According to Baptist World Aid Australia, here are a list of fashion’s most ethical brands and least ethical brands.
There are a lot of parameters in which to judge a brand as being ethical. For the purpose of this article, an ethical fashion brand is defined and graded according to the systems and processes they have in place in factories. These policies and systems can either protect the rights of workers in the supply chain against exploitation, child labour and forced labour. Or, the bad and unethical brands may engage in these nefarious and shameful practices. Although the degree to which fashion brands are exploitative is a sliding scale.
The grading by Baptist World Aid helps consumers to make informed decisions about the origins of their clothes, shoes and homewares. This then influences the practices of the brand itself by exerting pressure on the brands to improve their practices. This isn’t an exhaustive list, these are the brands that are the best and worst of them. For the full list and to check your favourite brand, visit Baptist World Aid.
MOST ETHICAL FASHION BRANDS ( Rated: A+ TO B-)
Adidas
American Apparel
ASOS
Audrey Blue
Barely There
Bonds
C9 by Champion
Cotton On
COuntry Road
Gap
Gear for Sports
Glassons
Hanes
Jump
Kathmandu
Kmart
Liminal Apparel
New Balance
Nudie Jeans
Outland Denim
Patagonia
Reebok
SABA
Sheridan
Sportscraft
Supre
Target
The North Face
Trenery
Timberland
Witchery
Wonderbra
LEAST ETHICAL FASHION BRANDS (Rated D to F)
AS Colour
Airflex
Abercrombie & Fitch
Atmos&Here
Bardot
Barkers
Basque
Bloch
Blue Illusion
Boohoo
Coco Beach
Decjuba
Diana Ferrari
Dotti
Farmers
Hollister
Jump
Karen Walker
Lacoste
Lowes
Liz Jordan
Mink Pink
Ralph Lauren
Rockmans
Roger David
Seed
Simon De Winter
Somedays Lovin
Supersoft by Diana Ferrari
TEMT
Table Eight
Trelise Cooper
Uniqlo
Valley Girl
Wallis
Wish
yd.
See the full list here.
Also – choose clothing made from natural fabrics.
If you want to support brands that have a light carbon footprint on the natural environment, you should select clothing made from natural fibres. This means buying clothing made from silk, cotton, linen, wool and hemp. This means that the clothing will break down when put into landfill. However clothing made from synthetic fibres or a combination of natural and synthetic fibres will take thousands of years to break down and cause massive problems for the ever-growing landfills of the world and for future generations.
Clothing made of natural fibres is often more pricey than clothing made from synthetic fibres, because the manufacturing process is more intensive for natural fibre. Although, one benefit of buying natural clothing is the ‘feel’ of it against your skin. Nothing beats linen, silk or cotton against your skin, it undoubtably feels right and comfortable. Synthetics simply don’t have the same comfort as natural fabrics. Also you are doing something wonderful for the world by buying in this way. Let me know below if this information has helped you at all with your decision-making processes.
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