I'm only 33% ethical: the first month of my Wardrobe Diary

Since 1st January 2018 I’ve been keeping a Wardrobe Diary, to get a better idea of whether I’m actually wearing all my clothes or whether I could downsize a bit, and to help me plan future purchases. 

This month, I’ve been working out what sort of information I want to collect and focus on, as well as looking at where my clothes were made and what my ratio of new to secondhand purchases is. I also used the ratings given to clothing brands by Ethical Consumer magazine to assess a week’s worth of outfits and to learn more about the rationale behind these ratings, and what high street brands can do to improve.

At the start of Week 1, I was away on a short holiday, so I’d packed mix-and-match knits and cosy layers so I wouldn’t have to think too much about what I was wearing. I started off recording quite a lot of information, but soon realised that this would be far too time-consuming to do on a daily basis, and I’d need to focus on a particular piece of information each week.

Thinking carefully about what I was wearing every day made me realise I was probably washing outer layers like jumpers far too often, so when I returned from my holiday I planned outfits around clothes I’d already worn that week which weren’t quite ready for a wash. I also made an effort to wear clothes I hadn’t worn for a while, and discovered that a dress I’d ignored for a year was a great addition to my work wardrobe!

For Week 2, I looked at the labels in my clothes to see where they were manufactured, and was quite surprised by the results. I had expected several items from China, India and Bangladesh, but hadn’t expected to find items from Tunisia, Morocco and Romania. The only pieces of clothing made in the UK were either vintage, or made by very new start-ups (or in one case, made by me!). 

I don’t have a problem with fashion being a global industry, and I wouldn’t presume to tell people where they should or shouldn’t work, but I do think that as western consumers we should take a bit more notice when low prices for us come at a huge cost to others. As someone who is paid a good wage and has the freedom to join a union, it is my responsibility to stand with garment workers when they speak out about punishingly long hours or health and safety concerns. Next month, when I look at who made my clothes, I’ll be thinking of ways I can support them.

I kept a record of whether my clothes were new or secondhand for Week 3, trying not to have this in mind when I was planning outfits. I wanted this to be an assessment of an average week, not an attempt to wear as many secondhand clothes as possible (although I might try this as a challenge one week!). The percentage of secondhand clothes I wore was fairly low- only 9 out of 51 items, or 18%. I wonder if this percentage will grow as the weather gets warmer, and I’m not wearing so many base layers (which I don’t buy secondhand)?

As I had been gifted an Ethical Consumer Magazine subscription, which allows me to access their product guides and ratings tables, I used their table of High Street brands to give my outfits an ethical rating for a week. Their ratings system (each brand is given a mark out of 20) takes into account a company’s treatment of workers, animals and the environment, as well as any political affiliations. If you’re interested in finding out more about their ratings system, and the complex international supply chains that they track in order to give an accurate score, I’d highly recommend getting hold of a copy of their September/October 2017 magazine (issue 168). 

I tried to wear mostly brands that were featured on this list for the week, which alerted me to notable exceptions. Brands owned by the former Aurora group - Warehouse, Oasis and Coast, among others - were not featured, nor were River Island or Jaeger. I was dismayed (but perhaps not surprised) by how low a lot of reputable brands scored. It was encouraging to see that ethical initiatives like H&M’s conscious collection merit a higher rating, but it still doesn’t bring them in line with brands that market themselves specifically as ethical. Jersey basics from Thought gain a score of 14.5 out of 20, while a vest top from H&M’s conscious collection would only score 8.5.

My average outfit was only 33% ethical, or scored 6.5 or 7 out of 20. My highest score was given a boost when I wore my Thought leggings; wearing underwear and knitwear from Marks and Spencer contributed to my lowest score.

There are now several resources that help consumers analyse how ethical their wardrobes are: the Not My Style app gives a red, amber or green rating to high street brands, and Fashion Revolution's transparency index rates brands on how much information they reveal about their supply chain. I’m planning to review another week’s worth of outfits according to these different criteria to see what else I can learn.

Other weekly assessments will focus on plastics vs natural fibres, an in-depth look at laundry, and how easy it would be to recycle my wardrobe using current technology, as well as some fun outfit challenges. I’m planning to repeat a 13 week series of weekly observations four times, to see how the changing seasons affect my clothing choices.

