OP:Ed FairPlay On the Grounds of Fashion - Written and Portrayed

To each, one’s own -

Design and Journalism, unlike many fields, depends heavily on the expression of the creative mind. In a world of a population pushing to nearly 7 billion, the possibilities of having the same ideas are distinct. To impose ethics on such a field can be considered an objective term. Although, morality must be adapted on the design and journalism platform, there are certain areas where being “ethical” carries a loose meaning and is borderline confounding.

Fashion, speaking from the point of view from the utilitarian field –

Enforcing ethical practices in this kind of innovative arena in today’s day and age requires sustainable approaches, less exploitation on the social and environmental frontiers and abiding to commercial values such as fair trade, fair wages, recycling and more importantly, animal rights.

Counterfeiting is the main villain in the act, with the ultimate result landing in economical loss for designers’ brands in terms of their identity and their business. Globalization, ironically, is the world’s problem. With its rise, it has reduced the cost of material and labor giving birth to “High Street” or “Fast Fashion", which means more knock offs and more forged designer goods. To someone who can’t afford a designer bag can purchase one at the cheaper price, leading to less credit which means lesser wage for laborers. Stringent principles need to followed in this case, to prevent the break down of liberal society.

Fashion, speaking from an artistic mind –

One is entitled to what they create and their individual sense of styles. For a style to be replicated by another person, it could be because he/she would have probably thought of the same thing. Intellectual Property is a tricky play field where originality is the goal. Economically, similar designs produced by different designers can cause tension between prospective customers. Also, if you could choose between knowing “20 different ways to dress for the Fall” as opposed to “10 different ways to dress for the Fall”, which would you choose?

Loyalty of your customers or readers is evident, but competition is inevitable and necessary in these fields. Ethics need to make sure one doesn’t completely dominate over a certain subject matter. Claiming another’s idea or expression as their own (Plagiarism), is the real ethical issue that requires utmost concern.