But some things have shifted, albeit slower than many of us would like, in the last five years. So maybe it’s that third coffee I had this morning, but my natural optimism is shining through. Here are five pieces of good news about fashion to inspire you to keep working hard to make sure what happened in Rana Plaza never happens again:

1. Transparency is on the rise.

When we did the first round of ratings for Not My Style in 2016, publishing their supplier list was one of our highest rated indicators of transparency. And one of the least used — less than 6 brands were sharing their supplier lists. Flash forward two years and the count is above 30. Imagine where we’ll be in 2020?

We’re already seeing how increased transparency can move the whole sector forward to better practice. Projects like the Open Apparel Registry are taking this to the next level, using this type of data to create a tool that will identify factories worldwide.

Among many concerted efforts across actors and sectors, the Modern Slavery Act in the UK has helped spur brands along and move much needed corporate resources to transparency and tracking in the supply chain.

2. Technology is helping us inch closer to sustainability.

The news about tech is very doom and gloom these days, but there are so many incredible innovations being created today that will help make the fashion of the future more sustainable, humane and dare I say it, even circular. We love Po-Zu’s pineapple leather shoes (and Star Wars theme for the geek in our life) and Provenance’s blockchain technology, VitroLabs, who are engineering tissue to create leather from cow, crocodile and ostrich cells, and Worn Again, who recycle discarded textiles. And we’re not the only ones paying attention to the commercial viability of this technology. The Fashion for Good accelerator, supported by fashion heavyweights like Kering, Adidas and C&A, are supporting fashion and tech startups that put sustainability at the heart of their work.

3. Ethical fashion is getting more fashionable.

Those of us who love ethical fashion have been saying for years that it’s not all hemp and hippies, but now it seems like the rest of the world is catching up. It’s not just the future princess who has taken notice, but ethical fashion has become much more accessible in recent years. We’ve loved Reformation since we first set foot in their NY flagship store, and we’re not alone — the brand has grown dramatically since them, expanding around the US, and even hosted an extended pop-up in London last year. From top to toes, you can dress in ethical brands like Birdsong and Veja without sacrificing on style.

4. The high street is wising up to the value of healthy, empowered workers.

One of the most exciting trends we are seeing is when high street brands are thinking holistically about how partnership can help them put action behind a brand purpose. I’ve been a fan of SEWA since my grad school days, a trade union in India that focuses on poor women workers and helping them, among other things, gain more dignified, better remunerated employment. Imagine my delight to learn that Primark has been partnering with SEWA and CottonConnect to help SEWA’s members learn better growing practices that net more sustainable cotton. The results? The women who have participated in the programme have seen an average profit increase of 247% and a reduction of input costs.

When companies can move beyond charity partnerships to create transformational, mutually beneficial initiatives that are sustainable while also focusing on social impact, we all win.

5. Young people get it.

Much to do has been made about millennials and their ethical purchasing habits — or, depending on who you read, lack thereof. For every person who touts how young people are the most conscious consumers, you get another three citing that price is still the key factor in a buying decision. But guess what? Millennials are getting older and gaining more disposable income. They’re using this to grow the ethical buying market year on year. And Gen Z, you might still be scraping by on pocket money, but we’ve got faith in your ability to put your values behind your purchases.

In our experience, our most excited and engaged Not My Style users have been women in their 20s, who just intrinsically “get it.” They want beautiful clothes but they care where they were made. They may not be the driving force of the economy yet, but just wait.

5 Years Since Rana Plaza, 5 Pieces of Good News on Fashion was originally published in notmystyleuk on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

What is Not My Style?

Not My Style is an app that tells you how much your favourite fashion brands share about the women and men who make our clothes. It was created to provide an easy way to make quick, informed choices about where to shop. The app rates over 140 leading fashion brands on their supply chain transparency, including whether brands disclose information about their garment factories, how much they pay the women and men who make our clothes, and what active steps they’re taking to improve working conditions. The rating system is simple — red (stop), amber (think), and green (shop).

Here’s the top 5 things you need to know about our latest update:

1. Green rated Not My Style brands are doing lots of really encouraging things.

Ellesse, Arket and Noisy May are amongst the new additions of Green rated Not My Style brands. Since we started rating brands there’s been a really promising increase in how much information is being publicly shared, which will hopefully continue.

