Ethical fashion - Primark scores just 2.5

I apologise for not updating over this weekend. I’ve been avoiding the computer until I finished Harry Potter. I visited London on Saturday, which was quite nice. I’d forgotten just how busy it is (I was about 12 last time I went). Unfortunately, I didn’t take many photographs because the weather was horrid and I feared getting my camera out & being robbed. Maybe next time.

I was speaking to my friend on the phone yesterday and we got onto the subject of clothing & how awful shops are nowadays. We eventually got round to Primark - the shop many love (I personally hate it and have never purchased anything from there) and how, in order to produce clothing for such low prices, their ethics must be compromised somewhere. My friend mentioned she had seen an article in the newspaper (this independent article I think) on how little they paid workers and other such things.

Ethical Consumer, in its January/February edition published next week, criticised the company for not having a code of conduct, selling leather goods and “environmentally-damaging” PVC products and for operating in an oppressive regime - China.

“If people shop in Primark because the prices are low then they must be aware that they are low for a reason,” said Ruth Rosselson, a spokeswoman for Ethical Consumer. “And they must start asking questions: ‘Where is this made? How do I know that this was made under good conditions?’ Then the companies will realise that people care.”

The magazine suggests shoppers buy from charity shops, try vintage clothing and seek out organic cotton. Conventionally farmed cotton is treated with 10 per cent of the world’s pesticides, which the Pesticide Action Network estimates causes 20,000 deaths in the Third World every year.

It must be said, I love a bargain as much as the next person, but honestly, I’d much rather fork out for something that has been produced ethically than spend far less on something that is not. It is one of the few fashion “avoid if you can” things I have (fur being in a similar category). I mean of course, this is difficult because I’m certain pretty much every high street retailer has the downfall of being unethical in some respect.

However, since we are the consumers, the power to change minds rests with us. It’s just a matter of whether we use it to alert retailers to the fact that we don’t agree with what they do to make our clothes. I mean not only does everything look similar in shops, they’re probably produced in the same way was well - cheap materials which won’t last, appalling conditions and sweatshop labour. Everyone knows it, but how much longer must we turn a blind eye?