With the rise of fast fashion and its now apparent effects on climate change, there is an evident need for change in terms of how we as individuals use our clothing and footwear. Our team has created Ray Fashion Inc., a sustainable footwear company that focuses on implementing the circular economy to reduce the amount of waste generated in shoe creation. We have designed a sandal that accommodates the rapid consumption element of fast fashion with a business model that promotes sustainability through a buy-back method to upcycle and retain our materials.

According to Fashion Theory: The Journal of Dress, Body & Culture, fashion is defined as "the cultural construction of the embodied identity." (Steele 2012). Fashion is a complex subject that utilizes media to instill understanding and the significance of its products to consumers through advertisement. It is highly influential on consumers' behaviors and self-image. In this thesis, I provide the historical context of the fashion industry’s media channels that have shaped the perspective and importance of youthful physical features leading to a youth-centric market. It also examines the current practices and representation in media. The insights from this research provide an understanding of how ageism is prevalent in various forms of media and identifies the implications of the perception of older consumers.

Social media has not always been a traditional form of business strategy for the fashion industry, therefore a study on the role of social media on user engagement for different tiers of fashion brands was conducted. A combination of multiple regression models, ANOVA analysis, and hashtag analysis was done to understand various aspects of the research question. Tests were run against different post types to gain deeper insights on engagement levels and statistical significance. Post frequency and correlation analysis was conducted to understand how followers respond to the content. Overall, reels and carousel media were the most successful in increasing and maintaining user engagement. Prada has the most inactive users and ineffective social media strategies to increase engagement. While they have a high following they are unable to sustain engagement levels through their posts. Whereas, Teddy Fresh, despite being a smaller brand has been successful in maintaining engagement levels through their niche target market. Lastly, SKIMS has the fastest growth rate and has been able to increase following through their high frequency post schedule. For each of the brands, this information can be used to further strategize the marketing content. Social media is dynamic and therefore the approach for curating content will differ; being able to understand which types of posts are doing well is helpful for the brands as they can continue to run analysis when needed.

Social media has not always been a traditional form of business strategy for the fashion industry, therefore a study on the role of social media on user engagement for different tiers of fashion brands was conducted. A combination of multiple regression models, ANOVA analysis, and hashtag analysis was done to understand various aspects of the research question. Tests were run against different post types to gain deeper insights on engagement levels and statistical significance. Post frequency and correlation analysis was conducted to understand how followers respond to the content. Overall, reels and carousel media were the most successful in increasing and maintaining user engagement. Prada has the most inactive users and ineffective social media strategies to increase engagement. While they have a high following they are unable to sustain engagement levels through their posts. Whereas, Teddy Fresh, despite being a smaller brand has been successful in maintaining engagement levels through their niche target market. Lastly, SKIMS has the fastest growth rate and has been able to increase following through their high frequency post schedule. For each of the brands, this information can be used to further strategize the marketing content. Social media is dynamic and therefore the approach for curating content will differ; being able to understand which types of posts are doing well is helpful for the brands as they can continue to run analysis when needed.