ZARA
This fast-fashion giant has fuelled a frenzy of global shopping, much to the benefit of owner Amancio Ortega, the world’s second-richest person. But little of that success has trickled down to those stitching the clothes. In 2011 and then again in 2013, the company was accused of using slave/forced labour in Brazil and Argentina. And just this spring, another report called out further labour rights abuses triggered by Zara’s price and timeline squeeze on suppliers. The company does offer lots of organic kids clothes, but most of its knits are either made of polluting petrol-based acrylic, nylon or polyamide or conventional pesticide-intensive, GMO-heavy cotton.
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ERDAINE
Quality Canadian sweater maker Erdaine manufactures all its knits in Burnaby, BC, using fine merino wool. The yarn, spun in Italy, meets the EU’s tough REACH laws around dyes and chems and is also OEKO-TEX Standard 100-certified, which means it’s been tested for hazardous substances. The one downer: much of its wool comes from Australia and, so like most Australian merino wool, isn’t necessarily mulesing-free. However, their wool supplier does have an animal welfare code. Available at Chartreuse Style, Distill, Logan & Finley and Trove as well as from erdaine.ca.
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PRANA
Columbia Sportswear-owned prAna is sort of the Patagonia of the yoga world. Like Patagonia it still uses a lot of conventional fibres, but about half of prAna’s sweaters weave in organic cotton, recycled polyester, recycled wool and hemp. For its conventional wool, prAna has no longer allows sheep mulesing. It also carries a few dozen certified fair trade items and is now a certified B Corporation. Though a handful of garments are made in the U,S., most are made in China at Fair Labour Association-accredited factories. Available at mec.ca and prana.com.
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PRELOVED/JENNIFER FUKUSHIMA
Both Preloved and designer Jennifer Fukushima (formerly known as Paper People Clothing) have moved away from using exclusively reconstructed vintage textiles and now incorporate some conventional fibres into the mix. Fukushima’s knit blazers and cardis often use OEKO-TEX Standard 100-certified recycled wool and cotton (jenniferfukushima.com). And Preloved (getpreloved.com) mixes reclaimed vintage with deadstock and surplus materials. Both are sweatshop-free, locally made and sturdily constructed to last you through plenty of winters.
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SUSAN HARRIS DESIGN
For a while there, a lot of Canadian designers were working with upcycled knits, but Toronto’s Susan Harris is one of the few still using 100 per cent upcycled materials for her original knit shawls, skirts, sweaters and more – all über-eco, locally made in Toronto and guilt-free. Harris, along with two of my other fave local upcycling fashionistas, Honeybea Designhive and Embody Clothing, will be at the One Of A Kind show, November 26-December 6. You can also score Harris’s stuff from her shop in the Distillery. susanharrisdesign.ca.
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