Senior Public Relations students compete in the COM 480 capstone project each year creating a campaign to put learned skills to the test. This year, PR Group Oasis, created by Morgan
Dunham, Anna Wasko, and Ashley Rosenbeock, took on the issue of ‘Fast Fashion’.
‘Fast Fashion’ is marketed as trendy and cheap clothing that makes following the ever-changing fashion industry possible on a budget.
However, Oasis uses their capstone campaign to reveal that ‘Fast Fashion’ is far from ethical.
A more accurate description is exploited workers using cheap materials to make trendy fashion pieces for low wages in mass quantities.
“Clothing is poorly made, making the life of each item one or two years,” said campaign creator Morgan Dunham. “They can be sold so cheaply because the materials are so poor and the workers are taken advantage of when mass-producing these items”.
Stores such as H&M, Zara, and Forever 21 capitalize on this business model being known as trendy and cheap. Often their clothes do not last long.
Online stores that have circulated in recent years are SheIn or Romwe. These stores are all online and offer clothing as cheap as only one dollar.
Taylor Prasun (Junior) estimates that she wears clothes from SheIn, “two or three times max” because they either fall out of trend or fall apart.
The concern for human rights issues, excess waste, and pollution are the ethical issues Dunham, Wasko, and Rosenbrock chose to focus their campaign against by promoting secondhand clothing.
‘Fast Fashion’ is a worldwide issue but can directly be dealt with locally.
Dunham, Wasko, and Rosenbeock worked with South Side Mission and Fashionably Late consignment stores to raise awareness about building ethical shopping habits in the highly educational campaign.
“I didn’t know what ‘Fast Fashion’ was myself until a few months ago,” reflected Julie York-Petrone of the Morton South Side Mission storefront showing just how unknown this issue often goes.
South Side Mission is a church organization that organizes and runs several thrift stores in the midwest. Anyone can donate and buy clothing for cheap prices from their shops.
Fashionably Late is a consignment clothing store that resells in-trend clothing. Clothing can be donated to the store for a 50 – 50 profit if resold within 90 days. 2
Owner of Fashionably Late, Amy Hedden, describes a consignment store as, “a stepping stone between thrift stores and mass retail stores”.
These shops, South Side Mission and Fashionably late, are two tools locally that Oasis aims to educate their audience about through their campaign: Sell and donate.
Peoria residents have many options to choose from when shopping ethically. Find a thrift store close to you.
SouthSide works as a solution by donation while Fashionable late works as a reseller. Both give clothes another life rather than being thrown away and lessen the need for new clothes to be made.
The capstone project is a part of the required communication course, COM 480 Public Relations Case Studies and Campaigns, for all Public Relations majors and dual Public Relations and Advertising majors.
Oasis’ three-person-led campaign features a fashion show with informational guest speakers such as Hedden and York-Petrone as well as the event creators themselves.
Student models wore clothing from both local stores to show how secondhand clothing can be fashionable for any occasion in aims to advocate for reselling and donating (Fashion Show Slide Show)
A clothing donation, raffle, and a social media survey are being used in conjunction with the fashion show event to promote the message to a larger audience.
Students are also encouraged to shop for themselves at South Side Mission with a 25% off discount for students and take advantage of 50% of Fridays or sales in which all clothes for .99 cents.
Overall, their campaign’s goal was to raise money for these organizations and raise awareness.
Final campaigns are evaluated in planning, execution, and results upon completion to determine which campaign was the most successful. Winning groups are recognized and awarded the Ebeling prize.
Previously, the Rebling prize went to the “How can I help my Neighborhood” campaign with JOT Harm Reduction and Crafter DIY Studio and Bar.
A successful campaign for Dunham, Wasko, and Rosenbrock however, gets the word out about the ethical concerns of ‘Fast Fashion” using skills Bradley classes have prepared them with.