In this blog post, University of Glasgow Senior Honours Economics student Erin Miria John talks about her experience as a Research Intern with Scottish Fair Trade.
Between February and April 2025, I interned with Scottish Fair Trade, Scotland’s campaign for fair and sustainable trade, as a Researcher.
As an Indian with an academic background in Economics, I have been long aware of how history has been shaped by the unequal exchanges of resources. That knowledge, combined with my passion for sustainability and interest in fashion, inspired the focus of my dissertation.
My dissertation titled, ‘Can Fast Fashion Achieve Sustainability?’, defines sustainability as the balance between People, Profit, and the Planet. It is a mixed methods approach which explores the People-Profit trade-off through a qualitative case study of the 2013 Rana Plaza disaster in Bangladesh and the Profit–Planet trade-off through a panel regression of Scope 1, 2, and 3 carbon emissions against annual profit for H&M and Zara from 2013 to 2023. The findings highlight how globalisation and outsourcing, driven by profit maximisation and cost minimisation, has led to the relocation of garment production from the Global North to the Global South at the expense of people and the planet.
The dissertation has made me more certain than ever that I want to pursue a career in a space where businesses contribute to sustainable economic development – where resources are used responsibly, the planet is protected, and people are treated fairly. So, when Scottish Fair Trade advertised this role, I knew I had to apply.
My role was to support a Malawian brand’s entry into the UK’s ethical market for homeware, accessories, and lifestyle products. I produced two key deliverables: a detailed market research report and a stockist database. In the report, I analysed trends in ethical consumer spending, identified key market barriers, and proposed strategic recommendations for market entry. This was informed by a benchmarking assessment that compared the brand’s product catalogue with similar UK offerings to evaluate pricing and identify a database of potential stockists across Scotland and the UK.
The highlight of the internship was attending the ‘Scotland – A Fair Trade Nation’ debate at the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh and listening to MSPs celebrating Scotland’s renewed status as a Fair Trade Nation. I also had the opportunity to film a video for social media on the day on what Fair Trade means to me.
The conversations at the debate brought together many of the themes I had been exploring in my dissertation and inspired me to highlight that meaningful reform in the space of fast fashion will require a rethinking of global trade itself by offering Fair Trade as a counter-framework, with equity and accountability as the foundation.
This internship with Scottish Fair Trade has truly been an incredible experience in honing my research skills and has also been immensely valuable in shaping decisions related to my future career. I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to have been part of this important work.
Erin Miria John, 16 April 2025
