Introduction

The fashion industry is one of the most profitable industries in the world; it generates hundreds of billions of dollars annually in revenue and creates employment for millions of people across the globe. However, beyond the trendy designs and high profits, fashion often has a significant negative impact on the environment, the producers and consumers. In today's fast-paced, globalized world, trends change rapidly giving rise to a consumerist culture, where fashion companies over-produce clothing to meet the market's ever-increasing demand for clothing. Behind every item of clothing made, there is a true cost in terms of the human capital used and the negative impact it has on the environment. For instance, for each cotton clothing produced, hundreds of liters of water are used in cultivating the cotton and the industrial process of creating the clothing.

Ethics in fashion involves the implementation of legally and socially sound methods designing, production, retail, and purchasing. This helps to create a positive impact on the people and communities while reducing the negative impact on the environment. For a fashion company to be deemed as ethical, it needs to have fair working conditions, fair trade practices and avoid exploitation of children, animals, and the environment. This paper examines the issues of ethics and sustainability in the fashion industry. It seeks to establish how fashion companies approach these issues, and whether they have implemented any changes in their production and distribution process to reflect the need for ethics and sustainability in the fashion industry.