Ethical and sustainable fashion has come a long way since the movement really started taking off in the 90s. There's still way too much yogawear and graphic t-shirts in that space, but the tide is turning.
Maiyet
2013 brought the first cohort of Fair Trade certified clothing and shoes, certified by Fairtrade USA (Fairtrade International is continuing to work on standards). Previously, only agricultural products were able to be certified, not manufactured ones.
Cotton— the fabric of our lives– as an agricultural product, is currently eligible for certification by Fairtrade Int'l and Fairtrade USA. The complication comes in certifying an entire supply chain which creates a single garment.
This article at Entrepreneur explains how factory workers in the garment industry will benefit from Fairtrade USA auditing, pricing, and certification:
All workers at Fair Trade certified factories receive a Fair Trade "premium" paid by the brand hiring the supply services. That extra money goes into a single, collective bank account controlled by the laborers in the factory. The workers themselves then vote to decide whether they will use their Fair Trade premium for a community need or pay it out as a cash bonus to each employee. In Liberia, Fair Trade factory workers voted to use their disbursement to support a local school. In India, factory workers are considering establishing a computer training center and clean water projects in nearby villages with their disbursement.
Here's a great short video that gives you a window into how Fair Trade works for small cotton farmers:
On the Trail of Fairtrade Cotton from Fairtrade International on Vimeo.
And if you've been skimming the news headlines for the past 5+ years or so, you may have an inkling into why organic and fair trade cotton is so super important.
Here's the current list of Fair Trade USA certified apparel and home brands.
There are gajillions of other ethical fashion companies, social enterprises, sustainable designer brands out there who are doing the right thing, but don't happen to be using Fair Trade-certified factories. If you find something to covet, do some snooping around on their about pages and in the ethical and eco-fashion media to check out their standards and their reputation.