Last week revealed Gap, the high street fashion brand, use child labour. Despite the label’s pledge to an Ethical Trading Initiative, the discovery of a 10 year old boy working without pay for four months shows a lack of control from the company to instigate the initiative’s guidelines.

An earlier investigation in June placed Sir Philip Green, director of TopShop, in similar hot waters. An undercover journalist revealed Mauritius factory conditions, producing garments for the store, to be failing to maintain ethical trading standards.

Cardiff was the first capital to achieve the title of ‘Fair Trade City’. Nonetheless, Queen Street houses these high street names that have come into question. With ‘fair trade capital’ and ‘Gap uses child labour’ existing within one city; Cardiff’s title suddenly becomes redundant.

The inability to fulfil ethical responsibilities and uphold such titles questions the ambiguity of other commitments. Is eco-fashion really as green as we, the consumers, are made to believe?

The term ‘eco-fashion’ has been coined to refer to fashionable and stylish clothing that has been manufactured using environmentally friendly processes; Eco fashion clothing can use recycled materials such as eco-fleece produced from recycled plastic bottles.

Eco fashion is a notion that is tinting the industry’s spotlight green. It has even moved to the forefront of many highstreet shoppers’ minds, post the departing comments of Jane Shepherdson, the influential TopShop brand director: “We should always question if something is very, very cheap and think that if you, the consumer, aren’t paying for it, then someone, somewhere down the line, is paying”.

However, these significant voices present a danger, as they have the power to associate ‘organic’, ‘fair trade’ and ‘green’ as one dimensionally right and world saving.

The high street, and its attempt to infuse eco-fashion-however small a percent of floor space it covers in seasonal collections-should be applauded, as it does more than offer the public ‘green fashion’, it contributes to a continually evolving mindset of environmental awareness. Nonetheless, it fails to endorse its concepts of good equals green, as it continues to juxtapose right and wrong: presenting garments on plastic hangers and giving purchased items in plastic bags.

Eco-fashion encourages an intellectual awareness of the planet’s need for sustainability; however, it can be seen to thrive on the consumer’s unaware ignorance that does not question companies’ ability/reluctance to fulfil the green values of eco-fashion. In essence, the notion fails through its ironic lack of environmentally-friendly processes. Transportation, machinery and packaging are all factors that hinder the success of the term ‘eco fashion’, the three case studies below examine the successes and failings of different green fashion lines, covering both a national and local scale they explore their contributions to eco-fashion and their commitment to ensuring their products are green, from start to finish.

“Organics” is a brand-buzz that’s fast becoming a catchphrase with most high-street fashion labels but do the prodtioand manufacturing processes reflect such green initiatives? London Fashion Week had “a catwalk show with a conscience” this year as most models wore clothes made out of recycled material. Materials like car seats, bicycle inner tubes and fireman’s trousers were used to create products to woo a huge set of customers who set their eyes on environmentally-friendly clothes.

“People are becoming more and more environmentally aware,” said Cyndi Rhodes of green group Anti-Apathy, which works with firm Terra Plana to create “eco-shoes”.

Terra Plana’s brand, Worn Again, now uses discarded and discontinued stock to create its range of high-fashion shows. Prison blankets, military jackets, jeans, shirts and car seat leather have all been used.

In fact following the successful launch of its 100% organic lining in spring, H&M has introduced their “organic cotton” for this autumn too. The Organic collection, which is on sale in all departments in all H&M stores, includes everything from underwear to outer garments but the packaging still includes the use of plastic hangers.

Besides, the labour laws are most often flouted when it comes down to organic cottons as the manufacturing takes place in most developing countries like India where most labourers are either not paid well or paid a meagre sum. Ethically, the purpose of conservation and environmentally-friendliness is lost!

The transportation continues to be the same as used for all other non-green products. The modes of transport in the manufacturing process and other retail purposes still continue to use fuel that is non-environment-friendly. The huge number of polythene bags that are used in stores such as H&M and New Look are enough to create waste material that is non-biodegradable.

Hence the fact remains that methods involved in the manufacturing, processing and sale of such products remain as non-ethical and non eco-friendly. Real effort needs to be harnessed in the direction of not just making eco-fashion a promo-tactic or a publicity gimmic but to actualise it in the manufacturing processes and methods of each industry and company.

Despite the fashion industry having given a boost to the go-green campaign, the effort needs to be actualised in the context of practices within the brands concerned.