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1. 

   karenc Posted 4:07 am
   29 May 2007

   Fair Trade, Organic.... but

   I love to see natural dyes, the handloomed fabrics, etc. and have seen some wonderful things made in India that are from village cooperatives.  But there is another concern too:  care.  I went to a few of the websites linked and almost everything said "dry clean only."  I know there are some "green" dry cleaning methods but most of us do not have that available.  And I just don't see regular dry cleaning as ethical due to the extreme environmental issues involved.  "Ahimsa" silk may not hurt the silkworms but dry cleaning the garment may cause much harm to the air and earth (and humans).

   An ounce of practice is worth twenty thousand tons of big talk. -Vivekananda

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2. 

   caniscandida Posted 4:42 am
   29 May 2007

   "eco" vs. "ethical"

   That is an interesting distinction, with which epithet these fashions are marketed.  My guess is that "ethical" is likely to grab more prospective customers; also, the "ethical" customers are likely as well to be impressed by the claims of "eco fashion," while the customers grabbed by the "eco" epithet are not as likely to be impressed by the claims of "ethical fashion" regarding its "social-cultural perspective," or else have other, equally ethical concerns.

   E.g., KarenC makes an excellent observation about how many of these garments need to be dry-cleaned.  There are no doubt many "ethical" customers who are pleased -- and quite rightly so -- that their purchases are a "fair trade" exchange between themselves and the garments' creators, but who are unaware that the need to dry-clean them raises a different but equally serious ethical issue, of an "eco" sort.  The enlightened "eco" customer will not be so ready to purchase them.

   Chickens are our cousins! So are other sensitive animals! Enough is enough! No more factory farms!

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3. 

   zacaroni Posted 11:45 pm
   29 May 2007

   Eco Fashion

   Sling and Stones:

   http://www.shopbop.com/static/coming_soon.jsp?FOLDER%3C%3 ...

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4. 

   amc89 Posted 4:14 am
   30 May 2007

   Good luck

   It's really great to see people like Summer putting themselves and their beliefs out there in the fashion industry which is notorious for ignoring ethics in the name of fashion. I think we're making a ton of progress, but it will be an uphill battle. There's still too many designers and models not even willing to give up their fur coats!  

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5. 

   caniscandida Posted 6:10 am
   30 May 2007

   fur

   Right, AMC, you might think that giving up fur would be a shootable goal, and yet ...

   And then, next, comes getting rid of leather and other hide materials: a very distant horizon.

   Nevertheless, we must continue saying -- not shouting and screaming and yelling, not throwing bottles filled with paint, or battles filled with ignitable gasoline, but surely saying -- that the exploitation and cruel treatment of non-human animals is unethical.

   Chickens are our cousins! So are other sensitive animals! Enough is enough! No more factory farms!

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6. 

   antigenre Posted 2:15 am
   02 Jun 2007

   more fair trade fashion here

   Great article on fair trade fashion!

   KarenC mentioned she would like to see more fairly traded clothing of handwoven fabric - if you'll excuse a bit of self promotion, here is the url for my fair trade store, Fair Industry:

   http://www.fairindustry.com/

   Handwoven fabrics, hand washing with no soaking recommended.  I personally can't stand to dry clean anything.  

   -Lauren

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