A-Z of Ethical Fashion | Part Two

A couple of weeks ago, I shared the first half of my A-Z of ethical fashion, a collection of my ramblings on 26 topics surrounding sustainability and fashion. I could ramble on for thousands of words about each and every one, but ain’t nobody got time for that. So here’s a little intro into some more areas that you can delve into deeper if they peak your interest - keep educating yourself, as the weird and wonderful world of ethical fashion is growing and changing on a daily basis - here’s some resources if you need a bit of direction.

I’ve covered A-M, now for N-Z - let’s go!

N - Natural

When we think about sustainable fashion, the image in our heads is often one of soft, flowing fabrics, breeze blowing through cotton fields being picked by happy farmers, beautiful people wearing crisp linen shirts and maybe even cool, futuristic eco-fabrics made from hemp, mushrooms and pineapples. What I’m talking about here is natural fibres.

I often recommend that people look for natural fibres over synthetic ones when they’re out shopping, because these materials are biodegradable so they won’t last centuries in landfill like polyester and other plastic-based fibres. So we need to just stop wearing polyester and start wearing cotton, right?

Unfortunately, in sustainability, nothing is ever simple. But to simplify to just this issue of cotton - it’s not necessarily the all-natural ethical material you think it is. From pesticides destroying ecosystems to water irrigation drying up the Aral Sea to cheap labour creating a suicide epidemic, cotton is a thirsty crop with a murky dark side. Take a look at this blog post on killer cotton to find out more.

O - Organic

Related to the natural fibres arena is organic, a term used to describe crops which are farmed without the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, or other artificial chemicals. Organic certifications also limit genetic modification of crops.

When it comes to a material like cotton, heavily used by the fashion industry (around 75% of all clothes contain some proportion of cotton), growing the fibres conventionally as opposed to organically damages the soil, water sources and animal habitats, not only in the immediate field but across the surrounding land. Chemicals used in conventional cotton growth can also threaten the health of those working on the farm.

Conventional cotton uses about 16% of the world’s insecticides and 7% of pesticides, and uses around 2,500 litres of water to grow enough fibre for one single t-shirt - so switching the fashion industry over to organic would have a monumental impact on the environment.

Look for the Soil Association logo, the EU organic logo or GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) certification when you’re shopping for clothes or other textiles like bed linen and towels. Here is a great list of organic fashion and textiles brands.

P - Plastic

Ah, the Big P. Since David Attenborough’s Blue Planet effect took hold, I can’t scroll on social media without seeing someone talking about plastic - usually of the single-use variety. We’re encouraged to cut all packaging out of our lives, shop at zero-waste bulk-buy stores (pretty impossible if you’re on a Lidl budget or don’t live in a major city), and we’re told to buy reusable water bottles, coffee cups, straws, jars and tote bags (consumption won’t solve the climate crisis by the way, but more on that another time).

But what about the plastic we’re wearing? In the global fight against plastic, it seems that we’ve forgotten that polyester (and nylon, PVC, acrylic, elastane…) is plastic! 60% of our clothes are made from the stuff - yep, the exact same petrochemical that our carrier bags, water bottles and drinking straws are made from.

What’s more, we’re shopping online more than ever, with our shiny new ASOS (or insert-any-fashion-retailer-here) parcels arriving in shiny new plastic. We’re drowning in single-use packaging, but we accept it all for the convenience of next-day delivery and hedonistic thrill of instant outfit gratification.

As I’ll touch on in the next point, we need to demand better. So why not ask ASOS, or your fave fashion retailer (because the burden is on them, not you!), why they are still using virgin polyester? And why aren’t they using recycled/recyclable/biodegradable packaging?

Q - Question

Finally, the sustainable fashion conversation is finally moving away from blaming and shaming consumers. I think it’s really important to make it clear that there is nothing wrong with loving fashion and dressing up and looking good and being on trend. There is also nothing wrong with buying clothing from a fast fashion or high street brand - if you’re buying it because you LOVE it, and you know you’re going to wear it at least 30 times and make it last as long as possible. Controversial ethical fashion blogger statement!

The problem is, when we part with our hard-earned cash buy from such a brand, we are sending them a message that we support what they do, and there is no need for them to change their status quo because we have ‘voted’ for them with our wallet. So if you love a brand’s designs, why not ask them a couple of questions, to make it clear that they need to be answerable to your ethics. Start with “who made my clothes?”, and move on to “are those people paid a living wage?” and “do they have a right to unionise?” Then maybe ask “what’s in my clothes?” to find out about the brand’s investment in sustainable alternatives to their fabrics, and you could even probe into “what happens to your unsold stock and unused fabrics?” If you don’t like the answer, or you don’t get one, that tells you all you need to know about the brand’s ethics.

Hit up Fashion Revolution for loads of advice and free templates detailing how to analyse and interrogate fashion brands - it’s easier than you think.