Brands including H&M and M&S are not only disclosing their full supplier list, but are also showing that they are taking active steps to ensure a full living wage is paid to staff in their factories. By providing information that shows how they are paying a living wage, they are going beyond a simple statement acknowledging that a living wage is important. Additionally, we also need brands to illustrate how they are actively implementing things like ensuring there’s no forced or child labour, and that workers have the right to organise, amongst other indicators of how they are improving the lives of garment workers.

2. Brands and consumers are acknowledging how important supplier lists are.

Since our app release in March, a number of big brands have joined the likes of Green rated brands H&M and M&S by disclosing their supplier lists, including ASOS and Gap. This is a big first step to becoming more transparent, and one of our key indicators to measure how much information a brand is sharing. By sharing a supplier list, brands are opening themselves up to accountability, which in turn encourages them to improve their supply chains and sourcing practices. It’s a big first step on the journey to transparency!

3. Brands still need to be doing more to get a Green rating.

Although there are a lot of really positive changes, with more brands sharing an increasing amount of information, many still need to do a lot more! With our new batch of ratings, we revisited the existing brands to make sure we weren’t missing anything. Through doing this, a few formerly Green brands have moved to Amber. This is because brands need to keep raising their game — as others share more information, they also need to keep sharing.

Offering an accurate picture of a brand’s transparency is extremely important. Not My Style is all about consumer facing transparency, and only rates brands on information that the general public can access. However, our ratings are subject to change — this is because the ranking is a relative scale and not absolute: by sharing more data, brands can move up or down vis-a-vis each other. The hope is that through using Not My Style shoppers will want more information, and brands will want to give more information, which will then have a positive effect on the lives of the women and men who make our clothes.

4. Our ratings aren’t a tick box, and being a Green rated brand isn’t everything.

Whilst Green rated Not My Style brands are the best available options on the high street for transparency, their achievements are being acknowledged by us in a relative way. As mentioned above, progress is not stationary, and brands that wish to achieve recognition for their good work must evolve. Our ratings aren’t a tick box standard, they’re a step on a journey towards full accountability.

5. We’ve added some amazing new star stores!

A growing area of Not My Style (again, thanks to the suggestions and requests of our wonderful users) is our Not My Style star stores, listed exclusively on the app. Our star stores are sustainable brands, independent boutiques and sellers, charity and vintage shops, that are fully transparent and as sustainable as they possibly can be. We have a really diverse and great mix of new star stores, including Wear the Walk, Adrenna, Po-Zu, Mary’s Living and Giving shops, Duvet Days and Ethical Collection. We highly recommend checking out the Not My Style app for more unique and wonderful alternatives to the high street!

You can find out more about Not My Style, and read more in-depth information on our rating system. You can also download Not My Style now from the App Store (coming soon to Android). Got a question or comment? Tweet us @notmystyluk.

Everything You Need to Know About the New Not My Style Ratings was originally published in notmystyleuk on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Shopping ethically is a journey, not a destination. The first step is figuring out what ethical fashion actually is. The next is to think about altering your shopping habits based on what you now know.

Some people get stuck at that step forever, and it’s easy to understand why. Some of us (me!) love shopping, especially on the high street. Looking good on the outside can make you feel great on the inside, for better or worse. You don’t just go cold turkey on that kind of addiction without serious withdrawal.

But for true fashionistas, ethical shopping presents just another sartorial challenge with a big pay off. If you continue down the path, you’ll find unique style that makes you look and feel even better inside and out, knowing you’ve made good choices that don’t harm people or the planet.

There are some myths about ethical shopping that are just plain untrue. Let’s bust them before we go further:

1) Ethical clothes are ugly.

We all have a hemp horror story from our youth (right? Mine was a hooded hemp poncho). In days of yore, ethical fashion was all ethnic prints and billowy skirts, but no longer! Some of the most exciting and innovative brands and designers (like Reformation and Zady) are not adding ethical lines to their collections, but they have been ethical from day one. Don’t resign yourself to the worst-dressed list. Ethical fashion is the place to be.

2) Ethical clothes are expensive.

I hear a lot, especially from people just starting out in their careers, that they’d love to shop ethically but can’t afford it.

It’s true that unless you are buying secondhand (which by the way is very ethical) you won’t find an ethical brand that reaches Primark level low prices (more on them in a bit). The model of fast fashion is to produce clothes quickly and cheaply. Ethical brands who usually have smaller production runs and longer timetables do tend to cost a bit more.

