Ethical fashion is as google defines it an ‘umbrella term to describe ethical fashion design, production, retail, and purchasing. It covers a range of issues such as working conditions, exploitation, fair trade, sustainable production, the environment, and animal welfare.’ The workers are paid a fair wage, the environment the clothes are made in is a good standard and the materials that the garments are made from have a positive environmental impact in mind. After two years blogging on eleanorclaudie.com I finally know the direction my blog is heading in. A fashion blog that incorporates beauty and lifestyle but one that’s ethical and informative. My mission is to help you learn about ethical fashion and fast fashion and ethical fashion is both critical to the workers life but also for sustainable development of the planet. I love blogging don’t get me wrong, but I have a platform and I want to use it for good. Upon realising this a few months ago I’ve never sat down and written a post purely talking about ethical fashion and what it is.
I was sat in my textiles class a few years ago, learning about the ethical trading initiative and I came to the recollection that I knew nothing about the difference between ethical and ‘fast fashion’. I was learning about how badly our clothes effect the environment and the people behind our clothes but what was I doing about it? Absolutely nothing. After that fateful day I did quite a bit of research on ‘fast fashion’ (if you want to look into the industry I would really recommend watching The True Cost as a starting point) and I was shocked. The working conditions, pay, where the fabrics are sourced from, the distribution of the clothes. Even in the 21st Century workers are faced with dismal conditions and this is all for a t-shirt that will become obsolescent in a season.
But how can I start buying ethically? 2017 started off and I didn’t buy any new clothes for a month, even this month I’ve only bought one item of clothing and that was a jacket for Depop. The simplest way to reduce your reliance on fast fashion and sweatshop produced clothes is to stop buying them. A capsule wardrobe is a great idea but remember that buying less is better but it doesn’t make it sustainable. So if you buy less buy better.
You may wonder why I still wear clothes from fast fashion retailers such as Zara (much like the spotty culottes featured in this post) but I don’t have the intention of throwing out all my clothes and starting from scratch because that would be unethical in itself, and charity shops have their pitfalls as well. According to WRAP’s report, the average UK household owns around £4,000 worth of clothes – but around 30% of clothing in the average wardrobe has not been worn for at least a year.
I am so aware that people may be reading this post don’t have the money to be spending £25+ but part of the reason that ethically made clothes are more expensive is to encourage people to invest in items of clothing that they will treasure and that will last for a long time, unlike the mass produced (but ultimately affordable) clothes currently available to the modern consumer. That totally doesn’t mean you don’t have to buy new clothes though. Charity shops and depop are a great alternative but if you wanted something new there are so many ethical brands out there. Ethical fashion has definitely been having a resurgence lately but it needs to be the norm and I’m looking forward to discussing further the issues about fast fashion but also how positive and accessible buying ethically is. But I would love your input too! I want you to be interested in buying ethically in the same way you would Topshop or Zara and so what would you like to see on my blog?
Are there any posts you’d like to see me write about ethical fashion that aren’t on the list? Or just specific fashion posts? Let me know!
Leave a Reply