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The team at Baptist World Aid Australia have released their fifth annual report card, naming the best and worst brands in ethical fashion production. The ‘Ethical Fashion Report’ looks at things like the environmental impact and treatment of workers across more than 400 individual brands.
Top of the list – with an A+ for the fifth year in a row – is Etiko, a small clothing and sports brand based out of Melbourne. Founder Nick Saraidis started the business in 2006 after realising that most of the clothes we were buying were probably made through some form of exploitation. He’s giving fast-fashion consumers an option – buy better. Etiko ensures cotton growers are paid fairly, factory workers have similar rights to those in Australia and overall, environmental impact is lessened where possible.
Zara, Cotton On and Kathmandu were some of the best performers on the list. ‘Because they are big brands, they can afford to invest in knowing their suppliers and monitoring that exploitive practices are kept to a minimum” says the report’s author, Gershon Nimbalker.
There was a poor showing from brands like Uniqlo, Tree of Life and some labels belonging to an online retailer, The Iconic. The full database is available on the Baptist World Aid Australia website. Saraidis says people who buy cheap fashion are part of the problem. ‘People should just buy less, spend a bit more and buy garment you’re going to be wearing for many years’.
Brands like Etiko are proof that you can both do good and look good – but our hunger for el cheapo products means fast fashion is still the dominant industry. So how do we get brands to step up, and consumers to change attitudes?
