On Friday I attended an industry seminar as part of Fashion Evolution (Dublin's Ethical Fashion Week) held by Re-dress.


It was a fascinating and thought-provoking day, with talks from:
* Katherine Hamnett,
* Christian Kemp-Griffin (CEO of Edun),
* Mike Barry (Head of Corporate Social Responsibility at M&S),
* Ingrid Schullstrom (Head of Corporate Social Responsibility at H&M) and
* Simon Ferrigno of Organic Exchange.

If you're anything like me, then you'll have a vague awareness that the very cheapest of clothes might have involved some less-than-impressive employment practices, but rationalise the occasional purchase on the grounds that:

* It's a complex issue and me not buying one little t-shirt isn't going to make any difference;
* I'm sure I heard the retailers announce that they were clamping down on the unethical stuff, so it's probably OK;
* The ole' bank balance will thank me for sticking with the cheap stuff right now. If I get rich one day, I'll make up for it.

Friday's talks acknowledged some of that, but gave a whole other perspective on how and why consumers and industry alike can address some of the problems associated with creating fashion.

I'll blog the bits that were highlights and key points from my perspective over a few posts, because there was a lot - and you and me, we're busy people. We can't be writing or reading posts the size of novels. Let's start with:



The main message from Katherine Hamnett was that taking an ethical approach isn't just nice and moral, it's a profitable business strategy too. Check out these facts:

* Goldman Sachs report that companies with environmental & social policies have outperformed the stock market by 25% from August 05.
* Spending on ethical products (£29.3bn) overtook that of tobacco and alcohol (£28bn) in the UK in 2005.
* 78% of people surveyed by M&S said that they wanted to know more about where their clothes come from.

Katherine's passion for responsible fashion positively roars through, but there's equal emphasis on both of those words.

Typical quote: "Organic fashion from the 90s actually held the movement back, these lumpen, porridge-coloured things. Fashion needs to come first. People want to look glamorous and be the belle of the ball. Ethics should be incidental, a given."