scholarly journals What Affects Garment Lifespans? International Clothing Practices Based on a Wardrobe Survey in China, Germany, Japan, the UK, and the USA

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (21) ◽  
pp. 9151
Author(s):  
Kirsi Laitala ◽  
Ingun Grimstad Klepp

Increasing the length of clothing lifespans is crucial for reducing the total environmental impacts. This article discusses which factors contribute to the length of garment lifespans by studying how long garments are used, how many times they are worn, and by how many users. The analysis is based on quantitative wardrobe survey data from China, Germany, Japan, the UK, and the USA. Variables were divided into four blocks related respectively to the garment, user, garment use, and clothing practices, and used in two hierarchical multiple regressions and two binary logistic regressions. The models explain between 11% and 43% of the variation in clothing lifespans. The garment use block was most indicative for the number of wears, while garment related properties contribute most to variation in the number of users. For lifespans measured in years, all four aspects were almost equally important. Some aspects that affect the lifespans of clothing cannot be easily changed (e.g., the consumer’s income, nationality, and age) but they can be used to identify where different measures can have the largest benefits. Several of the other conditions that affect lifespans can be changed (e.g., garment price and attitudes towards fashion) through quality management, marketing strategies, information, and improved consumer policies.

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 329-349
Author(s):  
Richard Moon

Abstract In two recent cases, one in the USA and the other in the UK, courts have considered conscientious objection claims made by cake bakers who objected to providing a cake for the celebration/advocacy of same-sex marriage. I will argue that the issue in these cases is not the reasonable balance between the individual’s religious interests and the interests or rights of others in the community but is instead whether the individual’s religiously based objection should be viewed as an expression of personal religious conscience or as a (religiously grounded) civic position or action that falls outside the scope of religious freedom protection. In determining whether a conscientious objection should be viewed as a personal/spiritual matter or instead as a civic/political position, two factors are relevant. The first is whether the individual is being required to perform the particular act (to which she/he objects) because she/he holds a special position not held by others. The other factor is the relative remoteness/proximity of the act that the objector is required to perform from the act that she/he considers to be inherently immoral. The more remote the legally required action, the more likely we are to regard the objection as a political position.


1975 ◽  
Vol 74 ◽  
pp. 8-21

The economy appears to be reaching the bottom of the cycle. Industrial production after a precipitous drop in the second quarter has levelled off since May. Retail prices have decelerated to show month on month rises at annual rates near to 10 per cent since July. The current account deficit, after falling sharply from 1974 levels in the first half of the year, increased again in the third quarter to an annual rate of £2½ billion. The growth of M3 has recently started to exceed the inflation rate, which it has not done since 1973 IV. These indicators suggest that the UK is at this point lagging only a few months behind Japan and the USA and barely if at all behind the other major European economies (see Chapter 2). Unemployment, a lagging indicator, continues to rise in this country, but has started to turn down in the United States and appears to be levelling off in Japan, Germany and France.


1978 ◽  
Vol 10 (S5) ◽  
pp. 101-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. P. Deschamps ◽  
G. Valantin

Pregnancy in adolescence is now a very great concern for doctors, teachers and social workers throughout the world and yet about 95% of the publications on this topic have come from the USA. The remainder are mainly from the UK and Scandinavia. Other countries have produced only a small number of papers, focusing mainly on clinical problems such as the pathological events and complications during pregnancy or delivery. In France, the first paper to appear in a paediatric journal was published in 1977 in the French journal of school health (Martin, 1977). On the other hand, teenage magazines often contain articles about sexual behaviour and pregnancy in adolescence. There is now a great concern in the adolescents' press about the problems of sexuality, contraception, abortion and pregnancy, including advertising for pregnancy tests.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (18) ◽  
pp. 7537 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirsi Laitala ◽  
Ingun Grimstad Klepp ◽  
Roy Kettlewell ◽  
Stephen Wiedemann

Clothing maintenance is necessary for keeping clothing and textiles functional and socially acceptable, but it has environmental consequences due to the use of energy, water and chemicals. This article discusses whether clothes made of different materials are cleaned in different ways and have different environmental impacts. It fills a knowledge gap needed in environmental assessments that evaluate the impacts based on the function of a garment by giving detailed information on the use phase. The article is based on a quantitative wardrobe survey and qualitative laundry diary data from China, Germany, Japan, the UK and the USA. The largest potential for environmental improvement exists in reducing laundering frequency and in the selection of washing and drying processes, and through a transition to fibres that are washed less frequently, such as wool. Adopting best practice garment care would give larger benefits in countries like the US where the consumption values were the highest, mainly due to extensive use of clothes dryers and less efficient washing machines combined with frequent cleaning. These variations should be considered in environmental assessments of clothing and when forming sustainability policies. The results indicate the benefits of focusing future environmental work on consumer habits and culture and not only technologies.