R - Revolution

As you may know, for the past couple of years I’ve been volunteering for Fashion Revolution, the global movement towards a fairer fashion industry for all. Here, I am part of the Scottish team, where we organise and promote community events and campaigns to spread awareness about the impact of the fashion industry and the ethical alternatives.

I recommend anyone, anywhere to join the fashion revolution - you could do this by following them on Instagram or reading their blog, you can attend their events, you can volunteer with your country’s team, you can become a student ambassador, you can donate to the organisation, and you can use your voice online to take action.

PS. If you’re Scotland based - check us out at Fashion Revolution Scotland!

S - Second Hand

The clothing resale market is exponentially on the rise - isn’t that amazing? Gone are the days of ‘didn’t someone die in this?’ or ‘hand-me-downs are for poor people’ - second-hand fashion is officially cool, and that’s great news for the planet, as it saves clothes from landfill and stops new resources being wasted.

It’s no secret that I am OBSESSED with second-hand fashion. Read my post on Second Hand September to find out why. My favourite way to buy second-hand is undoubtedly charity shops. I can spend literally hours hunting through the rails in Edinburgh’s cornucopia of incredible thrift stores. It’s the most affordable way to shop, lets you support some great charities and in my humble opinion, makes your style way more interesting than it would if you shopped on the high street. But I know the Saturday slog down the high street isn’t for everyone - so here’s some more great second-hand platforms:

Depop - a brilliant app filled with on-trend and edgy garbs. Great for selling too - here is my Depop profile where I’m selling some sustainable brands.
Ebay - the ultimate resale platform; a vast treasure trove of second-hand and vintage fashion. Not for the faint hearted - get your bidding war head on and start sniping!
If luxury fashion is your thing, try Vestiaire Collective
Local vintage boutiques - Edinburgh has some fabulous ones like Armstrongs, Herman Brown and Carnivàle.
Vintage fairs like Judy’s Affordable Vintage Fair or head to a ‘Kilo Sale’ to shop by weight (my personal fave!)
Online vintage sellers (here is a list of some fabulous online vintage brands)
Take part in a clothes swap! Or better yet, swap and borrow and donate clothing amongst your friends and family - that’s basically how my flatmate and I get dressed for any given event!

T - Transparency

How can a fashion brand make change in its supply chain if it doesn’t even know what’s going on in its supply chain? Unfortunately, large corporations often have supply chains so complex and international they have lost the ‘thread’ so to speak, with hundreds of different production facilities (many of which are outsourced by the manufacturers themselves to subcontractors) and thousands of different products made from thousands of different components.

So the first step for any fashion brand wanting to be more ethical and sustainable is to trace back their supply chain to the very source - in other words, from seed to store. Companies like Provenance exist to help fashion retailers achieve this traceability.

Then, the next step is transparency - communicating the various links in the supply chain to the shopper, so we can make informed decisions as conscious consumers. Brands like Know The Origin and Everlane offer supply chain transparency to the consumer in really great ways. This is a hugely important part of being an ethical brand - the ethical ratings app Good On You rates several brands as ‘very poor’ purely on the grounds that:

“X brand provides insufficient relevant information about how it reduces its impact on people, the planet or animals. You have a right to know how the products you buy affect the issues you care about.”

Traceability leads to transparency. Transparency leads to accountability. Accountability leads to change.

U - Unions

According to Fashion Revolution, over 90% of workers in the global garment industry have no possibility to negotiate their wages or conditions, and 80% of countries have violated the right to collective bargaining.

These are human rights abuses - and as fashion consumers, we need to be aware of this problem. The fashion industry at large needs to put garment worker rights as a number one priority, now. And governments around the world need to support all workers’ legal rights to association, unionisation and collective bargaining.

Here’s a great blog on why unions matter in the fashion industry.

V - Vegan

Vegan fashion is a hot topic right now. But while I am all for cruelty-free fashion (long-term proud veggie/wannabe vegan over here - my only ‘new’ leather item is some 3-year-old Doc Martens!), I worry that we are confusing ‘vegan’ with ‘ethical’ or ‘sustainable’. Unfortunately the faux leather, faux exotic skin and faux fur alternatives are largely made from plastics like PVC, which create monstrous environmental damage, impacting millions more animal species than the ‘real thing’ would.

It’s also important to remember that the label of ‘vegan’ added to a plastic watch, cotton t-shirt or polyester dress means nothing - these items were always ‘vegan’, the new label is just a marketing ploy to attract an ethical consumer to an otherwise fast fashion brand.

Sophie Benson wrote a brilliant piece on the ethical dilemma of second hand animal products that’s well worth a read too. (I also just realised she did an 'A-Z of sustainable fashion’ last year which is fantastic - unlike mine, its short, sweet and action-based - go, read, be inspired.)

