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!