2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eddy Mayor Putra Sitepu ◽  
Ranjith Appuhami ◽  
Sophia Su

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between the interactive use of budgets, role clarity and individual creativity. Design/methodology/approach Survey data was collected from mid-level managers in publicly listed Indonesian companies. The data was analysed using partial least squares. Findings The findings indicate that while there is no direct association between an interactive use of budgets and individual creativity, an interactive use of budgets can affect individual creativity via role clarity. Originality/value This study is one of only a few studies that provide empirical evidence on the relationships between individual creativity, role clarity and the interactive use of budgets. While previous studies have been undertaken in Western countries such as the USA and the UK, this study focuses on an emerging economy – Indonesia in which firms have been trying to improve individual creativity.


(the other survivor on that day was another Australian soap, Home and Away). Before treating the institutonal and textual factors which contributed to Neighbours’s success in the UK specifically, I propose ten textual reasons for its success in a range of territories. Several of these factors are noted in British press commentary, which accounted retrospectively for the massive success of Neighbours. Neighbours persisted in its success, similarly to Crocodile Dundee in 1986 in the USA, where it obliged two major film critics, Vincent Canby and Andrew Sarris, to reconsider it after they had farmed out reviews to second stringers on the film’s first appearance (Crofts 1992: 223). 1 The everyday The programme urges identification with profoundly everyday experiences: personal problems, desires, worries, fears, minor misunderstandings, romance, low-key domestic arguments. In negative accounts, the “everyday” becomes “trivial” and “banal” “dog-attackscat” stories, or, in the words of one French journal, “these clumsily intrusive neighbours whose greatest existential anguish consists in having to choose between two colours of wallpaper” (Brugière 1989: 51). Neighbours’s ordinariness and predictability largely shun the melodramatic, the concatenation of incidents, the excessive. In the words of producer, Mark Callan: We try to keep everything as simple as possible and direct it at the ordinary things that occur in every household and within every neighbourhood. We are often tempted to use a sensational story, but we pull back and say: “That’s not likely to happen.” We do best when we portray the mundane in an entertaining way. (quoted by Galvin 1988) Testimony to the success of this strategy is found in the observations of Lucy Janes, a 15-year-old Scot whose age is typical of the program’s principal demographic target. She talks about the plot – predictable, filled with clichés and relatively simple (particularly compared to Dynasty and Dallas where each character has been married to each of the others at least twice). You can play an amusing little game because of the predictability. Try to guess what he/she is going to say next. It’s easier than you think and gives the viewer a feeling of participation and achievement. (Janes 1988) Identification is encouraged by the everyday tempo and rhythm, the invariable use of eye-level camera and a thoroughly utilitarian visual style which draws no attention to itself (even Home and Away appears a little mannered in comparison). (As at July 1992, when research for this section of the chapter was completed, there were signs of Neighbours’s adopting a flashier and more sexually explicit style.)

2002 ◽  
pp. 109-109

Author(s):  
Yang Liu

Nationalism is not closing the door to other nations. On the contrary, sometimes it exhibits as crazy expansion. For example, during the Second World War, both Adolf Hitler and Emperor of Japan claimed that they are helping their citizens. However, that is not the truth. Both German and Japanese people suffered something that they wouldn't have suffered without this war. Meanwhile, nationalism is one reason that the other countries keep fighting the war. By observing the relationship among nationalism, government policies and intervention, and FDI, this chapter attempts to offer an understanding of how FDI is impacted by the nationalism and government policies and intervention by providing two cases: the Brexit of the UK and the “American First” of the USA.


Nutrients ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 1934 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zenobia Talati ◽  
Manon Egnell ◽  
Serge Hercberg ◽  
Chantal Julia ◽  
Simone Pettigrew

Consumers’ perceptions of five front-of-pack nutrition label formats (health star rating (HSR), multiple traffic lights (MTL), Nutri-Score, reference intakes (RI) and warning label) were assessed across 12 countries (Argentina, Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Mexico, Singapore, Spain, the UK and the USA). Perceptions assessed included liking, trust, comprehensibility, salience and desire for the label to be mandatory. A sample of 12,015 respondents completed an online survey in which they rated one of the five (randomly allocated) front-of-pack labels (FoPLs) along the perception dimensions described above. Respondents viewing the MTL provided the most favourable ratings. Perceptions of the other FoPLs were mixed or neutral. No meaningful or consistent patterns were observed in the interactions between country and FoPL type, indicating that culture was not a strong predictor of general perceptions. The overall ranking of the FoPLs differed somewhat from previous research assessing their objective performance in terms of enhancing understanding of product healthiness, in which the Nutri-Score was the clear front-runner. Respondents showed a strong preference for mandatory labelling, regardless of label condition, which is consistent with past research showing that the application of labels across all products leads to healthier choices.


1970 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Brosnan ◽  
Moira Wilson

This article updates Hicks and Brosnan's 1982 study which compared disaggregated unemployment data for Australia, Norway, the UK and the USA with similar data from New Zealand. It is found that women, youth and non-white workers bear a disproportionate share of the unemployment burden and the unemployment burden is distributed more inequitably in New Zealand than in any of the other 4 countries.


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