"Ethical Fashion" is a term used to describe ethical fashion design, production, retail, and purchasing. It covers a range of issues such as working conditions, exploitation, fair trade, sustainable production, the environment, and animal welfare within the fashion industry.

Many companies that we purchase our clothing from run unethical practices and harm the environment and their workers. This type of fashion is known as fast-fashion and it is an incredibly unsustainable industry. The clothing industry is the second largest polluter in the word with 15.1 million tons of textile waste created in 2013 alone. The piles of disposed clothing end up in landfill and release methane, contributing to global warming. Fast-fashion also involves a breach of human rights, with workers forced to work in harmful environments for low wages. 85% of fast-fashion workers are females who have to provide for large families and assist with the housework required for a safe and healthy living environment for themselves and their children, and their human rights are abused by having to work in appalling conditions for the smallest wages in order for corporations to gain the largest profit possible.

With help from HUMIFORM, Year 9 has learnt about the impacts of buying ethically produced clothing, and designed T-shirt prints to promote global issues as well as ethical fashion. We have encouraged the wider school community to get involved by designing prints themselves and as a school, we have decided upon three final designs which will be marketed by the Year 9s. The sales of these T-shirts will begin soon and we can’t wait to promote this overlooked issue using student-designed products.

Georgia and Olivia (Year 9)