Chic Without the Suffering: Fashion Displays Its Ethical Face

The final champagne corks of Paris fashion week may have popped last week, but a fashion show with a difference opened in the French capital yesterday, as designers from more than 40 countries arrived for the world's largest event devoted solely to eco and Fair trade clothes.

The Ethical Fashion Show, which runs for the next four days, showcases designs as luxurious and chic as one might hope for in the birthplace of haute couture, but with a twist - every one is made with either environmental and social concerns at heart. Products on display include hand-embroidered coats from Kabul, colorful cross-woven bags made using ancient weaving techniques in Brazil, and silver Fair trade jewelery from villages in China. The event, which is the brainchild of designer Isabelle Quéhé, was set up in 2004 to promote the work of ethical designers and create a forum where they could share ideas and be introduced to new markets.

"My other half is a cameraman," Quéhé said, "and he shot a movie in Niger featuring a catwalk show by an African designer. I thought, well, Paris is supposed to be the capital de la mode, but we don't support anything like this, and we should."

Under Quéhé's direction the event has grown from a handful of exhibitors in a cold warehouse to 83 designers occupying the whole of the Tapis Rouge, a showroom that was the first department store in Paris. There are awards for the best designs, including a contract with the mainstream fashion company La Redoute, which has 15 million customers in France alone.

Some of the highlights of the opening day were the simplest pieces - beautifully cut shift dresses and jersey tops from the organic French company Les Racines du Ciel, black cotton mini-dresses from Norwegian designers Fin, and plant-dyed silk dresses by Dutch label Van Markoviec, so light that wearing them treads dangerously close to nudity.

Several British designers have also made the trip to Paris, including Emmeline Child, whose label Emmeline 4 Re sources discarded garments from the Salvation Army and styles them into unique pieces. Another British designer, Isobel Lane, started the first organic vegetable box scheme in the UK and now devotes herself to saving endangered sheep, fashioning their wool into cashmere-soft coats and knits.

Meanwhile last night, another British retailer which produces ethical clothing free from animal-derived materials clinched a fashion award from the RSPCA. First-time entrant Wildlife works UK was crowned winner of the fashion retailer category in the RSPCA's good business awards, while the Lush chain of beauty shops took top prize in the cosmetics category for the second year running. Marks and Spencer picked up the top award in the large fashion retailer category and also became this year's "most progressive" company for adopting a cruelty-free cosmetics policy.

The awards, now in their third year, recognize the top animal welfare achievers in fashion, beauty and food cosmetics. Ethical consumerism is now worth £29.3bn a year, according to a recent report from the Cooperative bank.

One of the judges of the fashion category, designer Wayne Hemingway, said: "The caliber and quantity of this year's entries was higher than it has ever been, indicating that the independent fashion world is rightly now taking note of the importance of animal welfare to consumers.

"Most people are appalled, for example, by the use of real fur or crocodile skin and the thought of animals being cruelly treated or killed in the name of fashion. In spite of blind resistance by some out-of-step designers and a seeming reluctance by most multiples to make ethical inroads, the companies nominated this year have shown a great deal of creativity and care, and come up with viable business models with animal welfare at their heart."

David Bowles, RSPCA head of external affairs, said: "We congratulate all the winners in this year's good business awards. It is truly gratifying to see the steps all of them are taking to ensure higher animal welfare practice from farm gate to plate, from creation to application, and from design to clothes rail."