Ethical issues in Business of Fashion

Contents
Social responsibility, Code of Conduct, Compliances, PETA, Ethical Sources

Ethical Fashion
Ethical fashion can be defined as the production of textile items with a conscience. With the concept of social responsibility gaining ground, corporates all over the world are recognizing the importance of environment protection and ethical business. Fashion houses are no exception. More and more fashion designers and textile producers are striving to produce goods that do not harm the environment and are cruelty-free. Ethical issues in fashion are emerging.

 The concept of ethical fashion is old; however, it is gaining more and more popularity in the modern times.

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 and more aware of ethical fashion and the demand for ethically produced fashion products is on the rise.

Some of the major ethical issues that have come up are:

The production of cotton entails the use of a large amount of pesticides, which is harmful to the environment and to people. The health of the workers spraying pesticides in cotton fields and the people living around these fields are adversely affected. The use of toxic pesticides leads to air, water and soil pollution.

The chemical dyes that are used in the production of garments also lead to skin problems.

 Another serious ethical issue that arises in the fashion industry is the issue of cruelty to animals. The cruelty to animals behind the preparation of a fur coat has been brought to light time and again by animal rights activists.
The pain caused to the animals while trapping them and extracting their fur is unthinkable. Similarly, a tremendous amount of suffering is caused to animals in extracting wool and leather, which goes into the preparation of fashionable shawls and boots. There are other various ethical issues behind the preparation of a fashion product, such as extremely low wages and long hours, unhealthy and unsafe working conditions, exhaustion, sexual harassment and mental stress are some of these issues.

 A number of fashion designers and organizations have come together in London to form a forum called The Ethical Fashion Forum (EEF). This forum concentrates on adopting ethical and environmentally compatible practices in the fashion industry. In USA, this concept is still catching up. Leading brands in USA such as Donna Karan, Levi Strauss, Nike, Reebok, and PhillipsVan Heusen have become members of Business for Social Responsibility, which is an organization that provides guidance and assistance to companies in incorporating ethical practices in their operations.

 The Levi Strauss Foundation is also engaged in the activity of providing grants to organizations working to improve workers' quality of life, in U.S.A. as well as in other countries. Levi Strauss has also developed a code of conduct for its suppliers, which outlines the fair trade standards that are expected of its suppliers.
Levi Strauss presented green jeans, in which all the material used, including the buttons and the finish are completely organic.

The USA-based brand Fair Indigo is famous for producing stylish clothes that are produced using the concept of fair trade.

 The workers producing the garments are paid a fair amount of wages. Proper health and safety conditions are ensured in the factories. The clothes are produced from completely organic material. Their catalogues are made from recycled paper. The shop floors and hangers are made from bamboo. Recycled metal and glass are used in the store.
Team X, Gossypium, People Tree and No Sweat Apparel are other brands which promote the concept of ethical fashion.

 In India, ethical fashion is still a rather new concept and is not as popular.
It is limited to a few designers, textile producers and customers. Indian designer Anita Ahuja presented her collection Conserve at Paris in September 2007.

Conserve is a collection of accessories made from natural and ecofriendly products. It includes handbags made from recycled waste plastic.

Code of Conduct
A code of conduct is a set of rules outlining the responsibilities of or proper practices for an individual or organization.

Related concepts include ethical codes and honor codes.

 Principles, values, standards or rules of behavior that guide the decisions, procedures and systems of an organization in a way that; - Contributes to the welfare of its key stakeholders and, - Respects the rights of all constituents affected by its operations.

 The codes of conduct or codes of practice adopted by a number of mainly multinational enterprises include a variable number of principles which define the ethical standards of the enterprise.

Contents of Code of Conducts

Child labor Forced labor Non-discrimination Working hours Working conditions Health and safety Wages & remuneration Communication Ethical practice Environment

Standard Code: Main Components

The general ethical approach of the enterprise Respect of human rights at work Other elements concerning working Application of the code

Compliance Rules
These are the rules by which vendors will conduct business with their customers. They are set up by the customer. Vendor compliance rules help companies streamline and standardize their internal procedures for dealing with vendors. There are general and standard guidelines for these rules.

Key Aspects of Vendor Compliance

There are generally accepted industry standards for vendor compliance, (i.e. carton barcode label formats, shipping documentation formats, hangtag or label formats, EDI document formats). These industry standards are open enough to allow for variations on a customer-by-customer basis

 Vendor compliance can be an expensive undertaking for a company, and can cause upheaval to procedures and current business practices. However, if approached in the right way, vendor compliance can absolutely lead to more efficient procedures and greater sales to larger customers, resulting in greater growth for a company.

PETA, the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals have more than a million members and supporters, and is the largest animal rights organization in the world.

Founded in 1980, PETA is dedicated to establishing and protecting the rights of all animals, which includes the principle of not wearing fur for decoration.
PETA focuses its attention on the four areas in which the largest numbers of animals suffer the most intensely for the longest periods of time: on factory farms, in laboratories, in the clothing trade, and in the entertainment industry.

 PETA works through public education, cruelty investigations, research, animal rescue, legislation, special events, celebrity involvement, and protest campaigns.
The clothing industry in recent months has regularly been scrutinized for its use of fur and the debate about using animals for apparel is as poignant as ever. Burberry has come under attack for its use of fur as the company continues to use fur in its designs despite the fact that leading clothing retailers like Selfridges, Harvey Nichols, Ann Taylor, Polo Ralph Lauren, and others have pulled fur from their shelves.

 Lindsay Lohan was dropped from PETA's list as she was spotted in London last week wearing a white fake fur jacket and an anti-fur button on her hat. Other celebrities, such as Pamela Anderson, use their status to support organizations such as www.caringconsumer.com , where animal-free products can be bought online and where you can find lists of ethical companies.

PETA protests
In 2008, the animal rights group PETA initiated a campaign against Donna Karan for her use of fur in products and her contracted Fur Farmers' alleged inhumane treatment of the animals.

By the Fall of 2010, Karan's fall collection once again included fur items, including jackets and vests. In response to this, PETA held a demonstration on October 19, 2010 near a Democratic fundraiser
in Donna Karans penthouse.

Reference Book
Fast Fashion by Gaynor Lea-Greenwood Page 365