There is a growing number of initiatives to promote ethical fashion, from Livia Firth's Eco Age to groups organised with the sole purpose of linking top brands with artisans such as Nest. You can also find animal friendly brands and those who emphasise their concern for the living conditions of people in third world countries or the environmental impact of producing their clothes and accessories.
All this is wonderful but there is still a long way to go before it becomes widespread. Consumers have the right to know if a particular brand shares the same values, and nowadays it's impossible to tell. Each brand should have clear information online about how their clothes and accessories are produced and where, no not just the country, but the name of the company and images of the people.
We should really demand more transparency. Some designers even tell us to buy less, but maybe the whole fashion industry should rethink the obscene number of collections produced in a single year. And we, as consumers, shouldn't really let ourselves being seduced by meaningless images and focus on our own lifestyle and what suits us in particular.
It's good to bear in mind that apart from luxury brands with the potential to become vintage after a decade or so, most clothes loose value instantly. Just go on eBay and see for yourself. But if we do want to be ethical, as it stands today, there's hardly any choice. Most so-called ethical fashion labels are not inspiring at all, wearable, pretty but not exactly fashion. Stella McCartney is an exception to the rule.
We suggest not only trying to influence established brands today, but go straight to the source, approach the best fashion design schools in the world and have ethical fashion in their curriculum, have the next Alexander McQueen concerned about all these issues. Today's students will be tomorrow's top designers.