Thesis advisor: Ali Kadivar / The fashion industry has historically used marketing to increase sales. Women are the primary consumers of clothing, and with the growth of social media, trends cycle more frequently. As women observe their peers and influencers on these platforms, they are encouraged to purchase more items even without viewing deliberate advertisements. However, current consumption patterns are not sustainable. The researcher conducted thirteen interviews with college women aged nineteen to twenty-two to understand their motivations for purchasing new clothing and what values informed their decisions. The hypothesis was that access to peers’ and influencers' fashion choices via social media catalyzed overspending. The environmental and social implications of the industry would only deter some individuals' habits. Other studies have used surveys to ask social media users how the platforms inform their consumption. However, this study adds to the literature by offering in-depth anecdotes of why people make purchases and how often they do so. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2023. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Departmental Honors. / Discipline: Sociology.

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The fashion industry's progress towards sustainability is often a complex journey and changes within the industry, both ongoing changes and those required to achieve sustainability, cannot be singled out as something only of material considerations or bound to a specific stage within a lifecycle. This paper examines how a selection of environmentally inclined sustainability strategies within the fashion industry, contributes to or counteracts the industry's progress towards environmental sustainability. Including the overall work towards a sustainable development. The aim is also to understand how to lead the fashion industry toward an environmentally sustainable development and understand how sufficient they are in their current work. Strategies that aim to improve the environmental sustainability within the fashion industry are plenty, which can cover large and significant parts of the industry. Many depart from innovative approaches and aim to bring significant change and contribution to the fashion industry's work toward sustainable development. As concluded within this study, one strategy is not enough to solve the entire sustainability conundrum, since each strategy has proven to contribute with significant environmental impact reduction potentials, however the resulting environmental impacts' counteractions are equally significant. Thus, the most considerable potential for environmental sustainability can be gained when combining various strategies and implementing them during certain stages - because where one strategy is lacking, another can contribute, complement and/or reinforce. / Modebranschens framsteg mot hållbarhet är oftast en komplex resa. Förändringar inom branschen, både pågående förändringar och de som krävs för att uppnå hållbarhet, kan inte pekas ut som något enbart materiellt eller bundet till ett specifikt skede i en livscykel. Denna studie undersöker hur ett urval av miljöanpassade hållbarhetsstrategier inom modebranschen bidrar till eller motverkar branschens framsteg mot miljömässig hållbarhet. Syftet med studien är att delvis förstå hur man leder modebranschen mot en miljömässigt hållbar utveckling samt förstå hur tillräckliga de är i sitt nuvarande arbete.  Det finns ett antal strategier som syftar till att förbättra den miljömässiga hållbarheten inom modebranschen och kan täcka stora samt betydande delar av branschen. Många vilka utgår från innovativa tillvägagångssätt som strävar efter att åstadkomma betydande förändringar och bidrag till modebranschens arbete mot hållbar utveckling. Slutsatsen i denna studie är det inte är tillräckligt med en strategi för att lösa hela hållbarhetsproblemet, eftersom varje strategi inom denna studie har visat sig bidra med betydande potential för att minska miljöpåverkan, men även resulterat till lika betydande motverkningar. Den största potentialen för miljömässig hållbarhet är när man kombinerar olika strategier och implementerar dem under vissa skeden.

Modern media environment is characterized by extreme diversification and fragmentation. Fashion news are provided not only by magazines but also in social media, various websites, blogs. This affected media practices and experiences with fashion media consumption. Therefore, understanding the role of fashion media in individuals’s everyday life in this new environment is important for the industry. This research explores consumption of fashion media, media practices and experiences with it among American young adults. This involves answering following questions: What are American young adults doing in relation to fashion media across different contexts? What experiences they have with it?Media practices and media engagement are used as main blocks of theoretical framework as they complement each other. The data was gathered by the use of semi-structured interviews, communicative ecology mapping was applied to analyze and visualize the results. It is believed that all these provided comprehensive theoretical and methodological framework to explore fashion media use among American young adults. The results suggest that fashion media is ingrained in individuals everyday life activities. Also the set of experiences that are strongly connected to fashion media use were identified. The study generated understanding of media practices of reading fashion among American young adults in various contexts and experiences with it which has both empirical and theoretical implications.