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Do you want to know the difference between Eco-friendly and Fair Trade? Do you know what's Zero Waste fashion? This post should answer all the basic questions about ethical fashion tags. Zero Waste - using this method the brand literally swears, there is nothing thrown away during the whole production. Did you know 15% of fabric is left on the cutting floor and sent to landfill even before being used? Well not with Zero Waste. Brands either use special cuts, where every centimetre of a fabric is part of the cut, or they do cuts the “regular” way and then reuse every scrap. Like Zero Waste Daniel or Tonlé. Fair Trade – clothes and goods with this certificate ensure customers that every person in the supply chain is known and has equal rights. Everyone is paid a fair amount of money for their job and since the companies choose very carefully their suppliers, they also care about their environmental and social standards. It is a more transparent way of trading, and every company with “Fair Trade” tag should be able to answer the question: Who made my clothes? Eco-friendly - the impact on the environment should be minimal. This involves the farming, dying processes and transportation. But be aware that this tag is being overused, so always look more closely. Bio/ Organic - the crops are grown using methods and materials that have a low impact on the environment. There is no use of synthetic pesticides or fertilizers, the seeds cannot be genetically modified and the amount of water is significantly reduced. Organic farming also involves crop rotation which protects the soil from degrading. The dyeing and finishing of organic cottons also follow a strict procedure for chemical use in processing, eliminating all materials harmful to the body and the environment. Always look for GOTS certification on the clothes. Is there a difference between bio and organic? Some sources will tell you that organic cotton can be grown only in areas where it would grow naturally. However, brands and certifications don't seem to share the idea and generally, there is no difference between those two. Vegan - vegan is simply vegan. No parts of animals are used in these products, but remember to look for other tags like fair trade and find out more about the materials used, because even synthetic footwear is now sometimes considered “ecological”. For example Malai (made from coconut waste) or Pinatex is a great replacement for leather: “…is made of fiber from the leaves of the pineapple plant. These leaves are discarded from the pineapple harvest, so the raw material requires no additional environmental resources to produce.” Most commonly we are looking for a vegan alternative to shoes and my personal favorite ethical brands are: Bourgeois Boheme, Bohempia (a Czech brand which produces orthopedic shoes from hemp) and Inkkas (brand from Peru; for every shoe they plant a tree). Have some more questions? Don't hesitate to ask in the comments below or write me an email on gabriela@lapena.cz.

As costumers we are the driver of trends. Every time we buy something, we’re voting with our wallet. When we speak, brands and governments listen. So let's speak up! Why? Don't be behind on Insta and make the best selfie, which will increase the number of your followers and will have a positive impact on the future of the fashion industry. How? Take your favorite piece of clothing. Turn it inside out to show the label. Selfie time! Now take your selfie... Post the selfie on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, tag the brand and use #WhoMadeMyClothes. Now you can just watch how many likes you get ;)

My presentation “Loved Clothes Last” had about 150 participants keen to know what’s going on behind the fashion labels. I would like to thank everybody once again for coming, listening and asking some tough questions! I was not able to answer all of them properly, so in the following days, I will write couple posts giving further info. So let’s dig in by reviewing what we found out… During the presentation, we learnt that our clothes have gone a long way before hitting the shelves in our beloved stores, passing through the hands of farmers, spinners, weavers, dyers, sewers and others. Approximately 75 million people work to make our clothes. 80 % of them are women between the ages of 18 and 35.* However, half of these people (about 36 million) work in a modern slavery. This means they usually work in an unsafe environment, don’t get paid the living wage, have to face excessive hours, forced overtime and/ or sexual harassment. These people are being exploited just because we want cheaper clothes and faster production. We also found out, that the fashion industry is the second dirtiest in the world. One drop of aldicarb can be lethal, yet it is the second most common insecticide in the cotton farming. Dying processes involve other toxic chemicals (like formaldehyde, chlorine, lead, mercury,…), which cause health difficulties for the workers. These chemicals are then dumped directly into the rivers and so we are facing the extinction of aquatic life, and contamination of the drinking water, soil and the air in the areas. Well, we at Discover English are not willing to accept to shop under these terms! And luckily, we are not alone… Fashion Revolution is a global movement calling for a fairer, safer, cleaner, more transparent fashion industry.* As citizens and consumers — our questions, our voices, our shopping habits can have the power to help change things for the better. We are the driver of trends. Every time we buy something, we’re voting with our wallet. When we speak, brands and governments listen.* So let’s speak up! *information from the fashionrevolution.org