Abstract

The fashion industry is experiencing structural change as new manufacturing and distribution technologies emerge. Simultaneously, the environmental impact of garment production and the sector’s record on workers’ rights provokes increasing disquiet. This article explores how new technologies for distributing and making clothes interact with a shifting industrial policy agenda as neoclassical and neoliberal economic paradigms lose their dominance, and state intervention becomes fashionable again. Contemporary ready-to-wear production, which relies on manufacturing goods speculatively in hope that they will meet consumers’ needs, is massively wasteful, and the sector has experienced a series of shocks as established brands fail to correctly anticipate demand. Online-bespoke—in which garments are made to the specifications of the customer—has emerged as a promising sector. In changing how we buy and produce garments, can we transform how we value our clothes, the resources from which they are composed, and how we value the people who make them? This article argues that in order to reap the benefits of new and disruptive technologies, national governments and multilateral organizations must develop industrial strategies to shift current market incentives. Protections for fledgling sustainable and technologically innovative fashion brands, along with Pigovian taxation (taxation targeting negative externalities like pollution), are required to transform the industry.

摘要

随着新的制造和分销技术的出现，时尚行业正在经历结构性变革。同时，服装生产对环境的影响以及该行业对工人权利的记录也引起了越来越多的不安。本文探讨了在新古典主义和新自由主义经济范式失去主导地位以及国家干预再次成为时尚的情况下，用于分发和制造服装的新技术如何与不断变化的产业政策议程相互作用。现代成衣生产依赖投机制造商品，希望它们能够满足消费者的需求，这是一种巨大的浪费，而且由于知名品牌未能正确预测需求，该行业经历了一系列冲击。在线定制——根据客户的要求定制服装——已经成为一个有前途的行业。在改变我们购买和生产服装的方式时，我们是否可以改变我们对服装的评价方式、它们所用的资源以及我们对制造它们的人的评价方式？本文认为，为了从新技术和颠覆性技术中获益，各国政府和多边组织必须制定产业战略来转变当前的市场激励措施。需要保护新兴的可持续和技术创新时尚品牌，以及庇古税（针对污染等负面外部性的税收），才能改变行业。构成它们的资源，以及我们如何评价制造它们的人？本文认为，为了从新技术和颠覆性技术中获益，各国政府和多边组织必须制定产业战略来转变当前的市场激励措施。需要保护新兴的可持续和技术创新时尚品牌，以及庇古税（针对污染等负面外部性的税收），才能改变行业。构成它们的资源，以及我们如何评价制造它们的人？本文认为，为了从新技术和颠覆性技术中获益，各国政府和多边组织必须制定产业战略来转变当前的市场激励措施。需要保护新兴的可持续和技术创新时尚品牌，以及庇古税（针对污染等负面外部性的税收），才能改变行业。