H&M

However, ethical shopping isn’t as expensive as you might think. People Tree, one of the pioneers of ethical fashion movement, is reasonably priced and has great sales. And Birdsong is a London-based brand that sources their lovely products from women’s groups.

Ethical garments will often last longer; sometimes in the long run, it’s cheaper to buy a quality piece of clothing.

In our busy lives, convenience is king — and for the most part, shopping ethically takes more of the one thing we have so little of: time. While online ethical shops abound, (Reve En Vert , The Acey), if you like to try things on, you have to work harder to find ethical shops near you.

Never fear; we can help with that too. We’ve outlined a few great London spots on my app Not My Style (like The Keep in Brixton, 69B in Broadway Market and East End Thrift Store). Charity shops have also upped their game in recent years, and can be the site of great finds.

Can I shop ethically on the high street?

High street brands have made strides in the past decade to understand who makes their clothes and treat them more fairly. However, the complex nature of international supply chains, and the reliance on outsourced production, means that guarantees that your clothes were made ethically are not possible.

For lovers of the high street though, it’s not all doom and gloom. Some brands are making more of an effort to share information about who makes our clothes than others. While transparency with consumers doesn’t necessarily mean a brand is more ethical, sharing more information makes it easier for us as shoppers to make decisions ourselves.

Mango

Of the 105 brands we rated on Not My Style, 25% don’t share a single scrap of information on where our clothes are made or what kind of policies they have in place to ensure fair wages or prevent things like child labour on their websites. That’s embarrassing.

Others rise to the top of the high street pack. Although our ratings change based on when stores release new information, we have 21 green-rated brands who are sharing not just policies, but the active steps they are taking to address challenging issues, like joining industry-wide monitoring schemes, or partnering with NGOs that protect workers. Our green brands include H&M, Cos, Primark (shocked? Don’t be. They’ve come a long way.), Gap, Zara (sighs of relief go up around the nation), M&S, and a few others (find the full list here). While those brands don’t really qualify by most definitions of “ethical” fashion, we applaud their efforts to share more in the quest to do better.

Whether your first step is buying from your first ethical shop, or just asking more questions about what you buy — just take it. The journey is worth it.

READ MORE: Ethical Fashion: How To Shop With A Clear Conscience

READ MORE: Emma Watson’s Favourite Ethical Fashion Brands You’ve Never Heard Of

Originally published at lifestyle.one on February 24, 2017.

eCan I Shop Ethically On The High Street? was originally published in notmystyleuk on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Unless you’ve been living under a fashion rock for the past few years, you’ve probably heard something about ethical fashion — or at least of some unethical things that fashion has been associated with. For many people, their first inkling that the people who make their clothes may not be treated as they would expect came in 2013, when Rana Plaza in Bangladesh — home to factories making clothes from some of the best known high street brands — collapsed, killing 1,129 people who worked there.

Since then some things have changed and others haven’t. More people than ever before are interested in shopping ethically, but don’t quite know how to start. Never fear — we’ll be your ethical agony aunt, helping you navigate shopping with a clear conscience (and looking great while doing it).

What does ethical clothing mean?

Consider the differences between the fashion industry today and when your mum was your age: you have, on average, four times the clothes she did and you’ll have paid a lot less for them. Today, the lead time from a high street designer’s sketchbook to your closet is mere weeks. We want more clothes, and we want them faster and cheaper. To meet this demand, most production happens overseas: nearly 97% of our clothes are made by 40 million garment workers, most of them women in the developing world, bringing home less than $3 per day.

Ethical fashion means different things to different people, but generally it’s fashion that tries to avoid this complex system where low wages, forced or child labour, and harsh environmental impacts are more common than you might think. An ethical fashion brand might, to paraphrase the Ethical Fashion Forum, look at their entire operation — from the design of a dress down to the sourcing of the cotton — and try to have a positive impact on people with minimal environmental impact.

In practice, ethical fashion could be a lot of different things: clothing that is fair trade, or made from organic cotton; companies that ensure everyone that works for them makes a living wage; your neighbour’s Etsy shop. What ties them together is a commitment to the people who make our clothes and the environment around us all.

Once you start looking, you can find ethical fashion everywhere — you no longer have to compromise your style to keep your conscience happy.

How ethical is the fashion industry?

