Fashion is always one of the last things to change when a consumer 'greens' or improves personal shopping habits.
Think about “fair trade” for a moment.
What’s the first thing that comes to mind? Most likely, you’re thinking about coffee or chocolate, or perhaps sugar, too, if you’re better informed than the average consumer. But have you ever stopped to think about fair fashion, and what it takes for clothes to be made ethically and sustainably by workers who are fairly compensated for their labour? If the answer is no, you’re not alone.
The sad reality is that ethical fashion has yet to become mainstream. It exists, but only within small, specialized circles of designers, retailers, and consumers who are aware of the importance of sourcing ethically made clothes. The rest of us are “stuck on coffee,” as they say, when it comes to fair trade.
While it’s excellent that so many people now seek out ethical coffee – it is the second most widely traded commodity in the world – it’s also a source of concern to those in the fashion world that consumers are content to get their ethical consumer fix from those easy commodities and take it no further.
