To read the rest of this post go to Drapers on Line

Update:
Designers of New Couture do not copy other designers work - they have the ethics of a fine tailor; they are not like the typical dress maker who will copy a garment.

I’m sure many of you watched Panorama: Primark: On the Rack last night.

I like when I go into a shop and there is signage about the shop’s ethical policies. I want to believe them but I have this nagging feeling …it’s too good to be true feeling…I should know better. In my head it’s just common knowledge that cheap garments equal some kind of exploitation. I’ve had nothing to prove it - this was just a something I taught from a very young age. I’ve always felt people should be paid what the job is worth to you, not the least amount you can get them to do it for - that’s a mentality that I hate. Anyway I think when people read the signs in shops about ethical labour policies they want to trust the retailer. It’s easier and if it’s a policy it must be true and it puts our mind at ease. Even if on some level we know or can’t believe that a top only costs a fiver; the shop has a policy, so it must be OK. After a programme like Panorama it’s all most impossible to for us the consumer to claim ignorance. What will retailers have to do to gain consumer trust?

Check out:
Ethical Trading Initiative
War on Want

Update: Primark Speaks Out
Primark director Breege O’Donoghue speaks out: watch the video at www.ethicalprimark.com