It’s hard to say — most brands still share very little about who makes our clothes. While researching Not My Style (available to download now ) our app that rates high street fashion brands on how much they share, we looked at 105 stores. More than a quarter shared absolutely nothing — not even an acknowledgment that their clothes were being made by someone, somewhere — on their website.

For quite some time, brands didn’t share that information because they don’t actually know it. For some, that’s still the case. It may sound crazy, but it’s been a fairly recent development that big fashion brands have even mapped their entire supply chain. Fewer still share that with the public.

While the best way to shop ethically is to buy from a brand that tells you everything you want to know about where your clothes are made and by whom, not all high street brands are created equal. In fact, quite a few of the brands that get the worst rap in the media are sharing the most information and trying to push the high street to higher standards.

The only real way to find out whether or not a brand shares your ethics is to ask them. Visit their website or ask in store or on social media. But you have to engage — if you don’t push them to share with you, they won’t.

Why is ethical clothing important?

One of the things we hear most from women who care about these issues is “it doesn’t matter what I do; I’m only one person.” That couldn’t be further from the truth. Your pound has power and where you choose to spend it matters. It’s been shown time and time again (Blackfish, anyone?) that when consumers demand more information and better practices, consistently and collectively, companies answer.

You’re not alone on your ethical fashion journey! To get you started, check out our three favourite brands this month:

American brand Reformation is having a moment — you can try on all their gorgeous wares at their London pop-up, open until March.

We fell in love with Nudie Jeans who offer stellar fitting unisex styles made from 100% organic cotton. They offer a lifetime repair warranty on their product, and take back jeans you’re tired of for a 20% discount on a new pair.

Manchester-based Beaumont Organic makes lots of lovely things, but it’s their chunky wool jumpers keeping us warm this winter.

Download the Not My Style app now for free to find out more about where your clothes come from.

Originally published at lifestyle.one on March 27, 2017.

Ethical Fashion: How To Shop With A Clear Conscience was originally published in notmystyleuk on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

A few weeks ago, I was chatting with an expert who invests to create change in the fashion supply chain. I was telling her about Not My Style, the app that my co-founders and I have been developing. Launching later this year, it will tell shoppers in very simple terms how much their favourite high street fashion brands share about the women and men who make their clothes.

“I love that idea,” she said. “But I’d never fund it.”

After I picked my (sad) jaw up off the floor, I asked why.

“I don’t think consumers of fast fashion will ever really change their behaviour enough to make a difference. They are only motivated by price — they’ll never care enough to make a real impact.”

Is she right? Is our effort futile? Is it true that nothing I do will ever make a difference (and thus, should I go out and buy bags of clothes immediately)?

The answer is no…but also, yes. I believe strongly that consumers do care and would make better shopping choices if information was accessible, convenient, and clear. But I also agree that no one’s managed to prove me right yet. With so many great efforts underway, why haven’t we as consumers forced brands to tell us who makes our clothes? Here are the top three challenges I see — and how to fix them:

1. Hello? Can anyone hear me? The world of ethical fashion is filled with smart, stylish, savvy people. It’s also small. Really small. After a year of going to talks, conferences, dinners, and shows, I find I keep running into the same people over and over again. What they say is brilliant, but it’s being said in an echo chamber. We need to go bigger and wider with our reach.

2. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

I don’t condone pachyderm consumption. This adage means that you solve big problems in small ways, one step (or bite) at a time.

There are plenty of reasons why the world of conscious consumers who demand information about where their clothes are made is so tiny — but it is partly because we’ve been lacking concrete ways to change our behaviour that don’t terrify us.

For example: No one who’s seen the True Cost of Fashion or participated in Fashion Revolution week can fail to be moved by the plight of the people making our clothes. The next question is what can I do? The answers are simple: shop less (and buy ethical), wear everything 30 times, invest in statement pieces. These answers are right. But for lovers of fast fashion, they are not easy.

When I was 16, I kept a notebook recording what I wore every day to make sure I didn’t repeat an outfit within a three week period. I worked at the mall over the summer JUST TO BE CLOSE TO THE CLOTHES. My head knows I have to buy less, but my heart wants that little black dress. For many people today, especially young(ish) women, buying new clothes makes us feel good. You can’t unpick that psychology all at once. You need to take it one bite at a time.

Today’s shoppers need to be nudged, not shoved. Small actions are what will create big behaviour changes.

