Ethics in Fashion

Ethics in form Brands such as Hollister, Superdry and cakehole Wills ar in high demand at the moment. These sort giants progress to billions of pounds a year selling top of the rate clothing, specifically knowing for 14-18 year olds. These brands all follow strict ethical policies, for example asshole Wills is part of the Ethical Trading Initiative, which is an alliance of companies working together to ameliorate the lives of poor and vulnerable workers in the countries in which these clothes ar produced.Although oer half of Britains consumers think that the ethical doing of the clothes they subvert is important many companies cast a blind eye towards the production purlieu of their clothes. Their workers may cast decent working conditions, get compensable fair wages most of the eon. A problem is the conditions and wages of former(a) workers, who may non be directly employed to the company. These are called sub-contractors. such(prenominal) things often take place in third world, developing countries, and are usually a first step for industrialising economies.This has already resulted in general poverty reduction, access to skills and sustainable livelihoods for some of the most disadvantaged communities in the world. For example, in Bangladesh 70% of GDP (gross domestic product) comes from the fashion industry. However it is not just the production of these clothes that makes the public question their morals, problems have arisen at bottom the stores. In August 2011 Hollister were charged with discrimination towards one of their Muslim employees, who was criticised for wearying a hijab in store.Months later two stores in America were spy for not following the Disabilities Act, due to the point that they have a porch-like hoodwink that contains steps while customers in wheelchairs have to access the stores through automatonlike side doors rather than the main entrance. Customers felt that they were being separated. Furthermore, in Novemb er 2010, Hollister pr nonethelessted an employee from wearing a red poppy into work. This sparked controversy, and attracted unwanted attention from the media.Human rights activists have as well pointed out the various ethical issues behind the preparation of fashion products. When companies are not following a strict policy, and sometimes even when they are, workers can be treated very badly. Extremely low wages, wide hours, unsafe working conditions and harassment are some of these issues. Additionally, environment protective covering activists have brought up ethical issues related to the fashion industry time and time again. The main complaint is about the production of cotton, and how a biggish amount of pesticides are used.The use of toxic pesticides leads to air, water and soil pollution. These are detrimental to the health of the workers applying them, and people living nearby. All of these issues would have been unfeasible to unearth had it not been for the power of the media. Technology such as miniskirt cameras and microphones made it possible for journalists and in some cases the ordinary public, to go cloak-and-dagger into one of these stores. The media can also publish stories and pictures to a wide range of people, thus making more people aware.The concept of ethical fashion is old however it has gained more popularity recently. This may be due to the fact that fashion is changing and developing even more resulting in unethical shortcuts being made. These shortcuts may not always be in the outmatch interest of the environment, or indeed the employees. Also, as awareness about environment conservation, cruelty to animals and ethical issues in business is rising, fashion brands are also increasingly adopting ethical means. Customers are also becoming more aware, and so the demand for ethically produced clothing is on the rise.