If you want to suggest an outfit challenge, leave me a comment or say hi over on Twitter!

Ethical Clothes Shopping; a quick guide to finding information, inspiration and wardrobe essentials

I've been so encouraged by friends asking me for ethical fashion recommendations recently that I thought I'd write a quick post, more of an FAQ than a fully formed directory, to speed up the searching process for anyone interested in doing some ethical shopping.

I quite like the research process I'm going through before I make clothing purchases; I'm learning about innovative fabrics, international supply chains and discovering fashion's Next Big Things, but I realise that doesn't work as a shopping strategy for most people.

We all want good quality, wearable clothing at a price we can afford, and I'd like to think that if you're reading my blog you probably want the clothes you buy to do more good than harm. So here are some suggestions to set you on the path towards a more sustainable wardrobe.

Let's get back to basics:
Plain, stretchy vest tops, t-shirts, leggings and tights form an all-important base layer for our wardrobes at this time of year. We want them to keep us cosy, save outer layers like shirts or dresses from constant washing or dry-cleaning, and look good as an outer layer by themselves when summer comes around.
Rapanui sells vests and t-shirts for a great price, and it works out even cheaper if you buy several items at once. They also sell hoodies and sweatshirts, and partner with Teemill, so if you buy from them you know you are still supporting an ethical business!
Thought sell bamboo tops, leggings and tights which make great base layers, as well as a range of organic cotton and bamboo clothing.
People Tree are probably one of the best-known ethical brands, and as well as classic and fashion-forward pieces, they do an Essentials range of multi seasonal clothes in organic cotton.

I couldn't mention Teemills without giving a shout-out to my friends at The Suffragette City who are making the most of their moment of fame (a photo of them dressed as Suffragettes at the Women's March went viral) by selling T shirts and bags, and donating all profits to the charity Abortion Rights! 

Ethical Brand Directories: the excellent women who searched the whole of Google so you don't have to!

The Ethical Brand Directory was set up by stylist Roberta Lee because she was tired of the endless Googling it took to find great ethical brands. Some of the businesses she showcases specialise in a specific product, others, like Sheer Apparel and Birdsong London, feature multiple small brands. All the brands do a great job of demonstrating how stylish and exciting the world of sustainable fashion is!

Roberta is running a live event, the Conscious Christmas Showcase, on Wednesday 15th November, so pop along if you want to check out some of the brands from the Ethical Business Directory in person,  and hear from some amazing speakers! Tickets available here.

Ethical Fashion blogger Tolly Dolly Posh has compiled her own Ethical Fashion Directory; her list of brands was such a useful resource for me when I first started looking for ethical alternatives to the high street. One of my favourite things (there are a lot of them!) is how supportive and encouraging the online sustainable fashion community is; everyone is happy to share their knowledge. There is an understanding that everyone has a different financial situation, shopping habits and personal style, so the emphasis is on encouraging people to do what they can, rather than criticising for appearing to not do enough.

Conscious Consumerism on the High Street

If it's impossible to find what you are looking for from an ethical brand (sadly that's still possible; a lot of ethical brands are small start-ups that can't produce a vast amount of stock, in every size, for a low price), not all high street brands are equally unethical! Most big companies are much less transparent about their supply chains than smaller ethical brands, but fortunately there are people to do the detective work so you don't have to. If you want to reward good behaviour by high street chains (or avoid financially supporting bad behaviour), these resources will only take minutes to use:

Ethical Consumer Magazine grades brands who produce a range of consumer goods as well as clothes, so you can see at a glance which companies score high (or low) on their chart. You can also subscribe to the magazine which gives you access to more detailed content.

Not My Style is an app developed to rate high-street clothing brands according to their ethics and transparency. Download it for instant access to important ethical info when you're out window-shopping!

The other thing I think we all forget is that we can ask brands to be better! Multinationals might not improve their practices out of the goodness of their hearts, but they will have to if they see a drop in sales, or come under pressure from concerned customers.

Ethical Consumer Conference: challenging corporate power, constructive campaigning and ethical blogging!

