The Ethical Fashion Show returned to Paris for a sixth year and this time Natracare was there to follow all the action. The event took place between the 1st and 4th October at the Tapis Rouge with a range of activities. As sponsors for the Ethical Fashion Show, Natracare supports its aims in showing how fashion can be coupled with environmental and social benefits.
The multiple conferences at the Ethical Fashion Show highlighted that fashion, social benefits and protecting the environment can co-exist. Ethical designers explained how they are committed to protecting the human rights of their employees by offering a good standard of pay and in some cases opportunities to become better educated, improving the individual’s future prospects. In one on one discussions with up and coming ethical designers we discovered how to go about designing and producing ethical fashion and what it meant for them to be working in this type of industry. The designers drew inspiration from various life experiences and concerns about our planet. One designer, having been moved by the colony collapse disorder amongst bees, focused her entire range on the concept of bees, reflecting their shapes and nature in her clothes. Many other designers are driven by the necessity of recycling creating everything from clothes to jewellery out of recycled items such as, maps, CD’s and beer mats.
Yasmine Simon, from Bondy and Héline Le Murvan, from Le Raincy, were the lucky winners of our Paris based Natracare competition, their prize being free tickets to the Ethical Fashion Show.
We want to say a big thank you to all the designers and visitors who took the time to talk to us about their work.
In the fashion world, as in other sectors, the social and environmental conditions in which an article is produced is becoming a decisive sales factor. Surveys indicate that between 25 and 40% of today's consumers are making purchasing decisions based on “ethical consumption” (CREDOC Study).
Sustainable development is a growing concern. 65,6% of French people say they changed their behavior in relation to sustainable development during the last 12 months (Ethicity/Ademe study, feb. 2008).
17,4% of french people say they are ready to pay more for products that respect workers' rights, and 19% of them agree to pay more for products that respect the environment.
www.ethicalfashionshow.com