is designed to develop the knowledge and skills required to report on sustainable and ethical fashion practices within a contemporary business context.
You will learn how the fashion industry reports on social, environmental, and economic systems and about emerging themes. You will examine current best practices within the fashion industry to consider how the role of government, media, and business intersect with sustainable business practices through the development of reporting, compliance and policy.
Overall course learning outcomes
Upon successful completion of this course, the students will gain knowledge on:
Key concepts of fashion sustainability
Understand the key concepts of sustainability in a fashion enterprise
Governance on sustainable fashion
Compare and contrast international compliance and governance issues for the fashion industry
Developing reporting system
Apply sustainable reporting systems and procedures to develop an innovative integrated sustainability strategy
SDG Integration
The course does not directly address SDGs. However, on completion of the course address multiples SDGs such as:
- SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
- SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production
- SDG 13: Climate Action
- SDG 14: Life Below Water
Assessment
This assessment focuses on the current scenarios in global sustainability compliance in fashion and textile industries. In this assessment, students apply their theoretical knowledge to audit fashion industries for their compliance with various local or global standards. This course is appropriate for the Bachelor of Fashion Enterprise students as it is a direct application of knowledge into action as per RMIT’s Horizon 2: knowledge with action strategy. The students need to have fundamental knowlegde of the fashion industries and sustainability compliance requirements. Further, they need to have good analytical ability, critical thinking, and writing skills to synthesize audit reports and presentation skills.
The assessment is recognized as professionally authentic as it directly engages students with the stakeholders during the auditing process. Students acquire knowledge on sustainable processes, legal requirements such as child labour and forced labour. The practices to accomplish good grades are highly demanding and need students’ reflection of theory into practice. Often, this assessment is completed with an industry partner through RMIT’s WIL project agreement, where the students work in groups to investigate compliance standards followed by a specific type of fashion industry. Students' skills to investigate, audit industries, and evaluate the sustainability index of a fashion supply chain are enhanced through this.
Format: Group
Deliverables
- Sustainability audit report (6000–6500 words, MS word document)
- Executive pitch (12-15 minute in-class or recorded presentation to a panel)
Assessment Brief
This assignment will include certification systems and auditing process for fashion and textile industries. There will be two sections in the assignment as discussed below.
Part A: Information to be collected
This section will include information on the sustainability certification standards relating to the TBL of sustainability. In this section you can include introduction to OEKO-TEX® standard 100 (One of the world's best-known labels for textiles tested for harmful substances), type of industries that are eligible, criteria for certification, validity of the certificate, agencies etc. Each group needs to research from the OekoTex documents shared or other documents from authentic resources. This section should be between 3000-4000 words. Follow the discussions during blended learning class in week 9.
Part B: Auditing information
This section should consist of information on the auditing process that was done by one of your group members. Include the name of the industry, types of products, steps taken for auditing, and your observation during auditing. Also fill in the form that was shared by OekoTex and include the pictures that you took during auditing. The English transcripts of your recordings can go at the end of the assignment (Appendix).
Based on your audit for the specific industry and information you collected, you need to prepare this section with 2000-2500 words. Also, include references in Harvard style wherever possible. Your conversation with Mr. Thuong also can be included as a reference.
Format: Individual
Deliverables
Sustainability brand report (2000–2500 words, MS word document)
Assessment Brief
Sustainability is a major problem in fashion manufacturing and distribution as they negatively influence the triple bottom line (TBL), which are people, planet, and profit. In this assignment, you need to discuss the approaches taken by one fashion brand to deal with the TBL of fashion sustainability. The TBL of sustainability focuses on the environmental, social, and economic impacts related to fashion manufacturing and distribution. You need to research the three areas of sustainability of the selected brand, and address how the brand is addressing the TBL of sustainability. Examples of such TBL programs include:
- H&M’s sustainable purchasing practices under ACT- Action, Collaboration, and Transformation
- Upcycling & recycling plans of H&M
- Plan A of M&S
- Adidas’ plan for using recycled polyester
- CSR compliance plan of Zara
- Renewable energy plan of Zara
The brand can be a local manufacturer operating in Ho Chi Minh City (Such as Môi Điên Vietnam, Kilomet-109 Fashion-4-freedom) or a global brand such as GAP/M&S/ Zara in Vietnam or other country. You can collect the information from brand’s webpage, internet, and other authentic resources. Wherever possible, you can discuss with the company to collect additional information. This needs to be approved by the lecturer. The brand, and TBL approaches of the fashion brand needs to be discussed with the lecturer before finalization. You also need to receive feedback at least once before submission of the final assignment in addition to the peer feedback.
If you have any questions regarding this teaching resource, please contact the author via email: rajkishore.nayak@rmit.edu.vn
