Valuable knowledge

By Sophie Holmes 28 : 06 : 2016 Australia : Fashion : Ethical Fashion

Melbourne – Online store Well Made Clothes enables fashion enthusiasts to shop ethically.

The store highlights each brand’s ethical values, such as fair labour and environmental sustainability
Well Made Clothes aims to challenge the stereotype that ethically produced clothes are unfashionable

The fashion industry continues to struggle with ethical issues including the use of cheap labour and the need for brands to demonstrate their sustainability credentials in the wake of disasters such as the devastating 2013 Rana Plaza collapse.

Well Made Clothes enables consumers to shop for a curated selection of ethical brands such as Limb and Dress Up. Each label that features on the website has met at least one of the store’s eight values criteria and signed a code of conduct to confirm that their supply chain meets basic fair practice standards.

The process ensures a degree of transparency between consumer and brand, and helps buyers to understand the process behind their garments.

‘The heart of Well Made Clothes is to provide all the information that we can about the fashion industry and the products we sell to enable our readers and customers to make informed consumer decisions,’ explains co-founder Courtney Sanders.

The Big Picture

Ethical consumption is entering the mainstream as consumers increasingly demand transparency from brands. For more on supply chain transparency, see our interview with Maxine Bédat, co-founder of ethical online-only store Zady.