Conscientious fashion
You are what you wear!
Edun made in Peru
Edun's latest range of dresses are simple, sweet, stylish and a little bit sexy.... And these dresses are handmade in some unsual places from Africa to South America promoting ethical industry (not charity nor pity) for some of the world's poorest community.
Many are also organic and all use natural materials.
Please click on the link below to go Edun's online store.
Edun made in India
Edun made in Kenya
Edun made in Kenya
Conscientious Fashion honoured on International Women's Day 2009
The Australian Centre for Leadership honoured Conscientious Fashion and Justine Kelly on International Women's Day for :
"developing a website and e-zine to promote labels and designers that are innovative and create eco friendly fashion and for also building partnerships with designers and producers in less developed countries."
Thank you to all our supporters, especially Lisa Redmond from the fairtrade store Global Conduct and Kim Tha, the director of the Cambodian Handicraft Centre.
Congratulations to all the other short listed women and groups and the main winner Dr Jill Tomlinson. For more please go to the link below.
The most essential principle
The Essential Principles of Ethical Fashion
1) Well-made
2) Stylish
3) Bio-degradable Fabrics
4) Slave Free Manufacturing
5) Animal Cruelty Free
6) Fabric and Manufacturing does not pollute the environment
The Desirable Principals of Ethical Fashion
1) Locally made
2) Handmade by a traditional weaver or cottage industry
3) Carries the certifcation
4) Organic Fabrics
5) Carbon Neutral company
6) Uses reclyed materials from pre-loved quality fabrics.
Some Ideas About Conscientious Fashion
1.You are what you wear!
2.Clothes and shopping are important and not frivolous- they affect the economy, the environment and the way the world perceives us and others.
3.The world is interconnected and every item you buy reverberates around the world in a positive or negative manner.
4.Fashion is about passion and expression, not money.
5.Style takes time and thought, not money.
6.Fake designer labels and sweatshops clothes are for fashion victims.
7.Clothes often travel around the globe before they reach our wardrobe and carry the story of the people who made them, so make it a happy one!
8.Clothes should be collectable and cared for. Clothes are not disposable.
9.Buy less, buy better.
10.We can shop for a better economy and a better industry. We can shop so that we come out of the financial crisis with a more just fashion industry.
ETHICAL: relating to morals, especially as concerning human conduct.
CONSCIENTIOUS: diligent and scrupulous
The Australian Pocket Oxford Dictionary, fifth edition
The cynics will try to tell you that Ethical Shopping is an oxymoron. They are getting the world 'Ethical' confused with concepts of 'absolutely ideal.' It's a fast changing world of emerging clean energies whilst trying to give the developing world a fair go (they produce most of the carbon waste on our behalf). Conscientious shopping is about making steps to a more ideal world everyday as you make choices and it's a realistic term.
And if you are a lover of fashion and labels you have the potential to make a difference by demanding the labels you love and the prices you pay are moral and scrupulous.
There are millions of people in poverty in the Third world, many of which have great traditional hand skills. Lets not prime them for factories in the 'second industral revolution' but follow the examples of Bangladishi Muhammid Yunis (2006 Nobel Prize Winners) and Australian labels such as Trashbags (producing bags in the Phillipines ) or Caravana (producing fashion in Pakistan) acknowledge the high value of these traditional hand skills. Lets offer business not slavery. Lets offer business not charity.
Perhaps instead of buying cheap $5 cotton tee and giving $50 to charity, we should spend $55 on an organic tee made by labourers who are both paid fairly enough to send their kids to school etc and who will not suffer the side effects of the massive amounts of chemicals they and their environment will be exposed to in the process.
To really reduce your carbon footprint, buying local, buying high quality organics that you will keep a lifetime and reclying the old and beautiful are great steps.
I say 'ethical' and 'conscientious' because there is no one ideal way to produce and consume (and we do not live in an ideal world but rather one of constant struggle that is essentially our purpose for life). There is a way to consume that will influence business. There's a way to shop that is ethical because it aims for the ideal.
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