For those thinking of the planet when shopping for clothes, fair trade fashion may be hard to find, here are some solutions.
Those of us who are interested in buying ethical and sustainable fashion are often faced with the question of where you can buy items, knowing that the brands you buy conform to the standards you expect in terms of eco-responsibility.
Knowing how and where a product is produced, and whether or not you are being made a victim of ‘greenwashing,’ are the common pitfalls in our search for these ethical garments, either in shops or online.
Finding a supplier who provides transparency, where it is clear where products have been manufactured, under what working conditions, whether workers are respected, is sometimes difficult. Garments which carry a fair-trade label may be hiding unethical aspects of their production.
For online shoppers
If you are shopping online, one platform which provides full transparency is Wedressfair, whose headquarters are in Lyon.
They carry out extensive checks on the documentation provided by their suppliers and demand evidence of quality before stocking anything. Only 20% of candidate brands are admitted to the site. They also help small brands that are just launching and who may be struggling to obtain its organic label.
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Featuring more than 100 brands and displaying 800 references to back up the fair trade claims of their suppliers, this multi-brand, ethical and eco-responsible site was started after its founders took issue with the lack of regulation in the sector: a t-shirt can, for example, be advertised as organic cotton, even if it has only 2% organic material in it.
Saying something is eco-friendly also doesn't mean much either. Wedressfair therefore aims to hold all their suppliers to account and regulate its own stock.
For those shopping in person
For those who want to shop physically, YCCA in Brussels stocks stylish, ethical, and eco-responsible clothing for women at its shop on the corner of the Parvis de la Trinité and Rue de l'Amazone in Le Châtelain.
Initially launched as an online store, YCCA was set up by a 28-year-old from Liège in February of this year and has now expanded to a physical store which will also soon stock garments for men. The aim is to provide customers with ethical and tasteful clothes at reasonable prices.