3. I want it now.

Like many, many people, I am busy. So busy in fact that I rarely see or touch most of my food because I order it on an app and it shows up at my door. Living in London, I’m lucky. I don’t have to sacrifice convenience to know my food is sourced, reared or produced ethically.

Behaviour change comes faster when it’s easy. That’s not a criticism; it’s a fact. When we asked women in our focus groups when designing Not My Style to tell us what they wanted from us, they said they needed 100% accurate, thorough, detailed information…that they could digest in 30 seconds or less. Even when the information exists, most people don’t have the time or inclination to read a 200-page sustainability report.

Many people are value-driven but time poor. If we want fast fashion consumers to make a change in how they shop, they need information that is as valid and accurate as it is convenient and simple. If we can find solutions that tick those boxes for people, we can help them be better, more informed shoppers and use their purchasing power to push brands to share more, and do better for the men and women who make our clothes.

I can’t wait to prove the doubters wrong.

Originally published at www.huffingtonpost.co.uk on September 29, 2016.

Do We Really Care About Who Makes Our Clothes? was originally published in notmystyleuk on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

‘Ethical’, ‘sustainable’, ‘eco’, ‘green’, ‘transparent’, ‘slow’ — there are numerous buzzwords within sustainable fashion, but the message that this niche part of the industry is trying to portray still seems to exist within a vacuum. Now is the time that we all, collectively and individually, need to step up and change the way we approach fashion.

Do you wear clothes? Thought so. Fashion is a huge global issue, and anyone that wears clothes needs to sit up and pay attention to the harm that our increasingly rapid purchasing is causing, and then do something about it. It’s not enough simply recognising that there’s an issue; we need to act. News stories about safety breaches in garment factories, and women working for far less than a living wage, are commonplace. I worry that shoppers are disengaged with these tragic stories because they simply don’t know how to change their habits in a society where we’re overwhelmingly told to keep buying.

I work in the industry, yet many of my friends still don’t understand the concept of sustainable fashion. On a one-to-one level it’s easy to talk about and explain why the way we currently engage with fashion is harmful, and that we need to start changing this very quickly, but it’s difficult to communicate this message en-masse. After I explain why fast fashion is harmful, the next question from friends and family is always ‘but how can I shop sustainably?’ No matter how often I think about this, it’s still a difficult question to answer, but there are more and more ways we can start. Here are my top three reasons to start pro-actively supporting sustainability in fashion:

1. It doesn’t have to be expensive

My generation of millennials are earning less, with rent costing more, so saving up what’s left of any disposable income to spend on pretty sustainable fashion brands like Everlane or Reformation is an unrealistic goal. I’m also awful at sewing, despite having tried countless times. I can just about mend a few holes but I won’t be turning an unwanted dress into an amazing top any time soon, although I still won’t give up, and nor should you. It’s hard to make a big difference as just one person, but knowing that lots of people are also trying to change their attitude towards fashion is empowering. We all need to become part of this movement, to empower ourselves, and to empower the most vulnerable workers within the fashion industry.

2. Don’t give in to impulse buying

A quick Google search on tips to embrace ethical fashion will bring up some really great articles. Whenever I feel the urge to impulse buy I think of Lucy Siegle’s wise words from The True Cost (a must-watch if you haven’t already) and ask myself if I would definitely wear that item at least 30 times. Usually the answer is no, and I happily move on.

Talk about sustainable fashion amongst your friends, swap and borrow clothes for nights out and special events instead of buying something new. Embracing sustainable fashion will give your clothes greater meaning and lead you to enjoy them more. Well-loved clothes are clothes with a story, not cheap dresses we bought, wore once, and forgot about. When it comes to our wardrobes, quality really needs to reign over quantity.

This is difficult advice when it’s become normal in our society to buy new clothes weekly, and to never wear some of these items again, but once you start shifting towards sustainable fashion you’ll feel so much happier with, and in control of, your sartorial choices.

3. Quit following fast fashion on social media

The best thing we can do is become pro-active. Follow empowering accounts on social media, such as Fashion Revolution, and get rid of or unfollow all those #OOTD bloggers and fast fashion accounts. Someone I know recently captioned an Instagram photo of themselves posing before a night out with ‘love this outfit, shame I can’t wear it again now I’ve got a pic!’ This kind of throwaway attitude is alarming, but sadly not surprising. Social media is becoming increasingly image based, and instead of promoting the idea of re-purposing, re-styling, re-enjoying, sharing, and generally getting the most out of the clothes we already own, the loudest message on social media is to constantly present something brand new, no matter what the cost.

