What does "ethical" even mean at this point?
When I quit my corporate job to build a clothing brand, I knew exactly what I didn’t want to do: participate in the fast-fashion hamster wheel—pumping out trend-chasing clothing stitched together as cheaply and quickly as possible by people in a faraway factory not being paid a living wage.
The fashion world loves to toss around words like ethical, sustainable, and responsible, and it's frustrating to see how many use them as smoke and mirrors to hide ugly truths. In an industry where greenwashing is as common as polyester, the term “ethical” has lost its punch.
Here's my opinion - (even though no one has asked me for it, but my website, my rules, bitches ;)
Ethical is a commitment.
It’s a thousand tiny decisions made before a piece of clothing ever touches your hanger. And most of those decisions happen far away from the marketing copy on a website.
Let’s break down what “ethical” really means.
1. You Know Who Makes Your Clothing
Not the name of a factory.
Not a region on a map.
The actual people.
Ethical brands can tell you who stitched your coat, who inspected the seams, and who packed it into the box. Not because it sounds nice—but because they were there. They’ve walked the floor. They’ve shaken those hands.
When a brand is ethical, production partners aren’t just vendors. They’re collaborators.
Fast fashion hides the supply chain.
Ethical fashion knows the supply chain.
2. Workers are paid a living wage and work in safe conditions
Ethical clothing costs more because someone, somewhere, wasn’t exploited.
A $15 t-shirt has an invisible cost that we, as Americans, rarely have to see. It is costing another human who was unlucky enough to be born outside of the US their livelihood and their ability to live and work in safety with dignity while being paid a living wage.
When the only cost we look at is the price, we are choosing to sacrifice another human being's humanity for that cheap t-shirt.
Ethical brands ensure:
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A living wage, not a legal minimum wage.
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Reasonable work hours.
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Safe working environments.
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No child or forced labor
This does not require being made in the US. While I chose to make everything here to reduce emissions from shipping back and forth from overseas, there are factories outside of the US who are committed to ethical and safe conditions for their workers.
But - there aren't enough of them.
And when price is the first thing a brand focuses on, ethics are the first things they cut.
The goal is not to make clothing as cheap as possible.
The goal is to make clothing as responsibly as possible.
3. Materials Matter More Than Trends
Ethical brands start with fabrics that are built to last.
In fast fashion, fabric is the first place corners are cut. Why use wool when polyester is a fraction of the cost? Why line jackets if customers won’t notice the difference until after purchase?
Fabric is the difference.
Ethical brands choose:
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Natural and biodegradable fibers whenever possible such as wool, linen, silk, cupro, cotton
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Use high-quality linings which add years to a coat's wearability - viscose, cupro, silk
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Trims made to last - horn buttons, leather buckles, high-quality zippers
Why?
Because clothing should stay in your closet for years—not disintegrate in six months.
Ethical brands are also choosing to create higher quality items to reduce waste in the industry, which brings me to my next point:
4. Small Batches > Mass Production
Ethical fashion doesn’t chase volume. The number of styles Zara is pumping out every week is exhausting to watch as a consumer. Its also exhausting for the environment.
Fast fashion thrives on quick trends and overproduction. 40% of BRAND NEW items are never sold and end up in a landfill within 8 months of coming off the production line.
They want us to believe these brand new items are, at the very least, donated, but it's not the case. It takes too much energy and effort to donate unsold items when you're producing hundreds of thousands of pieces every weeks. So they are shipped (yet again) overseas and dumped.
Ethical brands produce intentionally, which means we:
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Produce in limited runs
- Focus on timeless styles versus quick trends
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Create Made-to-order or small-batch capsules
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Have a plan for unsold inventory - such as taking it to the local women's and children's shelter to bless those in need
We’d rather sell out than overproduce.
5. Repair, Rewear, Repeat
Ethical clothing assumes longevity. Fast fashion assumes disposability.
Instead of “How fast can I get this out the door?” ethical brands ask:
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Will this still feel relevant in 10 years?
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Can it be repaired instead of replaced?
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Does the construction support years of wear?
Ethical clothing is built with the expectation that you’ll live in it—travel with it, grow with it, maybe even hand it down.
I remember the first Donna Karan New York wool coat I purchased when I was a broke 19-year old college student. I lived in a city which experienced real winters, and I was freezing on my walks between classes with only my puffy vest and sweatshirt for warmth.
The problem was: I was broke. My budget was $7 per day for everything: clothing, coffee, gas, movies, every essential other than food.
I searched for weeks for a warm coat I could afford, and I finally found a beautiful, wool Donna Karan coat at Macy's on a steep discount. Even at 60% off, the price was hard for me to swallow. But I buckled and bought it.
Let me tell you - I still think about that coat. I wore it until the lining disintegrated. Then, I had a tailor put in a new lining and wore it until it disintegrated again. I only got rid of it when I could no longer fit into it comfortably.
When I am designing a coat, I think about my customer, and if she will be able to wear it for the next 10 years. If she will love it enough to fix the lining when it's finally given up after 500 wears.
