Peace silk and sasawashi probably don’t feature in most people’s wardrobes, but are some of the newer fabrics being proposed as more ethical alternatives by fashion retailers. In fact eco advocate Livia Firth wore a dress made of luxuriously soft and natural milk fibre to this year’s Screen Actor’s Guild Awards, a fabric which has been around since the early 1900s but has only become popular recently, due to the production process being so expensive. Sales in the ethical fashion sector, have increased by over four fold in the last 5 years (ethicalconsumer.com). Designers are tackling the environmental effects clothing can have in increasingly innovative ways also, such as Emma Rigby, interviewed in this issue of Recognize, who has identified that a garment’s adverse impact on the environment is far greater post purchase due to the frequency with which we wash our clothing. She has therefore designed an interesting range of clothes which aim to encourage wearers to wash them less frequently due to the inherent natural qualities of the fabrics used and unique design features. Though wearing dark colours to hide soiling may not be to everyone’s taste, the philosophy of her design project is evidently admirable. However, ethical clothing still only accounts for under 1%of the total clothing sales in the UK per year. So what is currently on offer to the socially responsible shopper and what is being done to increase the options available to those wishing to make more eco choices in what they wear?
The UK high street has responded extremely positively to the increasing interest in fair trade and ethical clothing, with retailers such as Topshop, H&M, New Look and M&S amongst others, all producing their own organic cotton ranges. Topshop also stocks ethical brands such as Annie Greenabelle and People Tree. Topshop has itself collaborated with green designers such as Julia Smith and has recently announced an exciting project with ethical brand Goodone’s designer Nin Castle