BBC's Online Eco-Fashion Magazine
For Eco-Friendly Organizations, Organic Products & Ethical Trends
With the demand for ethical fashion growing by the minute, the BBC has recently launched a new online eco-friendly fashion magazine called Thread.
Internet blogs are abuzz these days with a plethora of just-launched "green" products. For those who are interested in eco-friendly fashion, the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) has just launched, Thread, a dedicated green, ethical fashion magazine. According the BBC's press release of 16 April 2008, the magazine is geared to shoppers who believe elthical fashion is a worthwhile cause, but do not know where to get information on how to be sustainable and stylish.
According to the Telegraph newspaper, Thread is “said to cut to the heart of what ethical fashion means,” and it is broken down into features, videos and useful information regarding stockists, new products and hard hitting stories about the real cost of cut-price women's fashion.
Thread: Fashion Without Victim, to include its slogan, was launched on April 22 2008 (Earth Day) and is aimed predominantly at eco-conscious 16-to-30 year-olds. More and more young people are interested in eco-friendly fashion and the launch of the site has been timed to coincide with a BBC four-part television series, “Blood Sweat and Tears”, where a group of teenage fashionistas go to India to find out first-hand how their disposable high-street fashion outfits are made.
In the Daily Mail’s article of 16 April 2008, “We’ll never buy cheap fashion again: What six teenagers said after working in an Indian sweatshop,” these young women vow never to buy budget fashion, after working up to 18 hours a day for four weeks in a New Delhi workshop.
Eco-Friendly Features
In its online features, Thread intends to cover issues such as the hidden cost of cut-price clothes and the impact our shopping choices make to the fashion industry.
It analyses what ethical fashion really means (and how it has evolved) and highlights both human and animal rights when it comes to producing clothes – from the factory to high-street stores.
There is a Style File, incorporating the latest trends and a section on the ever-growing range of organic fashion products from green jeans to underwear, and ballet flats to tote bags.
According the BBC, it will also offer ideas on how to give your wardrobe an ethical makeover through buying used or new clothing, swapping items with friends and customising existing outfits.
List of Ethical Organizations
Thread includes a useful who’s who of ethical organizations, including the Ethical Fashion Forum (EFF), a network of organizations and designers who focus on social and environmental issues within the fashion industry.
Eco-Friendly Fashion Glossary
The site includes an eco-friendly fashion glossary to keep us up-to-date with evolving terms. It defined ethical fashion as “fashion that has been made, worn and passed on in a way that looks after people, animals and the environment.”
It includes the green term shwopping, which refers to parties or websites where people exchange clothes they no longer wear, and sustainable, producing clothes in a way that’s less damaging to the environment.
The site itself has an eco-friendly feel. It is simplistic in is design, with basic fonts and is devoid of advertising with no annoying pop-up promotional menus vying for your attention. It has a very economic format, in keeping with the green theme, and given that is it still in its first month of launch, has the potential to keep on growing.
Designer Katherine Hamnett says of the magazine, “Thread is great because ethical fashion promises to be the next big thing and not just a passing fad.”
For more information visit Thread:Fashion Without Victim, via the BBC's website.