This doesn’t have to be the way, and I strongly feel a positive turn in the tide is coming. All we need to do, as individuals, is start questioning why we are buying something, if we’re going to love it for years to come (repair and rewear), and asking where it comes from and who made it. Social media can be a positive tool to help spread the sustainable fashion movement. Wear that amazing dress again and proudly post more pictures of it. Make use of apps like Not My Style, which launches this year, and will tell us how much information brands share about the women and men who make our clothes. Reach out to fashion brands that don’t measure up.

There’s no time like the present, so make this the year you commit to making more ethical wardrobe choices; when we all start to embrace the sustainable fashion movement, ‘eco fashion’, ‘green fashion’, ‘ethical fashion’, or ‘slow fashion’, will simply be known as ‘fashion’.

Originally published at www.huffingtonpost.co.uk on January 25, 2017.

Now Is The Time To Empower Ourselves Through Fashion was originally published in notmystyleuk on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The elusive British sun is starting to show, temperatures are creeping up, festival season is round the corner, and summer trends are hitting the shop floors. It’s tempting as hell to ditch our winter wardrobes and start afresh with some cute new clothes. But wait, how many times will you really wear that new floral bardot top? And how can we make informed choices about where to shop ethically on the high street?

We’ve all seen the news stories of garment workers being paid far less than a living wage, heard the tales of protests and unsafe working conditions, and watched the tales of refugee children being exploited in Turkish sweatshops. It’s absolutely heartbreaking, but at times it feels like something that consumers have no control over, making it seem easier to turn a blind eye and carry on with our fast fashion habits. Surely it’s the brands’ responsibility to fix this, not the consumers’? And will one more new dress really hurt?

Being able to love fashion whilst upholding moral standards seems impossible at times. But please don’t give in, or be put off — this article is here to help you get started in finding a balance between dressing up and doing the right thing with three easy steps.

1. Ask questions.

It doesn’t have to be difficult to be a savvy shopper, and finding out how much information brands share about the women and men who make our clothes is a good place to begin. Not My Style has just launched a sustainable fashion app that’s here to make shopping and having ethics SO much quicker and easier. The team behind Not My Style have scoured every corner of those impossibly complicated sustainability reports on each of the brands’ websites and then turned this information into digestible, quick ratings that we can all use to make informed choices. By seeking out and using this information we have the power to spend our money on brands that are taking active steps to improve their supply chains, and to call-out the brands that we want to do more. The app is linked to social media so get tweeting those brands you’re disappointed in. Fashion Revolution week is also coming up next week, with a host of ways you can get involved, including taking a snap of a favourite piece of clothing worn inside out to show the label, and then tweeting the photo to the brand who made it asking ‘#whomademyclothes?’

2. Look after your clothes.

Alongside spending your money carefully there are other simple steps you can take to become a savvy shopper. Invest in fewer pieces of higher quality, wear them more than 30 times, wash with care, and repair or recycle when your time together is over. Next time you’re tempted to buy something new have a good sort through the clothes you already own and see how you can repurpose and refresh the pieces you haven’t worn in a while. AEG have also recently launched the Care Label Project, featuring loads of great advice on caring for your clothes, most of which are super easy changes to the way we wash different fabrics, whilst also debunking a few myths such as ‘do not tumble dry’, which can actually help some garments live longer.

3. Use your consumer power

If we all use resources such as Not My Style, and put our money where our morals are, along with these other simple steps, brands will feel the pressure to clean up their supply chains and make sure that the women and men who make our clothes are safe and happy. We know it will work, take UNIQLO as a recent example; the brand caved to campaign pressure and released a list of their garment factories. The more information we all ask for, the more brands will respond. Wearing clothes we love, that have been made with love, by happy people, sounds pretty damn good to me.

Fashion is meant to be empowering, so let’s use our choices as consumers to band together and empower those who make our clothes, but currently don’t have the power we all deserve. We got this!

Originally published at www.huffingtonpost.co.uk on April 21, 2017.

A Beginner’s Guide To Becoming A Savvy Shopper was originally published in notmystyleuk on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.