Fashion, Sustainability, and Ethics - HOA00105I

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Module summary

Fast fashion and issues of sustainability are considered a 21st century problem, but the history of fashion reveals these ethical issues are nothing new. This module explores the growth of fashion production and consumption from the industrial revolution onwards. Students will develop a framework for understanding the complex development of the modern global fashion industry and the role of fashion as an agent for change – both positive and negative – by analysing its varied cultural, social, and environmental impacts.

Module will run

Occurrence	Teaching period
A	Semester 2 2025-26

Module aims

The module harnesses contemporary interest in issues of sustainability to encourage students to consider the presence of ethical issues in fashion history. It builds foundational understanding about the evolution of the fashion industry and the role of fashion in the development of modern consumer societies. The thematic and decentred approach encourages students to look beyond periodisation and across national borders to understand the relevance of fashion history to the contemporary world. Learning activities equip students with expertise in a range of methods for analysing material fashion objects and the ability to use this analysis to develop their own original research that explores how fashion objects can provide new perspectives on complex histories.

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should have acquired:

• Methods to describe and critically compare and analyse a range of material, visual, and textual sources
• The ability to evaluate interdisciplinary debates around the history of fashion and sustainability
• Knowledge and frameworks through which to explore and articulate the relationship between fashion, sustainability, and wider social and political forces

Indicative assessment

Task	% of module mark
Essay/coursework	100.0

Special assessment rules

None

Indicative reassessment

Task	% of module mark
Essay/coursework	100.0

Module feedback

You will receive feedback on assessed work within the timeframes set out by the University - please check the Guide to Assessment, Standards, Marking and Feedback for more information.

The purpose of feedback is to help you to improve your future work. If you do not understand your feedback or want to talk about your ideas further, you are warmly encouraged to meet your Tutor and/or Supervisor during their office hours.

Indicative reading

• Bailey, R. “The Other Side of Slavery: Black Labor, Cotton, and Textile Industrialization in Great Britain and the United States.” Agricultural History 68, no. 2 (1994): 35–50.
• Brown, Kathleen M. Foul Bodies: Cleanliness in Early America. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009.
• Green, Nancy. Ready-to-Wear and Ready-to-Work : A Century of Industry and Immigrants in Paris and New York. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1997.
• Matthews David, Alison. Fashion Victims: The Dangers of Dress Past and Present. London: Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2015.
• Millet, Audrey. “The Production Chain: Fashion, Technology, and Globalization (1800-2022).” In The Routledge History of Fashion and Dress, 1800 to the Present, edited by Véronique Pouillard and Vincent Dubé-Senécal, 42–60. London: Routledge, 2024. doi:10.4324/9780429295607-4.
• Smelik, Anneke. “Polyester: A Cultural History.” Fashion Practice 15, no. 2 (2023): 279–99. doi:10.1080/17569370.2023.2196158.
• Wallinger, Sasha Rabin. “A History of Sustainability in Fashion.” In Routledge Handbook of Sustainability and Fashion, edited by Mathilda Tham and Kate Fletcher, 151–59. London: Routledge, 2015. doi:10.4324/9780203519943-19.