Month: April 2015

After discovering more about what makes clothes ethical I was interested in how my two favourite high street stores (Fatface and White Stuff) fair in the ethical stakes. I sent both of them emails asking:

1. Would you consider yourself an ‘ethical’ company?
2. Where are the majority of your clothes made?
3. Do you use organic cotton?

Both companies replied pretty quickly.

Fatface, which scores 85/100 on the Good Shopping Guide, answered that they follow the Ethical Trading Initiative’s base code, are members of Accord and are continuously driving change in their supply chain in a ‘practical and specific way on the ground with their supply partners’ (I’m not entirely sure what this means!). They said that 42% of their clothes are made in India and they don’t use organic cotton at the moment.

White Stuff, scores 67/100 on the Good Shopping Guide, replied that they are active members of the Ethical Trading Initiative and as members commit to conducting their business in the following way:

.         Demonstrating a clear commitment to ethical trade
·         Integrating ethical trade into our core business practices
·         Driving year-on-year improvements to working conditions
·         Supporting suppliers to improve working conditions

They source the majority of their clothes from China, India, Portugal and Turkey, and regularly visit each factory to check working conditions. They are looking at their cotton sourcing to identify how to be more sustainable in this area, and they said they are passionate that the choices they make are the right ones. They pointed me here for more.

I definitely felt like White Stuff gave me a bit more than the corporate answers and from reading more they do seem to be a company with a conscience. I particularly love that they give their employees two paid days of to volunteer in their communities – more companies should do this!

I’ve learnt that it is pretty difficult to shop ethical on the high-street. No company seems to tick all the boxes but there does seem to be lots of movement towards better working practices. Of course if you want to be completely safe, online options like People Tree and Liv are great sustainable and fair trade companies who come top of all the ethical charts, however I might have to wait for a sale to shop at either of them!

I suppose the main thing I’ve learnt is to choose companies that are moving in the right direction. I will choose sustainable and organic fabrics where possible and take an interest in who is actually making my clothes. 

Next week I’ll be tackling my own wardrobe and seeing how I can be more ethical with what I already own.

What makes my clothes ethical? 
So this month I’m trying to make a change when it comes to buying clothes. There are lots of issues to consider including animal rights (silk, leather, wool, fur) and product sustainability. The two main issues I’m going to focus on are ‘cotton’ and ‘supply chain management’ since they feel like they resonate most with me.

Cotton
The majority of my clothes are cotton so I figured it’s probably good to know a bit about it. Cotton is a huge world crop (around 2.5% of the world’s cultivated land) much of this uses pesticides in it’s growth. I’m no gardener but I know pesticides kill ‘pests’ so they’re pretty nasty! They can pollute the air and water, damaging habitats and finally ending up on our clothes as an irritant. The ethical world’s answer to this is organic cotton, this is grown without been genetically modified or using pesticides. Organic cotton seems to be becoming more common with shops like Zara, H&M and M&S producing their own organic lines.

Supply chain management
The collapse of a Bangladesh factory in 2013 put the spotlight back on big companies who source low-paid workers often working in poor conditions. There were lots of calls to boycott clothes made in Bangladesh and other countries where poor practices were happening. I’m not sure how I feel about this and would love to hear your comments. Clearly the clothing industry is one that provides work for many in some of the world’s poorest countries. Boycotting companies who source workers here seems to me to have the potential of causing further oppression. I believe it’s more important to find companies who prioritise fair pay and humane working conditions and choose to spend my money there. For example H&M are working towards improved pay structures for fair living wages by 2018. This will affect around 850,000 textile workers, you can read about it here.

Shopping on the high street
So I know to look for organic cotton and for companies who are cleaning up their supply chain but who are they on the high street? H&M profile their ‘Conscious’ range which is organic though I found it pretty difficult to find in the store, it could definitely be labelled more clearly. They launch their new range this week and are aiming for all their cotton to be organic, recycled or ‘better’ by 2020 so they seem to be moving in the right direction. Similarly M&S is worth noting as a company that is working hard to be more sustainable. They are aiming for 50% of their cotton to be sustainable by 2020 so not quite as impressive. Both of the above are working extensively to clean up their supply chain.

This was all well and good knowing but what I really want to know is how do the places where I currently spend my money fair in the ethical stakes? I’ll be getting in touch with them this week and will let you know how I get on!

What makes my clothes ethical? 
So this month I’m trying to make a change when it comes to buying clothes. There are lots of issues to consider including animal rights (silk, leather, wool, fur) and product sustainability. The two main issues I’m going to focus on are ‘cotton’ and ‘supply chain management’ since they feel like they resonate most with me.

Cotton
The majority of my clothes are cotton so I figured it’s probably good to know a bit about it. Cotton is a huge world crop (around 2.5% of the world’s cultivated land) much of this uses pesticides in it’s growth. I’m no gardener but I know pesticides kill ‘pests’ so they’re pretty nasty! They can pollute the air and water, damaging habitats and finally ending up on our clothes as an irritant. The ethical world’s answer to this is organic cotton, this is grown without been genetically modified or using pesticides. Organic cotton seems to be becoming more common with shops like Zara, H&M and M&S producing their own organic lines.

Supply chain management
The collapse of a Bangladesh factory in 2013 put the spotlight back on big companies who source low-paid workers often working in poor conditions. There were lots of calls to boycott clothes made in Bangladesh and other countries where poor practices were happening. I’m not sure how I feel about this and would love to hear your comments. Clearly the clothing industry is one that provides work for many in some of the world’s poorest countries. Boycotting companies who source workers here seems to me to have the potential of causing further oppression. I believe it’s more important to find companies who prioritise fair pay and humane working conditions and choose to spend my money there. For example H&M are working towards improved pay structures for fair living wages by 2018. This will affect around 850,000 textile workers, you can read about it here.

Shopping on the high street
So I know to look for organic cotton and for companies who are cleaning up their supply chain but who are they on the high street? H&M profile their ‘Conscious’ range which is organic though I found it pretty difficult to find in the store, it could definitely be labelled more clearly. They launch their new range this week and are aiming for all their cotton to be organic, recycled or ‘better’ by 2020 so they seem to be moving in the right direction. Similarly M&S is worth noting as a company that is working hard to be more sustainable. They are aiming for 50% of their cotton to be sustainable by 2020 so not quite as impressive. Both of the above are working extensively to clean up their supply chain.

This was all well and good knowing but what I really want to know is how do the places where I currently spend my money fair in the ethical stakes? I’ll be getting in touch with them this week and will let you know how I get on!