Human Rights, Policy and, Sustainability in Global Fashion

Catalog description

The global fashion industry, one of the world's most resource-intensive and globally integrated sectors, offers a distinctive empirical lens for examining how sustainability, human rights, and public policy interact within contemporary systems of production and trade. Driven by the acceleration of fast fashion, the industry contributes substantially to climate change, pollution, biodiversity loss, and escalating textile waste, while its multi-tiered supply chains are frequently characterized by labor exploitation, wage suppression, gender-based violence, and systemic human rights violations. This seminar investigates these issues through an interdisciplinary framework that integrates human rights analysis, environmental justice, political economy, and supply-chain governance. Through discussions, guest lectures, and a substantial independent research project, students will develop the analytical tools required to assess complex sustainability and human-rights challenges and formulate rigorous, policy-relevant solutions. While centered on the fashion sector, the methodological and conceptual skills acquired in this course are broadly applicable to global supply-chain governance and sustainability policymaking across diverse industries.