BUS-L360 Topics in Business Ethics: The Ethics & Law of Fashion

• 8 weeks
• 1.5 credits
• Prerequisite(s): BUS-L 375 or BUS-L 376

The purpose of this class is to better understand the ethical and legal issues ever present in the fashion industry. The fashion industry is unique in that it implicates various business ethics problems that are incredibly difficult to resolve. This class will dissect the various unique legal and ethical issues in the fashion industry focusing on its effects on various stakeholders, including other companies, employees, the environment, consumers, and society writ large. We will begin with thinking about protection in the fashion industry, including trademarks, patents, and copyrights. At the core of this discussion will be what should protection for the fashion industry look like and how does it affect competition in the marketplace. We then will shift our focus to counterfeit goods and whether or not consuming or producing these goods is problematic. The latter half of the course will focus on the ethical issues of how the fashion industry, makes its products, hires its employees, and how it markets its products. In this section of the course, we will discuss issues like sweatshop labor, sustainability, advertising ethics, and the global effect of the fashion industry on society including its effect on race, gender, and sexuality. At the core of this course, is the question of whether the industry owes heightened obligations to society given its unique power and prevalence, and if so, how should these obligations be resolved.