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Thursday 14 April 2011

My blog has moved!

To a whole new website . .

http://www.emmawaight.co.uk/website/

My old blog has been transferred over so it is all in one place

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Monday 4 April 2011

Ethical Fashion Resources

This list of resources includes some of the key texts that I have come across over the last two to three years. It doesn’t cover every area of ethical fashion as the selections are based on my own research interests. The main areas not covered are the ethics of wearing fur, and recycling/waste, although these areas are touched upon in some of the generalised books.

Books

Prehistoric Textiles. Barber, E.J.W. 1992, Princeton University Press


Information on early textiles, relevant to explore how textiles have been important in our lives for thousands of years.

Design for Sustainability: A practical approach. Bhamra, T. 2007, Gower Publishing


Covers sustainable design in general, covers the whole life cycle.

Eco-Chic: The Fashion Paradox. Black, S. 2008, Black Dog Publishing


Key ethical fashion text written by London College of Fashion professor, Sandy Black.

Future fashion: White Papers. Hoffman, L. 2007, Earth Pledge


Fantastic resource for ethical/sustainable fashion and textiles. Compilation of detailed academic papers covering most topics.

Sustainable Textiles: Life cycle and environmental impact. Blackburn, R.S. 2009, Woodhead Publishing in Textiles

Fantastic edited book of various journal papers. Extremely detailed and useful information, but book is very difficult to get hold of.

Environmental Life Cycle Analysis. D. F. Ciambrone 1997, CRC Press.

This is a very specific book for LCA, not needed for undergrads but useful for business or professional research purposes. Hard going without background knowledge, but essential for anyone trying to compile a comprehensive LCA.

Sustainable Fashion and Textiles: Design Journeys. Fletcher, K. 2008, Earthscan.

Fantastic book by Dr Kate Fletcher of London College of Fashion. Covers whole textile life cycle, really useful read.

The Textile Book. Gale, C.; Kaur, J. 2002, Berg


Puts textiles into a social and creative context. Great final chapter called, ‘Ecology’ which covers ethical issues.

Ecological Intelligence, Knowing the Hidden Impacts of What We Buy. Goleman, D.
2009, Penguin Group

A great read on consumption and ethics in general. Detailed discussion on LCA.

Sustainable Fashion, Why Now? Hethorn, J.; Ulasewicz, C. 2008, Fairchild Books


A collection of critical essays, fantastic. Something for everyone.

Ethics in the Fashion Industry. Hillery, J.L.; Paulins, V.A. 2009, Fairchild Books


A slightly different angle on ethics, concerns more the decisions that fashion professionals have to make. Retail/human perspective.

The Apparel Industry. Jones, R.M. 2006, Blackwell Publishing


Not specifically from an ethical angle, but a detailed look at the global clothing industry including a chapter on UK production, labour issues, offshore production and trade barriers.

Eco Chic: The Savvy Shoppers Guide to Ethical Fashion. Lee, M.; Hamnett, K. 2007, Octopus Publishing.


Nice read, good background info but not an academic text.

The Travels of a T-shirt in the Global Economy. Rivoli, P. 2006, John Wiley & Sons


As the title says. Very interesting look at production stage from cotton farms to consumer.

Slaves to Fashion. Ross, R. 2004, The University of Michigan Press


American perspective, history and impact of sweatshop labour. Essential for labour studies.

Explaining Environmentalism: In search of a new social movement. Sutton, P.W. 2000, Ashgate Publishing


Provides theoretical basis to justify ethical fashion perspectives.

Trigger Issues: T-shirt. Wells, T. 2007, New Internationalist Publications


Ethical issues in producing a cotton t-shirt, pesticide use, sweatshops.

Eco Fashion. Brown, S. 2010, Laurence King


A catalogue of ethical designers, great resource for case studies.

Making Sweatshops: The globalisation of the US apparel industry. Rosen, E. 2002, University of California Press


An historical analysis of the US clothing industry and the rise of sweatshops.

Reports

Environmental Assessment of Textiles. 2007, Danish Environmental Protection Agency

Scientific study, only needed for detailed assessment.

Public Understanding of Sustainable Clothing: A report to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Cooper, T.; Fisher, T.; Goworek, H.; Hiller, A.; Woodward. 2008, Defra

Defra report, very useful for consumer study data.

Ethical Clothing. Mintel, 2009, Mintel Group

Respected market research, look out for future updated reports.

Are We Well Dressed? Allwood, J.M.; Broken, N.M.P.; Laursen, S.E.; Rodriguez, C.M. 2006, University of Cambridge.

Excellent reference report looking at UK textile industry and LCA for different products.

Fashioning the Future. 2008, Centre for Sustainable Fashion, London College of Fashion

Documents the debates raised from a conference, therefore more of a conversation amongst key representatives than an informative report.

Fashioning Sustainability. 2007, Forum for the Future

A useful and very readable summary of all ethical fashion issues.

Websites

http://www.ethicalfashionforum.com/

A fab source for resources, designers and events.

http://www.fashioninganethicalindustry.org/

http://www.labourbehindthelabel.org/

http://www.pan-uk.org/

http://www.forumforthefuture.org/

http://www.sustainable-fashion.com/

http://www.waronwant.org/

http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/products/cotton/default.aspx

http://slowtextiles.org/

http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-clothing/fur.aspx

http://www.trackmyt.com/

http://www.soilassociation.org/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/thread/

http://www.ecochiccollection.co.uk/magazine/

http://www.ecofashionworld.com/

http://www.offsetwarehouse.com/

http://www.peopletree.co.uk/

I haven’t included a list of journal articles because I would only be able to list specific papers that I have used, missing many out. Newspapers, magazines and trade magazines also have helpful news stories, especially Drapers.

If you know of any other key resources please let me know! Leave your additions as a comment below, this list certainly isn’t exhaustive.