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.

Oscars Dress

It’s a bit late, but after my post about Livia Firth’s Green Carpet Challenge in Jan (she set herself the challenge of wearing ethical clothes to every red carpet event through award season) I have to comment on the Oscars dress. She chose ethical couture designer Gary Harvey and the results were stunning. A floor length corseted creation in ivory, it was upcycled from 11 vintage frocks!

Survey Results

I got my MPhil survey results back months ago (how time flies!) and I’ve been busy analysing and drawing conclusions from them. The online survey was the second part of my MPhil methodology for the communicating ethical fashion project and I targeted individuals within the age range of 18 to 30 who either work or study at the University. Choosing the sample was hard enough because ideally I would have liked to have had a sample representative of the whole of the UK, but of course that would be near impossible for just myself to complete. The reason for choosing the sample I did was because I had easy access to this group, young people generally shop regularly, and they have a whole lifetime of shopping ahead of them. They can more easily be moulded perhaps . . . the new ‘sustainable’ generation.

I had 89 responses which I was slightly disappointed with, however that changed when I began analysing! I had to get to grips with statistical testing for the first time, something I am keen to get better at if I want a career in research. I coded qualitative answers into themes, worked out means, medians, calculated scores and compared variables. Although I had touched on many of these areas before, it was still a steep learning curve.

As expected, it is difficult to draw significant conclusions from a fairly small sample; there were certainly no statistically significant points to variable changes. However, it was encouraging to see a strong ethical agenda and environmental awareness. When it came to shopping for clothes, the majority were regular and engaged consumers. There is definitely potential there to lead them to greater tools of communication. I was surprised how many respondents had heard of a number of ethical brands, not just People Tree but the smaller brands too. That said, not many had shopped with these ethical brands. A fair number of respondents described ethical fashion as bland, unfashionable, expensive, or hippie-ish, not an unusual connotation but still frustrating as there are so many beautiful/cool ethical garments out there. There was a reasonable awareness of terms like ‘organic’ and ‘fairtrade’ which was great, but a lack of specific responses.

To be honest, consumers shouldn’t have to be the ones making sacrifices, all garments should be ethical.

Green Carpet Challenge

Livia Firth, eco-fashion pioneer and wife of Colin Firth, has started the ‘Green Carpet Challenge 2011’. Basically the idea is that whenever Livia has a red carpet event to attend with Colin, she will only wear ethical outfits. It’s a fantastic idea as it proves that ethical fashion can be just as glamorous and special as mainstream fashion. For the premiere of ‘The King’s Speech’ Livia wore a Junky Styling creation, a stylish black tailored dress up-cycled from one of Colin’s old suits! She will be wearing a Tussah silk Prophetik gown to the Golden Globes designed by Jeff Garner, but we will have to wait until Sunday to see what it looks like. It’s well worth following Livia’s vogue blog http://www.vogue.co.uk/blogs/livia-firth/default.aspx.

Talking of challenges, I have set myself the goal of not buying any brand new clothes this year, unless completely necessary. This will mean making use of what I have, and scouring the charity shops (which is great fun anyway). Time will tell as to how I define ‘necessary’!

If I do need to buy anything, Eco-Age the Chiswick store founded by Livia Firth, Orsola de Castro, Lucy Siegle and Jocelyn Whipple will no doubt relieve any feelings of guilt.

Offset Warehouse

Now, I need not be too disappointed about not finding any fabric at the EFF Sourcing Expo, because a new website solves all of those problems! The Offset Warehouse is an online space which brings together all of the elements to make ethical textile design easy. It is the first online business of its kind, focusing on ethical fabrics and haberdashery for the interiors and clothing market. Tracking down ethical materials is time consuming and confusing for many designers. Offset Warehouse eliminates the hassle by providing a one-stop shop for ethical fabrics and haberdashery, as well as an essential resource for designers, students and hobbyists. Plus I'm featured on the database as a researcher/writer! I will definitely be getting my fabrics from here in the future.

EFF Sourcing Expo

On Wednesday I went to the Ethical Fashion Forum - Ethical Sourcing Expo at Central Hall Westminster. I was helping out as a note taker for some of the seminars and got to have a good look around too. It had expanded greatly from last year's event, there were plenty of ethical fashion brands, accessories, materials and organisations exhibiting. I was hoping to source some ethical fabrics to make my own range, but was a little disappointed. There was not as much choice as I hoped, and the fabric available was generally wool or boring cottons, whereas I want pretty silks and bright colours to make underwear. Nevertheless, I came across a fair few new brands that I would like to shop with in the future and the seminars were helpful.

Monsoon Love

Monsoon sponsor Estethica, and have done so for years. They will soon be bringing out an ethical range of ethereal garments (lots of dresses) made from left over fabric from their main collections, and organic fabrics, as well as recycled glass beads. The completely white Love Monsoon Range 2011 will be in shops from feb next year and priced roughly around £120. Truely beautiful . .