Some recent good news headlines in the vegan fashion sphere to cheer up my cynical ramblings: the OG animal-friendly fashion designer Stella McCartney has just launched a sustainable vegan fur collection made entirely from plants, not plastic - brilliant news for faux fur coat lovers. Accessories brand Samara has just created a collection with leather made from apple skins, and other great ‘leather’ alternatives include Pinatex, made from pineapple, and Muskin, made from mushrooms. Recycled leather is another great option to look out for - try Been London for beautiful bags made from some incredible reclaimed materials.

And if you’re looking for vegan fashion that protects animals along with people and the environment, try out Treen, a fabulous local retailer with an amazing selection of ethical vegan fashion brands, or head to the vegan section of sustainable fashion search platform Compare Ethics.

W - Whitewashing

I am white. So naturally, my content is white-washed. I view the world through a white lens. But this has to change - sustainable fashion needs to embrace diversity and listen to non-white voices. From all-white panel discussions to all-white protest actions to all-white fashion campaigns, the industry presents us with a singular, privileged, non-inclusive vision of sustainability.

I recommend following fashion writer and consultant Aja Barber to get educated on racial issues in the industry. Start with this post. And subscribe to her Patreon for in-depth analysis. Follow local ethical fashion blogger and climate activist Mikaela Loach too - she writes beautifully about sustainability and inclusivity.

X - Xenophobia

OK, I admit it, X is a stretch in any A-Z. But xenophobia is still relevant in ethical fashion, and that’s because I believe a huge part of the problem of Western society’s continuing obsession with brands who commit social and environmental atrocities on a daily basis is that we view the countries in which our clothing is grown and sewn as ‘other’. We don’t connect with cotton farmers, or garment workers, or those living amongst our masses of important textile waste, because they seem too far away, too different from us.

There is a huge level of cognitive dissonance - we bury our heads in the sand and ignore the human rights abuses in the fashion industry, and we assume the impact of climate breakdown won’t affect us, it will happen ‘somewhere else’. Perhaps a mental shift might happen once we start to see those on the ‘other side of the world’ as people just like us, with just the same hopes and fears. Next time you get dressed, take a look at the label - maybe it says ‘Made in Bangladesh’. Can you picture the factory? The seamstress? The home she lives in? What does she think about fast fashion? If you find this difficult, watch The True Cost on Netflix to make the connection.

Y - Young People

If you haven’t heard of 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg and her ‘school strikes for climate’, what rock have you been living under?

Over the past few years, there has been a massive wave of mobilised young people making their voices heard in the movement for sustainability. As a 22-year-old, I am proud that so many of my peers care about the future of our planet and are taking action against the climate emergency, in every industry, not just fashion.

But as 19-year-old sustainability blogger and Extinction Rebellion activist Tolmeia Gregory regularly points out, we shouldn’t depend on youth activists, or feel ‘proud’ of them, we should feel ashamed that they are necessary in the first place. So adults, old folk - join the young people in protesting governments and corporations - all generations need to unite to shift the balance.

Z - Zero Waste

Last but not least, let’s talk zero-waste.

It’s easy to grasp the concept when it comes to things like tupperware boxes and mason jars, and avoiding single-use plastics when you’re out and about - but what about zero-waste fashion? For me, minimising waste in your wardrobe has three key pillars:

Design and manufacturing stage | Around 15-20% of fabric used in clothing production winds up as waste - but designers and manufacturers can ‘design waste out’ of clothing by using zero-waste pattern cutting techniques and clever silhouettes. They could also use that 15-20% leftover fabric to make accessories, like hair scrunchies and make-up pouches.
Retail stage | Retailers often overstock way too many products and get thousands of off-season returns that simply end up in the sale rails, or worse, get sent to landfill or burned - there is a huge unsold stock problem in the fashion industry. Smart buying & small-batch merchandising can help retailers to only hold what their customers will buy, and made-to-order business models are a great way to minimise waste. Packaging for online orders and in-store deliveries is another area that retailers can help make fashion zero-waste, or at the very least zero-plastic.
Wear stage | We waste a lot of what is already in our wardrobes - in fact, Fashion United claim we don’t even wear at least 50% of what we own. This problem could be solved by creating a versatile capsule wardrobe - give Uncomplicated Spaces a follow for inspiration, or by participating in clothing rental models like Rent the Runway or By Rotation to hire clothes for specific events rather than only wearing them once. Of course, the most important thing is to only buy what you need in the first place. Buy less, choose well, and make it last!

That’s my A-Z of ethical fashion (letters A-M are here)! I hope you found it useful as a very brief overview of some of the key issues to start getting educated on. My DMs are always open for any guidance you need to get started on your ethical fashion journey - let’s connect on Instagram and keep the conversation going.

Outfit details

Jumpsuit: Lucy & Yak (#gifted)
Bag: Matt & Nat
Earrings: People Tree
Shoes: Converse
Sunglasses: Sum Company

Photos by Aglaé Zebrowski