Ethical clothing
Wednesday 7 March 2007
Lots of people know that you can help the environment by recycling or switching off the lights in your home, but did you know that you can do your but through the clothes you wear, too?
A growing number of people are choosing to wear what's known as 'ethical clothing': clothes which have a relatively low impact on the world's resources. In some cases, they're made from recycled material.
Our fashion experts Olivia and Peter take a look at the greenest way of dressing up.
What is ethical clothing?
Ethical means different things to different people. For some, ethical clothing means that it has not been made by sweat shop workers who have few rights, but in a fairer environment where employees are paid better and have more rights and better conditions.
Ethical clothing can also mean clothes which are made from fabric which has little or no impact on the Earth's resources, such as recycled materials.
What's available?
It's not just your everyday clothes that are being given the ethical treatment. There are loads of cool accessories and items of jewellery out there which re-use materials, sometimes in a very unexpected way.
Some leading high street shops feature accessories such as bracelets fashioned from melted down metals, and of course many stores now feature a special vintage section where you can rescue those trends from yesteryear and make them your very own.
Worn again
As well as the growing number of charity shops selling fashions of yesteryear, there are other ways in which clothes can have a second life.
The charity organisation Traid is a charity shop with a twist. All their new clothes are out together from old fashions, giving them a new lease of life but in a totally different form.
You can buy bags made of old pairs of jeans, scarves from old shirts and cool jumpers made up of loads of other sweaters lovingly put together to create whole new style statements.
Who's wearing it?
Sarah, 17, bought herself some ethical trainers. "I don't want to wear anything that someone's slaved over," she tells us. "These trainers look just as cool as ones you'd get from a sports shop and were a little cheaper. I've decided in future to make sure anything I wear has never been near a sweat shop."
No need for new stuff
"I don't understand why humans have this stupid need to have more new stuff all the time when there are plenty of other options to clothe us," says Paul, 16. "I hardly ever wear anything except charity shop clothes," he explains. "It's possible to find fashionable stuff in other places than the high street and we have a responsibility to the planet to use what's already here."
