A gap for ethics in the clothing market

Katherine Hamnett February 17, 2008

Dear Folks,

Here is a selection of the latest consumer and industry research that has just come into our office, thanks to our beloved Kellie at Dublin University. Take a look because there is some very interesting stuff here that everyone, especially industry, needs to know.

Happy reading.

The recent ‘Deeper Luxury’ report by WWF UK says that “Consumers’ increasing concerns with environmental and social problems are the greatest cultural shift of the 21st century” and points the way to how these industries must behave if they are to keep their cachet which they need to survive.

For an increasing number of business leaders social responsibility is a necessity for commercially viable competition. A recent report released by Goldman Sachs, showed that companies that are considered leaders in implementing environmental, social and governance (ESG) policies to create sustained competitive advantage have outperformed the general stock market by 25 per cent since August 2005. 72 per cent of those companies have outperformed competitors over the same period.

Growing rapidly as a strong segment of this ethical consumerism market, ethical and environmental production in the fashion sector has evolved from a once seasonal trend to a fundamental shift in thinking across all stakeholders of the fashion industry.

Changing consumer attitudes are driving this shift and as a result the market for ethically produced fashion is experiencing rapid growth; spending on ethical clothing grew by 26 per cent between 2004 and 2005, from £23 million to £29 million and demand for same has increased 300% in the last 12 months.

Over half (23.1 million) of Britain’s consumers think ethical production of the clothes they buy is important, according to the 2007 research from global market information company, TNS Worldpanel Fashion. An overwhelming 76 per cent of people feel an end to child labour and sweat shops is a very important driver of ethical production, closely followed by offering producers a fair price (60 per cent) and damage caused to the environment (50 per cent).

Elaine Giles, research executive at TNS Worldpanel Fashion states that:

“7.1 million consumers say that ethical issues are important to them but feel availability of such items is poor… retailers must not underestimate the importance of ethical credentials, as ethical fashion is high on the consumer agenda”.

This shows a substantial gap in the clothing market for demand that needs to be filled.

www.katharinehamnett.com

Comments

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Fri, April 04, 2008 at 5:11pm
peopletree says

Dear Shauna

It was both interesting and concerning to read your comments concerning People Tree. Despite what you may have been led to believe People Tree is by no means a cash or asset rich company and after 8 years of trading in the UK has still not broken even. Keeping People Tree trading has been and still remains a daily struggle with many personal sacrifices for me and my family since I founded the company over 10 years ago.

Working with marginalised, rural communities and setting up a supply chain from scratch is expensive and has been done without any grant funding. Working with traditional skills, natural fabrics and hand production is very challenging as producer groups are in isolated places. People Tree constantly takes the hard route in order to achieve its goals of social and environmental justice and set standards for best practice. The investment People Tree recently received followed a frustrating 3 year search as conventional venture capitalists wanted an unrealistic return and philanthropists just don’t understand Fair Trade businesses, which constantly invest in their producer groups and are campaigning on Fair Trade issues.

People Tree works with marginalized communities in the developing world, using fashion as a tool for development. We are dedicated to the promotion of traditional and environmentally friendly production techniques such as hand-weaving, hand-embroidery and hand-knitting. People Tree promotes livelihoods to communities that otherwise would be suffering from loss of jobs to machine based industry and we now work with around 70 different groups in 16 countries.

People Tree is also dedicated to the promotion of environmental justice and has pioneered the first organic and Fairtrade cotton supply chain in India and was the first to meet the high standards required to achieve the Soil Association mark. In 2007 we set-up the first organic cotton project in Bangladesh which will build and promote organic agriculture in a country where there is little environmental awareness at the same time as supporting farmers income and protecting their health.

People Tree is a 100% Fair Trade business and the only fashion dedicated business to be a registered member of IFAT (the International Fair Trade Association) who also adopted World Fair Trade Day in 2001 an event that I initiated and still run the secretariat for.

In order to achieve these goals it is necessary to undertake high profile media work and having been established for over 10 years People Tree has built up a strong connection with journalists. I do not see People Tree as being ‘the chosen entity’ but a company who can speak authoritatively on a complete Fair Trade business model, the challenges this can bring and the social and environmental impacts it has.

This will continue to be important in the years to come in order to educate consumers and move Fair Trade into the mainstream.

If you are ever in London then you are more than welcome to come and visit us at People Tree where we would be delighted to explain our practices in more detail.

Kind regards

Safia Minney
People Tree