On Friday 20th October I attended the Ethical Consumer Conference, to learn how I can be a more engaged and active conscious consumer! The conference is organised by Ethical Consumer magazine, which helps consumers to make informed choices based on their personal ethics by rating brands according to their ethical credentials. The theme of this year's conference was “Challenging Corporate Power” which often seems impossible as an individual consumer, so I was looking forward to meeting like-minded people and hearing some positive messages.

The day started with a short presentation by Rob Harrison, the founder of Ethical Consumer Magazine, about its work challenging corporate power. We’re all aware of the global power of big corporations, but did you know that some have an annual turnover greater than the GDP of most countries? If Walmart was a country, it would be the 22nd richest in the world! Corporations tend to focus on their short-term self-interest, and trade deals like TTIP, or media monopolies, can allow corporations to take control of democracies. 

Ethical Consumer Magazine seeks to challenge corporate power, in part by simply informing the consumer. Their ethical indexes point out companies that are engaged in political lobbying or the funding of political parties. Rob explained that the magazine’s current policy was that corporations should have no place in our democratic process, but the idea of “lobbying for good” was going to be a recurring topic throughout the day; could consumers and politicians work with corporations to achieve positive change? 

Next, we heard from Richard Wilson, the founder of Stop Funding Hate, and Sean Dagan-Wood from Positive News, who spoke about how consumers can challenge corporate media. Richard described how his campaign had come about after seeing negative headlines about immigrants on an almost weekly basis in the Daily Express, the Sun and the Daily Mail, coupled with a spike in hate crime. Even though the readership of these papers is dwindling, and most of us are boycotting those papers by default, we are still subsidising them by buying products or services from the companies that advertise with them. 

Stop Funding Hate aims to persuade companies to stop advertising in these newspapers by gently suggesting that they wouldn’t want their products to be associated with hate speech. Richard talked about the importance of debating politely, and emphasising the values that we should be promoting instead; empathy, respect, civility and neighbourliness. By running a non-political campaign based on defending basic values, Stop Funding Hate empowers consumers to make a difference as part of a wider movement, and shows companies that funding hate doesn’t make economic sense. Publicity from Lego withdrawing advertising from the Daily Mail prompted similar action in other countries, notably in the US, where the ‘sleeping giants’ campaign persuaded many companies to stop advertising on far-right websites.

Sean from Positive News spoke about the importance of having a constructive voice in the media, rather than the destructive angle taken by a lot of newspapers. The focus of Positive News is to highlight good things that are happening in the world, but in a serious and relevant way, rather than trivial or lighthearted “and finally” news stories. The Constructive Journalism project is focussed on a high standard of reporting, and solution-focussed angles to stories, framing people as resilient, rather than victims. 

Sean is seeking to challenge the assumption that news should always be about the things that are going wrong; in his view, the news should hold power to account, but a constant barrage of negative news stories is causing a drop in engagement with the news. These negative stories have a damaging impact on mental health, making us feel helpless and fearful. Positive news, on the other hand, can boost our wellbeing, giving us a sense of hope and optimism. The magazine is run as a co-operative, through crowdfunding, meaning that it truthfully reflects the values of its owners. This is a difficult time for the newspaper industry, and Sean advised us all to support the media that takes an approach that mirrors our values.

Hanna Thomas from SumOfUs gave an engaging presentation entitled "10 things every corporate campaigner should know" with tips on creating a focal point for your campaign and getting media attention, how to exploit a company’s weak points (subverting their branding, appealing to the financial interests of their shareholders and pressing the advantage of bad publicity), and how to ensure the success of your campaign. She spoke about the importance of getting your facts right so your campaign is seen as legitimate, and the advantage of forming diverse coalitions with other campaign groups to amplify your voice and get through to a corporation’s target demographic. She also emphasised the value in celebrating corporations for getting it right, as it reinforces their willingness to make positive changes in the future, and finally, the need to live your values by avoiding replicating the bad behaviours you are campaigning against.

My chosen workshop session for the morning was "how consumers and campaigners can constructively engage with corporations". Paul Monaghan, the CEO of Fair Tax Mark, told us some of the lessons he had learned over years of campaigning:

• Framing matters: never make your idea sound radical or ‘lefty’
• Framing matters: your image and tone are part of your message

(I’m good at one of these and terrible at the other!) 

