So what exactly is ethical fashion?

I know I’ve mentioned this before but 

(a) in case you’ve just joined me on this journey or 

(b) in case you haven’t been paying attention and

(c) it’s worth mentioning over and over, one of the suppliers for my favourite African clothing website donates 2% of all their proceeds to African orphanages. 

The total amount donated is, to date, enough to feed 200 orphans 3 meals a day.

I think it’s a hugely admirable thing to do and it got me wondering about whether it’s something people in the fashion industry at large think about.

That’s how I came across the phrase “ethical fashion”.

Back to the post title......

Ethical fashion is defined by the Ethical Fashion Forum as an approach to the design, sourcing and manufacture of clothing which maximises the benefits to people and communities while minimising impact on the environment.

As you can see, therefore, it covers any number of issues from animal welfare to sustainable environmental practices, exploitation, fair trade and working conditions.

It also means taking a proactive role in minimising and combating environmental concerns, creating sustainable livelihoods and reducing poverty.

Basically, making money at the expense of the communities you source from or operate in is unethical.

We’ve all heard of sweatshops –unethical.

Animal testing –unethical. You get the picture.

So why isn’t everyone jumping on the bandwagon and “doing the right thing”?

It’s complicated (when’s the last time you saw that outside a Facebook page?). 

Just to give you one example:

The person growing the cotton that goes into the fabric wants to ensure he makes money on it at sale. So he’s looking for disease free cotton in large quantities. He uses insecticides to make sure the little bugs don’t kill it and other chemicals to increase the yield. He’s worried about the dollar he gets at the end of the day. You try telling him to go organic in order to increase environmental sustainability. That means no more insecticides and nasty chemicals which translate into an unpredictably yield and therefore unpredictable income streams. You see how you might have a problem?

I don’t have any answers but it definitely got me thinking........hopefully you will too.

Till next time!