Fashion & Ethics – A Brand New Partnership
Here’s the thing about myself and fashion : we do not click. We do not get along well. You can’t put me and fashion in the same sentence.
I wasn’t one who’d buy fashion magazines and indulge into ooohing and aaahing over the latest releases or lines of established and would be designers. I’d rather help myself with a John Grisham suspense thriller or a Jodi Picoult tear jerker than go gaga over featured accessories that all look the same to me. You’d never see me reaching out for glossy magazines to check what Angelina Jolie wore during the Academy Awards or what Nicole Kidman donned during the Oscars. Whether they were hot stuff or not doesn’t appeal to me. Who and what motion picture bagged the Bests awards and whose speech was the most electrifying are what I’m curious about.
But recently, it appears that we, that is, fashion and I, are slowly working things out. It all started with 3 words, ethical is Fashionable. Yes, you read it right. Fashion’s new partner is indeed ethics. You don’t quite get it? Same here. I did have a tough time understanding it too, the first time I saw it. How can fashion, a free spirit, ever hook up with a harsh and stifling character, ethics. A very unlikely pair, isn’t it?
A particularly fascinating one, too. The ‘ethical is fashionable’ scheme is slowly gaining momentum. Some view this as a methodology still to gain recognition amongst clothing firms to launch themselves into the conventional fashion scene. Think fair competition and trade. Others believe that this is actually a drive towards a more respondent and responsible fashion industry, thinking less of what designers and outlets want to produce and more of what the clients like and demand which hopefully will translate into less surplus and less production waste.
Whichever stand you decide to protect doesn’t matter. The more important thing to think about here is what’s being done in the light of this campaign. The ethical is fashionable scheme is bringing products that used to be considered non marketable to full view. Take for instance crochets and knits and other hand-crafted goods which are pulling in millions of bucks.
What’s happened to the claims that these are unprofitable? The point is kind of straightforward and it has for some time been gazing at us : there is a gradual shift occuring in the world of fashion. What used to be a constrictive and inclusive play ground for huge firms is beginning to become more accessible to small businesses. Thanks to the more informed and more responsible patrons who have spotted that fashion is not just about having the newest and hottest item there is . Fashion is also about choice, intellectual ones. It includes : caring about beginning business ventures, giving them an opportunity to break in the rather monopolized industry and supporting firms who give back to their workers.
One of my favourite brands right now is Ginger & Smart. A great example of an ethical brand.
People caring for folk. People caring for the environment. And folk looking good. At what point did fashion become this exciting! Ethical is indeed fashionable.
So go have a look at Ginger and Smart Dress and do your bit for ethical fashion.
Tags: clothes, Fashion, Ginger & Smart, Ginger and Smart, Ginger and Smart Clothing, Ginger and Smart Fashion