800 words Opinion Editorial Assignment (8am. EST Mar 5th)

Opinion Editorial Assignment

Goal: Reflect on how the day-to-day business activities of apparel brands and retailers impact sustainability. Contributes to learning objective #2, which is to Identify fashion and apparel-related problems where research could lend useful guidance for solutions.

Approach:

Reflecting on the presentations of guest speaker, other content from class so far, your other experience/research on sustainability in the apparel industry, and critical thinking to write a well-informed opinion editorial (op-ed) describing your definition of sustainability for the apparel industry as it relates to the business practices of brands and retailers. Note. Most definitions of sustainability, content you will have encountered does NOT focus on the day-to-day business that brands and retailers carry out! Here you need to flip the lense, thinking not what others in the supply chain need to do to for sustainability improvements, but what the brands/retailers themselves need to do! The audience you are writing for is are apparel bands and retailers who are interested in sustainability but may not be aware of the concept beyond eco-friendly materials or having factories audited against a code of conduct. Think of an op-ed that would be published in Sourcing Journal or just-style.com. It is useful to refer to the Harvard Kennedy School document that outlines how to write an op-ed.

Other Requirements:

●750-800 words (800 words is about 2 pages single spaced)

●Single spaced, 11-point font

Evaluation:

See the grading rubric for this assignment. A hint:It is helpful to read some op-eds before writing! For some examples of industry-related op-eds, see just-style.com or Sourcing Journal. For examples of general media op-eds, see The New York Times.