Monday, March 2, 2009

Why buy Ethical Clothing?

By Misha Davis

Practicing ethical consumerism in clothes shopping can leave a huge impact not only on local society but the world in general. Ethical consumerism refers to the purchase of products and services that have minimal harm or exploitation to human, animal or the environment.

Ethical shopping, especially of apparels, can be complicated. People have the natural desire to look fashionable, making them fail to think about the item they are purchasing. It could have been made by overworking women or forcing children to work. Lack of knowledge and awareness may help encourage unfair labour practices such as these. Fair trade is created to prevent exploitations happening during the manufacturing processes.

Fair trade items are often food items such as coffee, tea, cocoa and etc, but there is an increase of consumers purchasing clothing as well. These products are often identified by the FTO mark on the labels. This means that the item you are buying had been inspected and passed the Fair Trade's qualifications.

Because textile industries in most developing nations make up as much as about 35% of the working population, ethical and fair trade principles are needed to ensure that the workers receive fair wages and become functional members of the economy. These principles do not only cover labour practices and workers' benefits but it also limits the damages done by the industry to the environment.

The textile industry - the cotton industry most especially - is one of the world's most chemical intensive agricultural industries. Regular cotton accounts for nearly 25% of the insecticides and 10% of the pesticides used in the world, though is it grown on only 3% of the total cultivated area. The excessive usage of chemicals in conventional cotton made it rank fourth as the most heavily-fertilized crop. These chemicals can seep into the earth, poisoning the soil, the water under ground and disturbs the natural ecosystem of farmlands.

Organic cotton, grown by natural means without the use of any chemicals, is becoming increasingly popular in the clothing industry. Not only does clothing made from organic cotton lacks many irritants synthetic cotton does, but buying organic clothes can also help improve hundreds of farmers' lives and even save them from the harmful effects of chemicals.

You can help improve hundreds of lives of labourers just by shopping ethically. Buying organic clothing is not only eco-friendly, but they are also fashionable. With many fashion designers heeding the call for fair trade, ethical fashion is fast becoming popular. So why not purchase clothes that are stylish and morally-uplifting at the same time?

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