Historically, women have been the main consumers and producers of fashion. They are the victims of exploitative manufacturing and the sexualization of fashion. But they have been left out of the design, marketing, and executive positions. But, today
Women are leading the way in sustainable fashion.
Women are the designers, changemakers, and standard setters.
Women are the ethical fashion pioneers.
And on today’s International Women’s Day, I am celebrating the women creating a better fashion industry, a different approach. An approach that honors the planet and values the makers, regardless of their location, identity, or ability to afford the clothes they are making.
As the first National Women’s Day was celebrated to honor the 1908 garment workers’ strike in New York, it seems only fitting to continue to honor the women still protesting, those still seeking to improve garment makers’ working conditions, and those leading the way to change the fashion industry to one that is safer, more inclusive, and less destructive.
Women are moving the industry to a more transparent one. One with smaller supply chains, ethical and eco-friendly sourcing, and a concern not just for profit, but for people and planet. These women are changing the industry from the inside out, from one that traditionally exploits women and girls in order to sell $3 t-shirts on the other side of the globe to one that holistically values these same women. Women in the ethical fashion industry are going beyond living wages to provide healthcare, sometimes childcare, potentially education, and safe and respectful working conditions.
These same women are recognizing the danger in some of the products that the industry has sold in the past. Toxins in our PVC handbags, irritants in dyes, off-gassing shoes all harm the consumer, usually a woman. So, they are making cleaner, better, healthier garments and accessories. For women.
Women are also creating consumer demand. Take J. Crew’s recent addition of Fair Trade certified denim, a line introduced as a result of their customers asking for better denim. It may or may not have been a decision based on ethics and values, but it was definitely based on marketing, customer retention, and profits.
Women are moving the fashion industry, as consumers, producers, designers, and decision makers to a holistically ethical one. They are demanding a better industry, one that is safe for the consumer, the laborer, and the planet. It may take a while, but women are the changemakers in this industry and I can’t wait to see where we go from here.
So let’s celebrate these women, and those that came before them by joining the movement to create a more ethical fashion industry, as designers, executives, and consumers of ethical fashion.
