Fair trade textiles and clothing are not  obvious on the high street .  You may occasionally come across organic cotton products, priced to put people off,  but that’s about it.  Inorganic cotton production is a dirty, resource-hungry business and does very little for the poorest people in the world who farm it.  But there are textile designers and manufacturers out there doing stirling work to change this around.

Among the pioneers of ethical fair trade fashion are People Tree.  They opened in the UK in 2001, although were already busy elsewhere in the world.  In 2009 they were awarded The Observer Ethical Awards for Fashion and in the same year, founder and CEO, Safia Minney was awarded a much deserved MBE.  People Tree is an active member of many Fair Trade, social justice and environmental networks. Accreditation by these bodies, like WFTO, the Fairtrade Foundation and the Soil Association gives customers the guarantee that they are doing what we say they are doing when it comes to Fair Trade and the environment.  People Tree really is worth a visit.

Abi and Thomas Petit, founders of Gossypium,  pioneered ethical textiles in the UK as far back as the late nineties.  They have a deep commitment to the Agrocel organic farming project in Kutch – Western India.  The small scale family farms here benefit from their close ties with Gossypium in a partnership that reduces the risk of market shocks for both as they work outside the commodities market and directly with each other.  The hands on approach ensures transparency at all levels of production, nobody can be accused of not knowing how the organic cotton is produced or  be unaware of the conditions for those producing it.  You can see Abi here talking about the history of cotton production and exploitation and their unique approach to marketing fair trade textiles.

One of the things I like most about Gossypium is that while they do undoubtedly make beautiful clothes that are made to last, what really marks them out amongst other fair trade textile producers is their willingness to encourage people to make their own clothes.  We have lost many of our traditional skills that would make us more self-reliant and less dependent on mindless consummerism.   I  love their tea towel kits aimed at getting kids sewing as well as kit dresses for adults to make.  Oh, and if you lose any buttons they’ll happily and swiftly send you spares, unusually in the world of fashion they want their products to last.

Of course, I have made a resolution not to buy any new clothes this year with the exception of underwear.  If your underwear drawer is beginning to take on that grey over-washed look don’t forget to check out the lovely, organic and ethical underwear available here from People Tree.

Now I don’t know if making my own new clothes counts, what do you think?

Update:  See also Organic Baby Clothes for a lovely range of baby clothes from People Tree.

Regardless of economic climate I have always been quite good at ‘not shopping’.  The Man from Salford laments my ability to not shop every time he opens the fridge door.  Not being able to find any underpants, other than the ones I have relegated to cleaning-rag duty, also tends to underline my ‘not shopping’ credentials. Arguably underpant shopping is not my job, after all he is a big boy, XL in fact, and is quite capable of not doing his own shopping.

I’ve never really thought about clothes that much, the fact that I wear rigger boots for a good eight months of the year tends to put paid to any sartorial creativity I might have. Nevertheless, I thought it was time I considered what would constitute a sustainable wardrobe.  To be honest my wardrobe wouldn’t sustain a mouse’s jumble sale, but here is what I came up with:

• Clothes should be sourced from renewable raw materials.  Most synthetics with their reliance on petro-chemicals do not have a place in the sustainable wardrobe.
• Raw materials should be produced with minimal environmental impact – in other words organically produced with due consideration to best land use.
• Materials should be of a high quality and durability and not need regular replacing, thus cutting down on production and transportation.
• Production and distribution should not perpetuate cycles of poverty - poverty is an enemy to sustainability in so many ways.

 Oops! My wardrobe isn’t even tugging at the shirt tails of this bench-mark, which in short is 100% organic cotton and 100% ethical fairtrade.  Arguably I wear most of my clothes to the death, regardless of the fact they probably weren’t meant to last more than a ’season’ and certainly are not of high quality or high durability.    I actually appear to own two organic cotton t-shirts but they obviously got in there by default rather than by conscious design.  Many of my clothes are bought second hand from charity shops and I think that for most of us with limited means this is definitely one of the best options for reducing the environmental impact of our wardrobes, and is a way of supporting causes that seek to reduce inequalitly, poverty and cruelty.  

 There are some clothes that we really don’t want buy second hand and that is underwear.  I’m back to knickers and underpants, sorry folks!  It’s unlikely that I can afford to be 100% organic cotton and 100% ethical all the time and will continue to wear clothes to the death and buy second hand, but here is my opportunity to be at least 5% organic  cotton and 5% ethical.  No more cheap knickers for me since I discovered the bright, practical but also stylish range of underwear from People Tree.    They do nice stuff for the men also, I might just tell The Man to click his way over there, you never know he might accomplish his own underwear shopping!

UPDATE!!!

Cornish based outdoor wear company Seasalt now stock a range of hemp clothing for those looking for sustainable alternatives, as well as their more traditional range of organic cotton products.  See also Organic Baby Clothes for a lovely range of baby clothes from People Tree.