This is not my... Focus

Ethical clothing

It's not all tie-dye and canvas anymore...

It has been a big concern to me, the whole ethical clothing issue. I have it easy, though, in comparison to Lara. I occasionally have a propensity for brightly-coloured floaty items, but Lara – well, Lara is a GAP girl through and through.

As a Canadian she has been subjected to North American advertising indoctrination (think crisp shirts and beige chinos and you are about there). She also has a lot of clothes.

Everyone else gave up chocolate for Lent; Lara gave up shopping. I would estimate that half of her room has been consumed by the 'eBay pile’ that has been slowly expanding over the last two years. (Every so often she photographs some choice items before diligently putting them back on top of the heap.)

We all know that if there is to be any hope of ridding the world of sweatshops and child labour then we must start to purchase our clothes more responsibly. But where to begin? Turning to the trusty internet we decided to track down retailers who purport to trade ethically.

Frankly, it didn't start well.

The first site we visited seemed to dedicate itself solely to knitted jumpers… in fact, I think I am right in suggesting that one or two of them may even have had snowflakes on the front.

Thank goodness, then, for howies. It was the first of many fantastic clothing lines we subsequently found which restored our faith in the idea that it is possible – even for fashion junkies – to start dressing more ethically.

There are new initiatives springing up all over the place, telling us this is something that consumers are calling out for. Bono's wife, Ali Hewson, has brought out a new range of ethically manufactured clothes.The London School of Fashion holds ethical shows, and even some of the high street chains are trying to move towards the sale of responsibly manufactured products.

What is more, many of them are no more expensive than their not-so-ethical rivals.

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