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Showing posts from July, 2017

NEGOTIATION AND CONFLICT

At university, one of my favourite subjects was concerned with conflict and negotiation. I've always found this topic interesting, and I believe the interest originally stemmed from my interest in cars. As a child, my father and I would often go to car yards just to look at the latest model cars and toy with the car dealers. In particular, I remember my father negotiating with a dealer on Christmas Eve regarding the purchase of a new car, getting as far as looking at options before telling the poor dealer that he had better check with my mum before proceeding further. Another favourite was a dealer who tried at least four or five different tactics with my father, from telling him he wasn't serious and not to waste his time, to smooth talking and trying to charm him. The funniest part was at the time we were looking to purchase a car for my sister and the poor guy totally blew it. This topic also makes me think about my father's favourite line - 'I love negot
We live in a world where fashion retailers can, if they choose to, take a design from paper to the store in under a month. Whilst this means that we can gain access to on-trend items quickly, cheaply and easily, it also means that clothing is being produced, and disposed of, at an alarming rate. In 2014 over 100 billion items of clothing were produced worldwide, equating to around 4 items of clothing per person living on Earth. Traditionally, 'seasons' of fashion were limited to two a year- warm weather and cold weather. It then expanded to the four seasons of the year that most temperate climates experience. In 2017, some retailers are looking between 9-11 'seasons', with clothing being removed from stores as early as a month after going on the shelves. Herein lies the origin of the term fast fashion , goods that are produced quickly and cheaply, and often of a poor quality. The advent of fast fashion has resulted in a throw-away culture emerging in the west