MADE-BY launches ‘jargon busting’ fashion calendar

Ethical fashion has brought with it a new language, with terms such as ‘sustainability’ and ‘fair trade’ becoming part of both the fashion journalist and consumer’s vocabulary. Unfortunately, however, these terms can be confusing, which is where MADE-BY’s chic ‘jargon busting’ calendar comes in. George Walker writes.

Sometimes it seems that the fashion world makes up a word a week: ‘jeggings’, ‘peasant-chic’, ‘shants’ – it all gets very confusing. Some new terms, however, are important for shaping the way we understand and engage with fashion. Ethical fashion terms are a case in point. Ethical brands need to be clear about why they call themselves ethical, with definitive terms that outline what ‘ethical’ really is.

MADE-BY said: “Part of the problem is that there is often no established usage in the fashion industry for some of these new [ethical fashion] terms. Many of these words are not even defined in the dictionary yet.”

MADE-BY’s new calendar features images from top ethical designers who have collaborated with MADE-BY, including Kuyichi (pictured above), Edun and Claudia Strater (pictured below.) Alongside the beautiful pictures are definitions of key terms such as ‘organic cotton’ and ‘natural’.  It’s a stylish guide to the ethical fashion world, which is guaranteed to make you a more assured ethical shopper.

We asked MADE-BY’s UK General Manager, Allanna McAspurn, if she thought some fashion labels were exploiting ethical fashion terms to make a profit. She said: “Some brands are at times not able to fully substantiate the claims that they make around sustainability. I think this is often down to them not fully understanding the terms they are using, rather than setting out to deliberately misuse the terminology.”

At the Copenhagen Fashion Summit last year, Financial Times Fashion Editor Vanessa Friedman talked about the need for clear definitions about ethical fashion. She said: “If I say ‘sustainable’ and you say ‘sustainable’ is one of us talking about employment issues and one of us talking about the environment? It is important to be clear about what you are saying and what it means.”

The A2 calendar was launched last weekend at the Pure Womenswear tradeshow.