On 16 October (next Wednesday) UK ethical fashion blogger Ms Wanda.com will be hosting a worldwide conversation on "human friendly fashion".
Bloggers around the world will come together to talk about fashion and human rights, as part of Blog Action Day.
A consortium of ethical fashion bloggers from as far and wide as the UK, Australia and India have joined forces to be part of the important conversation.
What is "human friendly fashion" and why take part in the campaign?
From a practical sense, wearing clothes might be as simple as covering our modesty and keeping warm or cool in weather variances, however, it is no lie that many of us love to wear clothes in a fashion sense which can be interpreted as so much more.
When we put together an outfit, we could be expressing our own personal style, representing who we are, or demonstrating how we are feeling. This could be as simple as choosing a particular colour to wear on a certain day, just because it makes us feel good.
When we dress to make us look or feel a certain way, where are we sourcing our new fashion pieces to achieve such looks?
From an environmental standpoint, where our clothes are manufactured and the waste created by the fashion industry is a huge problem in our big wide world. From an ethical view, who makes the clothes we choose to buy, and in what working conditions?
There is much talk of ethical fashion, brands that produce clothing made with minimal impact to our environment, with sustainable fabrics, and made by individuals that are not exploited in less than ideal working conditions. I'm all for that and 100% support ethical fashion brands by wearing such brands as Humanitees, Ettitude, Etiko as well as others.
What I tend to promote more and demonstrate on this blog is our choice to source secondhand and recycled fashion. Recycled fashion mean buying (or re-creating) garments that are already in existence, not completely taking away the question of where and how these clothes have been produced, but does support ethical fashion in a different sense; saving fabric from landfill for one.
:: Hawaiian Muumuu Refashion ::
:: DIY Tie-Dye Wrap Blouse ::
Made with Fabric Wall-hanging
Buying thrift fashion also means supporting charitable causes when choosing to buy from secondhand charitable stores, some of which support humanitarian causes closer to home. (In Australia I refer to such charities as Salvation Army, Brotherhood of St Laurence, St Vincent de Paul Society, Shekinah Homeless Services and more)
This may classify human friendly fashion differently, but nevertheless supports a human friendly and sustainable way of obtaining fashion.
:: Pop Up Op Shop supporting Shekinah Homeless Services ::
You can read more on Ms Wanda's campaign day here. If you are a blogger reading this and would like to sign up to the Human Friendly Fashion Blogger Consortium you can do so here.