DESIGNERS' COMMITMENTS INCLUDE:

The vocation of ETHICAL TRADE PLACE® is to make sure that the designers respect the Charter of good conduct.

The quality of the answers to the questionnaire (available upon request) is determining for the referencing in the website.

 1. Fashion designed and produced in conditions that respect people :

Respecting working conditions in accordance with International Labour Organisation conventions, i.e.:

> Banning forced labour.
> Introducing a fair minimum wage at every step of the entire supply chain (raw materials' producer, manufacturer, designer), allowing workersto meet their basic needs.
> Imposing a maximum for working hours (48h per week).
> Ensuring adequate health and safety measures are taken at work.
> Ensuring trade union freedom.
> Allowing the right to meet, form associations and negotiate collectively.
> Eradicating discrimination.

Ethical fashion contributes to the development of communities through sustainable actions:

> Long-term business relationships.
> Fair worker wages.
> Building or improving water, electricity, transport, educational infrastructures…
> Respecting the customs and cultures of communities without seeking to impose a particular way of thinking or designing, and give priority to dialog.

Respecting intellectual property:

> Ethical fashion always bears the designer's name.

 2. Fashion which decreases the environmental impact of the textile industry, from fabric design to manufacturing to recycling :

By favouring the use of raw materials and agents which have the least possible impact on the environment (during their production, use, and removal).

> Promoting recovered or recycled raw materials  (agricultural, plastic…), or low polluting materials (hemp, linen, organic cotton...).
> The use of agents free of heavy-metals and toxic chemicals (biodegradable dyes, natural starch…) for dyeing, printing, glueing.
> Ensuring waste recycling over the whole supply chain: biodegradable materials, working with companies that treat their waste (solvents, bleaching agents).
> From the design stage on, ensuring that clothes and accessories are durable and easy to clean.

 3. Fashion which preserves traditional skills :

By promoting partnerships with local artisans, ethical fashion ensuresthat culture-specific skills are promoted, sustained, and maintained.

> Ethical fashion seeks to avoid uniformity in design. Local skills give designs a diversity and uniqueness which symbolises different cultures, personalities, and styles.