Ethical quality clothes?

qwert2

I'm fed up buying branded clothes that are more than likely made in India, Vietnam, China etc. Penneys and Dunnes sell non branded clothes and footwear, but they are probably still made in the 3rd world, also they're not of great quality.

Does anyone know where you can buy ethical quality clothes or footwear in Dublin or online?

MissFlitworth

American Apparel, as far as I know, are anti-sweatshop

http://www.americanapparel.net/verticalintegration/

I think the Oxfam shop opposite St Stephens Green carries some 'No Sweat' stuff as well (Although I have to say it's been a *long* time since I went in to check & the 'no sweat' website looks kinda dead so they might not carry it anymore.) The Amnesty Shop that was in Temple Bar had No Sweat shoes once upon a time so Amnesty Ireland might be worth contacting

fillefatale

People Tree is a personal favourite of mine and they're doing 25% off at the moment.

Buying vintage clothes is another sustainable way to consume, as is second hand clothing.

H&M have a sustainable/organic range instore atm I believe.

tomissex

Penneys have an ethical trading policy. People who make the clothes work fair hours under fair conditions in a healthy and safe environment.

fillefatale

tomissex wrote: »

Penneys have an ethical trading policy. People who make the clothes work fair hours under fair conditions in a healthy and safe environment.

I wouldn't brand Penneys as 'ethical', they source cheaply in the third world, and their clothes aren't high quality, which I think the poster is looking for.

tomissex

fillefatale wrote: »

I wouldn't brand Penneys as 'ethical', they source cheaply in the third world, and their clothes aren't high quality, which I think the poster is looking for.

I know but the OP mentioned that she didn't think they were ethical but I'm just confirming that they are.

theg81der

tomissex wrote: »

Penneys have an ethical trading policy. People who make the clothes work fair hours under fair conditions in a healthy and safe environment.

Wow thats great to hear, I`m a giant penneys fan! Where did you get that info?

tomissex

theg81der wrote: »

Wow thats great to hear, I`m a giant penneys fan! Where did you get that info?

I work there We're kept updated on the info so that we can tell customers about it if they ask. There's signs up in most branches about it and it says to ask staff for further details.

MissFlitworth

tomissex wrote: »

Penneys have an ethical trading policy. People who make the clothes work fair hours under fair conditions in a healthy and safe environment.

Honestly, and I'm not having a go at you at all here, I would take that with a huge pinch of salt. Do they elaborate on what the 'fair hours' and 'fair conditions' are? I cannot imagine how a company that produces so much clothing & sells it relatively cheaply fairly pays the workers that produce it, especially when they source it from countries where 'fair' payment might be considered something completely different from what you & I would consider to be fair.

Big companies are able to play around with legal loopholes and words to the point that the phrases they use are often completely divorced from what you'd like to think they mean, for example 'organic' or 'free range' can basically be meaningless depending on where you purchase your organic or free range produce from.

I'm definitely open to being corrected here but if I was going to buy ethically produced clothing (and it is such a huge effort to find somewhere that genuinely does ethically produce their clothes I don't personally do it) I wouldn't be going to Penneys

addictedtoshoes

Here you go http://boutiqua.com/, and it's Irish!

Miss Informed

Make them yourself, like Ghandi...

tomissex

MissFlitworth wrote: »

Honestly, and I'm not having a go at you at all here, I would take that with a huge pinch of salt. Do they elaborate on what the 'fair hours' and 'fair conditions' are? I cannot imagine how a company that produces so much clothing & sells it relatively cheaply fairly pays the workers that produce it, especially when they source it from countries where 'fair' payment might be considered something completely different from what you & I would consider to be fair.

Big companies are able to play around with legal loopholes and words to the point that the phrases they use are often completely divorced from what you'd like to think they mean, for example 'organic' or 'free range' can basically be meaningless depending on where you purchase your organic or free range produce from.

I'm definitely open to being corrected here but if I was going to buy ethically produced clothing (and it is such a huge effort to find somewhere that genuinely does ethically produce their clothes I don't personally do it) I wouldn't be going to Penneys

More info than I can provide

A while ago a company was found to be abusing the policy and Primark stopped trading with them. They take it really seriously.