This week the ethics of fast or throwaway fashion are on the agenda, if not yet grabbing the headlines.  There are two conversations taking place that are open to the public.  The first is a debate hosted by Intelligence Squared  taking place on Wednesday 6th November @7pm at the Victoria and Albert Museum.  The debate was sparked by the V&A’s recent acquisition of a pair of Primark jeans that may well have been made in the Rana Plaza factory in Bangladesh, which collapsed in April killing over a thousand workers.

There are many factories around the world where people work long hours, for low wages in conditions that are far from those regulated in the UK.  When campaigners argue that 15p more on the labour cost of each pair of jeans would give workers a fair deal, the debate asks why that isn’t happening? How can we get to a better alternative?

Hot on the (vertigous) heels of the Intelligence Squared event, Livia Firth, the creative director of Eco-Age and the Green Carpet Challenge, a project to promote sustainable fashion, will be in discussing her career at the Apple Store on Regent Street on 11th November @6pm.  I shall be there listening as the debate about challenges and dilemmas of throwaway consumption extend beyond fashion.

Related articles

• How ethical are high-street clothes? (theguardian.com)
• London fashion week given ethical slant by Green Carpet Challenge (theguardian.com)