We all love fashion & it’s so much fun. But it should also take care of mother earth as well as the people who work so hard behind those glamorous clothes. When we say ethical fashion brands, people usually think about brands that use organic raw materials or faux leather or the PETA definition of an ethical fashion brand. But it is much more than that. Technically ethical fashion represents an approach to the design, sourcing, and manufacture of clothing which maximizes benefits to people and communities while minimizing the impact on the environment. According to the Ethical Fashion Forum, the meaning of ethical fashion goes beyond doing no harm, representing an approach which strives to take an active role in poverty reduction, sustainable livelihood creation, minimizing and counteracting environmental concerns.
But, why has Ethical Fashion suddenly become so popular?
Ethical fashion has long been a part of the industry but it was widely called Eco-Friendly fashion before. It wasn’t until the Rana Plaza collapse tragedy in Bangladesh in 2013 tragedy killed over 1,100 garment workers in Bangladesh and wounded over 2,200 more that drew attention to the importance of Ethical & fair trade fashion. The incident left millions of consumers around the world questioning major fast fashion brands about who makes the clothes that we wear every day and the kind of conditions these workers live and work in. This actually led to the rise & popularity of ethically conscious fashion brands.
Coming back to the fun side of fashion, check out these 8 fabulous ethical fashion brands are totally trendy & worth every penny.
Everlane
Everlane is an online retailer that is all about transparency. They spend months finding the best factories around the world and that too ones that manufacture products for our favorite fashion brands. They then build strong relationships with the factory owners to ensure the factory's integrity and to maintain all ethical production practices during every step of the process. They believe that customers have the right to know the exact cost of manufacturing the product as well as where were they made. They reveal the true costs and share the factory and production stories behind every piece of clothing. Check them out at https://www.everlane.com/
Stella McCartney is one of the biggest players in the sustainable fashion sector. The company is always looking for new and better ways to be more sustainable as it feels responsible for all those resources that it uses and the impact its activities have on the planet. This sense of responsibility and thinking is also present when they design their collections, manufacture the clothes and open new stores.
All the Stella McCartney stores, offices and studios in the United Kingdom are powered by wind energy and in other countries, they use renewable energy to power their stores and offices to the extent that 45% of their operations are run on 100% renewable energy. Equally interesting is that in all the Stella McCartney‘s collections, they use as much organic cotton as possible and continue to research to find new eco-friendly materials and ecological processes.
People Tree is well recognized by customers and the fashion industry as a pioneer in Fair Trade and sustainable fashion. For over 20 years, People Tree has partnered with various fair trade artisans and farmers in the developing countries to produce a collection of ethical and eco fashion.
Founded by Britt Cosgrove and Marina Polo, SVILU is a sustainable fashion brand that seeks to re-address the fundamentals of a woman's wardrobe by offering environmentally sustainable and socially sensitive fashion staples for modern-day dressing. Mindfully sourced and locally produced pieces are based on styles that endure the ebb and flow of trends. The clothes help set a woman apart without speaking louder than she does.
Symbology is a brand that envisions fashion as a platform to empower populations, preserve traditional textile arts and connect women worldwide. The ethical fashion label fuses artisan textiles that are made in India with fashion-forward designs in order to create authentic, one-of-a-kind collection.
MadeFAIR is the one-stop shop for sustainable, ethical and Certified Fair Trade clothing and accessories. They know that the decision to buy ethically-made products takes an impressive amount of awareness to click past the stream of all those fast fashion advertisements. They have put together a chic and fashionable collection of sustainable clothing that won't make you compromise your morals as well as your style.
FREEDOM OF ANIMALS is a sustainable and cruelty-free luxury bag brand. Their products are made with the highest quality cruelty-free materials to create sleek, versatile and sophisticated pieces. Founded in 2013, their mission is to provide the customers with unique and purposeful designs that comply with ethical practices.
Kowtow is a New Zealand brand that produces minimalist pieces with a touch of androgyny about them. Clever cuts and takes on volume in their designs make a unique collection. Kowtow only produces fair trade, organic clothing that is ethically and sustainably made all the way from the seed to the garment.
Ethical fashion is literally the best thing to happen to the fashion industry in the last few years. And I personally feel that the first step towards a better future of fashion is to understand the concept of sustainability & fair trade.
What are your thoughts on ethical fashion? Do let me know in the comments below.
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