CULTURE
-----------------------------------------Well Fashioned: Where Ethics and Style Collide
-----------------------------------------
Apparently, Londoners are top of the tree when it comes to organic and fair-trade purchases. These days your shopping basket not only reflects your dietary habits but hints at your ethics too. And it doesn't stop there - we are officially in the Age of Aquarius - a time for humanity, enlightenment and spending your well-earned dosh in an eco-friendly, ethical manner.
While we've embraced the likes of fair trade nosh, recycling and organic produce - fashion seems to have trailed behind. Somehow, instant associations with itchy fabrics in dull as dishwater colours have lingered, but there are some distinct signs that the tide is turning within the industry.
At the top end of the scale designers such as Stella McCartney, Boudicca and Marcus Wilmont are incorporating Ingeo fibre - created from 100% renewable resources - into their collections. Meanwhile, the high street seems good and ready to bring fair-trade threads to the masses. For fashion staples such as jeans, shrunken jackets and t-shirts that tick all those fair play boxes check out Oasis, Marks & Spencer and TopShop - all with new lines now in store.
All well and good, but is this just a marketing ploy to give consumers exactly what they want? After all, for mass produced fashion to quickly turn a profit surely there has to be a few corners cut along the way? While consumers are finally questioning where and how the products they buy into are produced the industry has some way to go before it can be awarded with that 'ethically sound' tag.
Ask fashion designer Katherine Hamnett, as she has been campaigning for the use of organic cotton for several years now: "It is appalling that our drive for cheap clothing depends on slave labour in developing countries. Non-organic cotton is produced in a way that causes great damage to the environment. It cannot be sustained without high levels of synthetic fertilisers and pesticides. Pesticides Kill. They can be fatal to the people who spray them on the cotton that is used to make our clothes, it causes nervous disorders, liver disease and cancer," comments Hamnett.
If that wasn't enough - a study by a dermatological institute in Tuscany showed that chemicals used in fabrics provoke approximately 10% of contact allergies.
The harsh reality is that an estimated that 20,000 people die each year in developing countries as a result of sprays used on non-organic cotton. In addition, at least 8'000 chemicals are used to produce textiles, some of which are harmful to human health and wildlife. And this is only the tip of the iceberg. While a move towards organic and fair trade is definitely a step in the right direction the bigger picture is still full of inconstancies and worrying statistics.
Feel the need to know more when it comes to environmentally aware fashion choices? Then check out this food for thought exhibition: Well Fashioned: Eco Style in the UK. Created in association with the Crafts Council, Well Fashioned explores green style from a variety of angles. Along with showcasing 20 pioneering labels ranging from multi-functional streetwear to recycled eveningwear, the exhibition advises on how we can all buy, wash and dispose of clothes in an ethical and ecological manner.
Another aim of this exhibition, curated by Rebecca Earley, is to demonstrate how innovative, stylish and inspiring eco design can be. Forget those stereotypes of old - green fashion has moved on - and so should we.
Well Fashioned: Eco Style in the UK is on at the Crafts Council Gallery, 44a, Pentonville Road, London N1. Nearest tube station: Angel. Until 4th June 2006 and will be touring the UK thereafter.
For more info visit: www.craftscouncil.org.uk
To check out labels that use ecologically sound fabrics visit:
www.soilassociation.org
www.peopletree.co.uk
www.antiapathy.org
www.edun.ie
www.enamore.co.uk
www.junkystyling.co.uk
While we've embraced the likes of fair trade nosh, recycling and organic produce - fashion seems to have trailed behind. Somehow, instant associations with itchy fabrics in dull as dishwater colours have lingered, but there are some distinct signs that the tide is turning within the industry.
At the top end of the scale designers such as Stella McCartney, Boudicca and Marcus Wilmont are incorporating Ingeo fibre - created from 100% renewable resources - into their collections. Meanwhile, the high street seems good and ready to bring fair-trade threads to the masses. For fashion staples such as jeans, shrunken jackets and t-shirts that tick all those fair play boxes check out Oasis, Marks & Spencer and TopShop - all with new lines now in store.
All well and good, but is this just a marketing ploy to give consumers exactly what they want? After all, for mass produced fashion to quickly turn a profit surely there has to be a few corners cut along the way? While consumers are finally questioning where and how the products they buy into are produced the industry has some way to go before it can be awarded with that 'ethically sound' tag.
Ask fashion designer Katherine Hamnett, as she has been campaigning for the use of organic cotton for several years now: "It is appalling that our drive for cheap clothing depends on slave labour in developing countries. Non-organic cotton is produced in a way that causes great damage to the environment. It cannot be sustained without high levels of synthetic fertilisers and pesticides. Pesticides Kill. They can be fatal to the people who spray them on the cotton that is used to make our clothes, it causes nervous disorders, liver disease and cancer," comments Hamnett.
If that wasn't enough - a study by a dermatological institute in Tuscany showed that chemicals used in fabrics provoke approximately 10% of contact allergies.
The harsh reality is that an estimated that 20,000 people die each year in developing countries as a result of sprays used on non-organic cotton. In addition, at least 8'000 chemicals are used to produce textiles, some of which are harmful to human health and wildlife. And this is only the tip of the iceberg. While a move towards organic and fair trade is definitely a step in the right direction the bigger picture is still full of inconstancies and worrying statistics.
Feel the need to know more when it comes to environmentally aware fashion choices? Then check out this food for thought exhibition: Well Fashioned: Eco Style in the UK. Created in association with the Crafts Council, Well Fashioned explores green style from a variety of angles. Along with showcasing 20 pioneering labels ranging from multi-functional streetwear to recycled eveningwear, the exhibition advises on how we can all buy, wash and dispose of clothes in an ethical and ecological manner.
Another aim of this exhibition, curated by Rebecca Earley, is to demonstrate how innovative, stylish and inspiring eco design can be. Forget those stereotypes of old - green fashion has moved on - and so should we.
Well Fashioned: Eco Style in the UK is on at the Crafts Council Gallery, 44a, Pentonville Road, London N1. Nearest tube station: Angel. Until 4th June 2006 and will be touring the UK thereafter.
For more info visit: www.craftscouncil.org.uk
To check out labels that use ecologically sound fabrics visit:
www.soilassociation.org
www.peopletree.co.uk
www.antiapathy.org
www.edun.ie
www.enamore.co.uk
www.junkystyling.co.uk
