Fashion Terms — the Apparel Search fashion terminology directory
According to the Ethical Fashion Forum, ethical fashion represents an approach to the design, sourcing and manufacturing of clothing that maximizes benefits to people and communities while minimizing its impact on the environment. The meaning of ethical goes far beyond doing no harm: it strives to take an active role in poverty reduction, sustainable livelihood creation, and minimizing and counteracting environmental concerns. Sustainability — meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs — is the term that comes up most often alongside it.
Ethical Fashion - Terms of Interest to the Fashion Industry
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Some believe a business or
initiative is not sustainable unless the triple bottom
line is integrated at the core of business practices and
policy, from board level to studio, shop, or factory
floor.
1. SOCIAL
Increasing the capacity and
well being of the people and communities behind fashion.
Any fashion business depends on the people behind it. In
a broader context, poverty and exploitation of the human
workforce behind fashion affects the stability of the
industry itself.
2. ENVIRONMENTAL
Minimizing the environmental
impact of all business operations throughout the supply
chain. Creating and acting upon opportunities to reduce
environmental issues beyond the immediate operations,
such as awareness raising, investment in and support of
environmental initiatives.
3. COMMERCIAL
Without a robust financial
business model, none of the above can be achieved. Good
intentions without an effective business structure can
backfire. A sustainable approach includes quality
products or services that meet market needs and demands
and are fairly marketed.
The Ethical Fashion Forum has drawn up a set of 10 criteria for ethical fashion.
Written for Apparel Search by Regina Cooper June 2010.
You most likely would also want to learn about ESG in the fashion industry.
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The definition on this page has three working parts: design, sourcing and manufacturing. Ethical design considers a garment's whole life, including how long it will be worn and what happens to it afterwards. Ethical sourcing asks where fibers and fabrics come from and under what conditions they were produced — the factory audit entry in the Apparel Search glossary, linked from this page, is one of the trade's checking tools. Ethical manufacturing covers the people who make the clothing: the human rights pages linked from this page set out the labor side of the subject, and the organic fashion entry covers the fiber and certification side.
An approach to the design, sourcing and manufacturing of clothing that maximizes benefits to people and communities while minimizing impact on the environment, in the Ethical Fashion Forum's definition quoted on this page.
The meaning of ethical goes far beyond doing no harm. Ethical fashion strives to take an active role in poverty reduction and sustainable livelihood creation, and in minimizing and counteracting environmental concerns.
The two terms are discussed together constantly. Sustainability is about meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs; ethical fashion applies that thinking to people and communities as well as to the environment. This page links onward to organic fashion, human rights resources and the ESG entry in this directory.