Evolution of Fashion ... Looks Good to Me :)

When I first started doing Fair Trade fashion 7 years ago, it was a time when it was difficult to source organic cotton, it wasn’t fashionable to op shop and up-cycling fashion was not a thing.

But how things have changed! Within the last few years sustainability has become an increasingly mainstream topic of conversation. For example, now we have the following sustainability organisations paving the way for a more ethical fashion industry:

• Good On You: Is an ethical rating fashion app that rates clothing and accessories on their level of goodness. It gives power to the the customer, who can check brand ratings whilst they shop and discover ethical and sustainable fashion labels from around the world.

• The Fashion Advocate: Is a blog, movement and ethical fashion website, it is rated #17, as one of Australia’s top influencers.  The purpose of this business is about “sharing meaningful content ……. for positive social and environmental change“. 

• Eco Warrior Princess: In their own words it “is a media brand that is redefining what it means to live green”. This site is one of my favourites, I highly recommended going there for quality eco journalism.   

• The Fashion Revolution: Created as a response to raise awareness after the Rana Plaza factory tragedy in 2013. Each year in April, the group hosts Fashion Revolution Week and the #whomademyclothes campaign, which uses social media to petition fashion brands into providing supply chain information. It lets particularly big businesses know the consumer cares.  

• Redress: Started to address reduce textile waste in Asia. It has moved this to a global level by creating the ‘The Redress Design Award’, a global platform for young design talent— this year it received applications from 56 countries. “By going global, we can educate and then gather the brightest design minds from around the world and harness their creativity to create a global shift in the way we design, produce, consume and ultimately dispose of our clothes,” - Christina Dean (Founder of the Redress)

• Make Fashion Circular: Advocates for fashion to think in a circular economy mindset, were innovation is required to reduce waste and improve the longevity of clothing to avoid it becoming waste.

• Eco-Age: The Green Carpet Challenge that was initiated by Livia Firth, propelled ethical fashion into the global spotlight by partnering brands with celebrities for high-profile, media saturated events like the Met Gala and Cannes Film Festival.

• Sustainable Apparel Coalition: A group that evaluate the whole industry on a unified set of standards. It is made up of over 220 institutions across the industry, including retailers, suppliers, trade associations, nonprofits and brands.

And this was just naming a few!!!!! ****Happy dance****

It’s become very competitive in the ethical and sustainable market and, people who are our target market are shopping less and up-cycling more.  Its really, really tough! But it is wonderful that this is happening 😊. So much has changed in my years as an ethical fashion producer and retailer and it inspires me to do it even better. 

Love,

Yvie xo.

Photo: I would like to thank the model @stephaniefairhall and photographer @purely_Visual_photography.  Model is Dressed our in house label Awear...Social Re-design.