why ethical fashion?

Anyone who knows me knows that I love to shop. 

I'm not claiming to be a fashionista, I just have a love of all thing pretty.

However...

Studying international relations has highlighted some gaps between what I do and what I believe.

Should my enjoyment of style come at the expense of less fortunate people on the other side of the world?

And of the environment?

These questions are not new,

I've thought about them for years.

But...

 ethics and fashion have begun to line up.

Not long ago ethical fashion was about linen shirts and shapeless clothes

(I don't have anything against linen but I want more variety)

Designers have started looking at the way fashion happens and started listening to the voice that says this isn't right (or the consumer that says this isn't right)

I'm not saying making ethical choices is easy,

But with more options out there and high street stores starting to stock ethical alternatives,

I have the opportunity to make the right choices.

The choices that...

give the women who sewed my shirt a decent wage,

don't pollute the environment with harmful products,

don't cause me to throw things away soon after buying them.

So I'm going to go on a bit of a journey...

I'm going to try to make informed choices about what I purchase

I'll ask...

Where did this come from?

Did the person making this get a fair wage?

Were they working in good conditions?

What was used to make this?

Was it grown/manufactured in a way that was harmful to the locality?

Will this last long enough to make it worth the resources used to make it?

etc...

I'm not promising to find all the answers,

I'm hoping to discover a new way of doing style that is in sync with my ethics.