Eco Fashion has never been so cool at EcoChic Collection

 

by Deborah Miarkowska

Over the last few years I have been struck by how Ethical Fashion, Fair Trade  Jewellery and Sustainable Design have all grown to become  synoynmous with two words…. Eco Cool.

It wasn’t so long ago that the word ‘eco’ was associated with  a dazed hippy culture, but in the past few years it’s gone from a buzz word to being truly hip and embraced by a growing celebrity following.

Eco Fashion labels are pushing eco-friendly and sustainability boundaries to the maximum and none more so than the team at EcoChic Collection and our collections in EcoChic Boutique. Frustrated with the effect disposable fashion was having on the environment and on the people producing our fashion, I launched EcoChic Collection in 2007 with the aim to promote ’slow fashion’ - key pieces that last for more than just one season. 

In promoting and designing unique, limited edition jewellery and accessories I hope that people will cherish their fashion accessories more, making them less likely to end up in the landfill.

Celebrating individuality and creativity.

Individuality and creativity is key to the brand. EcoChic Collections’ unique ethically produced collections are a positve response against the high street production line of unrealistic lead times and a throw away culture and human exploitation.

Individual, limited edition designs

The EcoChic Collection team understand how nothing can take your love away from a new purchase like seeing someone else wearing it, and hope that people will start to make statements with their fashion again, rather than just following the latest hot trend.

Eco Fashion is cool

What’s more, we believe that being eco-friendly and stylish shouldn’t come at a cost to the planet or the people making it. We pay living wages in our of our collections and strive to offer a range of ethical fashion pieces in our boutique at a variety of prices as we don’t see why eco and ethical fashion should only be available to people who can afford it - it should be for everyone to make conscious choices to make a real and tangible difference with their money.

Why fair trade & Organic?

Fairtrade is a strategy for poverty alleviation and sustainable development and it is a great story that demonstrates that trade can be done differently and will huge social benefits. Its purpose is to create opportunities for producers and workers who have been economically disadvantaged or marginalized by the conventional trading system. The Fairtrade minimum price is the minimum price that a buyer of Fairtrade products has to pay to a Producer Organisation for their product. It is not a fixed price, but should be seen as the lowest possible starting point for price negotiations between producer and purchaser. It is set at a level which ensures that Producer Organisations receive a price which covers the cost of sustainable production for their product.

Fair & Living wages

The standards also allow producers to request partial pre-payment of the contract. This is important for small-scale farmers’ organisations as it ensures they have the cash flow to pay farmers at the time they deliver their crop or product. Buyers are also required to enter into long-term trading relationships so that producers can predict their income and plan for the future. Fair trade is a success story and there are a number of eco fashion brands including EcoChic Boutique that are embracing a fair trade ideology.

So why should we be buying organic clothing & fair trade Jewellery?

Cotton is one of the most widely used fabrics in the fashion industry and is considered the world’s ‘dirtiest’ crop. Insecticide is the most hazardous pesticide to human and animal health and cotton uses more insecticides than any other single crop.

Approximately 1/3 of a pound of synthetic fertilizers are used to make one non-organic t-shirt. When you think that our skin is the largest organ of our body and that it can absorb chemicals into our bloodstream, we really should be thinking more carefully about what we are putting onto our skin.

It’s not only our own health we have to consider. The chemicals used in manufacturing of clothing have some very serious side effects on the workers, including poisoning, allergies, eczema and even cancers. The point here is that the environment in which we work has a crucial impact on health and organic cotton is a celebration of reducing the health risks for farmers, a purer product for us to wear and enjoy and key benefits to the environment.

So next time you’re looking at a new accessory or piece of clothing, think about where the item has come from and how it could have been made, and perhaps that it may not be so beautiful after all. Please feel assured that all of our collections in EcoChic Boutique are carefully selected for their life changing stories, fair wages and design quality which we are aiming to improve all the time.

To learn more about ethical fashion and to see EcoChic Collection’s  full range, view HERE.

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