LONDON, United Kingdom – Just a few years ago, the concept of Ethical Luxury was dismissed by major luxury brands. Products based on environmental concerns and fair trade principles were associated with hippies. Most fashion conscious cosmopolites wanted nothing to do with the Birkenstocks, baggy pants, and hemp T-shirts of the so-called green movement.
Today the current has started to shift. With global income inequality worsening and a rapidly deteriorating environment, social issues have come to the forefront of consumers’ minds. They now expect a greater commitment to craftsmanship, social causes and environmental concerns.
Small and independent fashion associations are also promoting the concept of ethical luxury. Paris-based designer and fashion show organizer, Isabelle Quehe’s Universal Love Association promotes the concept of “ethical fabrics”- namely, those materials that are ecologically friendly and produced by manufacturers that abide by ethical labour codes. Such fabrics are to be used as a “profitable alternative” to traditional textiles.
London-based People Tree combines fair trade and ecological principles with the latest trends in fashion. By using traditional skills and technologies, championing natural and organic cotton-farming, and providing artisans in developing countries with proper training and benefits, People Tree simultaneously does good to the consumer and the environment.
The luxury industry doesn’t need to become the next Greenpeace or pretend that it will change the world, but it does need to pay attention to consumers’ ethical concerns, especially now. In this economic storm, it seems, consumers are looking for a deeper luxe.
Rebecca Anne Proctor is a writer based in Paris and Connecticut.
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