Mors Naviculam: The Globalization of Canadian Fashion through Trade, Policy and Regulation

Canadian Fashion in its current modes of design, production and distribution is deeply integrated into globalized production chains that segment various aspects of manufacturing into disparate locations scattered around the globe. At best, these globalised operations provide jobs and revenue for developing economies, at worst the unregulated sites of production are left wide open for labour abuses that can spell disaster for the workers employed there, and the local environment. The goal of this research is to use the knowledge gained from the close study of fashion objects to illustrate the negative consequences of contemporary fashion production, a manufacturing model that is currently undertaken at the detriment of both workers as well as the environment. Utilizing an object-based research method, one that auto-ethnographises garments and their impacts, the full scope of the impacts of these processes are explored. Research also details the history of how these production models came to be and includes an examination of innovations that are aiming to counter these destructive modes of production as well as possibilities for amelioration. Sustainability (fashionable or otherwise) as a goal is not an ambition that can be achieved in a vacuum. The processes that create an unsustainable environment for manufacturing and production are directed and mediated by various social actors, they range from consumer preference, economic directives, as well as access to retail, manufacturing and labour markets. All of the actions of these competing mediating forces are synthesized into public policy. Governmental regulations on how production is undertaken locally, and the parameters for import and export are all set according to the general public will. It is this will (for good or ill) that will shape the future of Canadian fashion manufacturing.