• You can't just be against something, you have to stand for something
• Indexes and awards drive companies to change
• You’re only successful if you get past the PR department!

We discussed our experiences of campaigning in small groups; I shared what I had learned from taking part in Fashion Revolution Week; I definitely didn’t succeed in getting past the PR department when I asked H&M “who made my clothes?” but another attendee pointed out the growing reach of the social media campaign since it started, as well as the fashion industry’s new transparency index which seems to be driving change. We all agreed that persistence and a positive attitude were also key to campaigning; it just isn’t possible to change company policy with a tweet!

After a delicious veggie lunch and an opportunity to browse the stalls of some ethical businesses, we heard from Paul Ellis, the Chief Executive of Ecology Building Society, about the challenge of providing financial services that serve people and the planet rather than corporate interests. I hadn’t stopped to consider ethical financial services, but as Paul pointed out, unethical banks were responsible for an artificial housing boom and the financial crash that followed, with their complex products disguising the severity of the problem until it was too late. The Ecology Building Society is working with London Community Land Services to fund affordable homes and incentivise sustainable lending. The perception that this business model is more risky is not borne out in reality, but value-based financial institutions need the support of ethical consumers! Something else to add to my long-term sustainable lifestyle to-do list! 

My chosen afternoon workshop session was Ethical Bloggers skillshare, run by Emma Oddie, and Sian Conway, the founder of the Ethical Hour Twitter chat, which has introduced me to lots of like-minded ethical consumers and has improved my experience of Twitter immeasurably! Hopefully Emma’s advice will lead to a marked improvement in my blog posts (I’m trying to write shorter sentences, I promise!), but both speakers gave great overall advice for anyone trying to raise awareness or campaign on any issue. Sian stressed the importance of being an engaged member of the community and adding value (whether that community is based online or offline), while Emma emphasised the power of a positive message; changing people’s minds by engaging readers in your passion, focusing on solutions rather than just pointing out problems. Hopefully that’s what I’m doing here; I’m always delighted when someone tells me that my blog has prompted them to take good care of their clothes or attempt an upcycling project.

The final session of the day was four short presentations and a panel discussion about corporate lobbying. First to speak was Claire McCarthy, the CEO of the Co-operative Party. She believes that mixing business and politics doesn’t have to be negative; by focusing on their values and principles rather than short-term commercial interests, and showing leadership rather than demanding action from others, corporations can make a positive difference.

Paul Monaghan pointed out the need to take a nuanced view of the role of corporations in modern life; a lot of multinationals might be a positive influence in some areas of public life (for example, environmentally friendly innovation), while being a negative influence in others (e.g. tax avoidance). He made a compelling case that ethical businesses could lobby successfully for progressive public policy.

Vicky Cann from the Corporate Europe Observatory described how big businesses have more access to government representatives than anyone else, and how they can use this influence to shape policy and evade responsibility. She wants to see more transparency and better freedom of information rules to make sure that decisions are made for the good of the citizens of a country, not for corporate interests.

Finally, Nick Dearden from Global Justice Now outlined the problems with current trade deals that enable big businesses to lower standards because they have the power when a deal is being negotiated. These deals (like TTIP) erode our democratic rights and make profit the focus, at the expense of everything else. His vision for better deals would include built-in guarantees that standards would go up rather than down, and a move towards co-ops and away from monopolies and privatisation.

The Q&A, unsurprisingly, was very Brexit-focussed, with the panellists split on the need for a second referendum, or the need to push for a positive future outside the EU that puts people before profit. The EU is vulnerable to lobbying by corporations, but it’s also where some of our most progressive consumer legislation comes from, and the lack of coherent policy on Brexit meant that there were no clear answers.

I consoled myself afterwards with a glass of wine and the company of other members of the Ethical Hour community. It was lovely to put faces to the business accounts I interact with every week, and to chat to other people who are living their values. If you’re interested in finding out more about Ethical Hour, you can join in the chat on Twitter from 8-9pm on Mondays using the hashtag #ethicalhour ; hope to see you there!