The Fableists Go Bananas! Get a Fairtrade Fortnight Discount

Fairtrade Fortnight is 24 February to 9 March.

This year, to celebrate the annual Fairtrade Fortnight, The Fairtrade Foundation has launched a new campaign, Make Bananas Fair, asking the UK public to help end the supermarket price wars, including a petition asking the government to urgently step in and investigate the impact of retailer pricing practices.

Bananas have always been one of the main symbols of the Fairtrade movement. They are one of the most popular foods in the world and absolutely indispensable for anyone with children. They often form the basis of a baby’s first tastes and textures. They are a quick, portable and simple meal for toddlers, an ideal after-school snack, terrific before sports and just plain delicious. They are worth every penny at the double the price we are currently paying in supermarkets. Tell me – would you stop buying bananas if they were twice as expensive? They would still be an absolute bargain.

Paying just a bit more for our bananas would make a huge difference in the lives of banana farmers and labourers. It would mean they were paid fairly.

You can sign the ‘Make Bananas Fair’ petition and find everything else relating to Fairtrade Fortnight over on the campaign microsite.

Fairtrade is about better prices, decent working conditions, local sustainability, and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers in the developing world. Doesn’t that make sense?

The Fableists clothing is made in Fairtrade certified factories. To celebrate Fairtrade Fortnight, The Fableists is offering 15% off all orders until March 9th.

Enter the code fairtradefortnight in the coupon box in your shopping basket before going to check out, to take advantage of this offer.

The Story of our Denim

Classic Straight Cut Denim Jeans

There isn’t an exact equation that generically calculates the sustainability of an item. A rough definition says that a sustainable business operates on a triple bottom line, with profit, ethics and environmental considerations all sharing equal importance.

At The Fableists, we also think that how an item will be used and discarded are a really important factor in its sustainability. That’s why we aim to make most of our clothes so that they can be worn by both boys and girls, year round, and they won’t go out of style. They are made to be worn a lot and to be passed on. When there is no life left in them, we will take them back and make something new out of them.

Buying denim that is made as sustainably as possible is a great place to start when thinking about sustainable fashion. First of all, pretty much everyone wears denim. Jeans are so versatile and so well-loved. But mass produced jeans have a sizeable environmental footprint. It has been calculated that the amount of water used to make just one pair of basic jeans is 42 litres. Some experts calculate the amount to be much higher and Levi Strauss & Co.’s research shows that the average pair of jeans will consume about 4,000 litres of water in its lifetime. This numbers covers the cotton growing all the way through the washing.

Missy wears Classic Jeans and the Western Shirt

It’s no secret that cotton requires huge amounts of water to grow. That is why we choose to get our cotton from farmers who work in monsoon-fed regions of India, where tonnes of rainwater is harvested to water the crops.

Another factor that makes jeans not quite so cool, is the huge amounts of toxic chemicals used to grow non-organic cotton but also to dye the fabric. Once the denim has been dyed, a lot of fast fashion brands then subject it to a series of toxic chemical baths in order to achieve the desired finish or rinse on the jeans. Chemicals used to produce artificial finish on denim include chemicals such as cadmium, lead, copper and mercury. To achieve a worn look, sandblasting is often use, which can cause tuberculosis or silicosis in workers. ‘Stone washed’ jeans are weathered using volcanic pumice stones, which break down and the pumice dust can enter the local water supply.

At The Fableists, our jeans are thick so that they’ll last and don’t need repeated washings. They are dark because they haven’t been treated by toxic chemicals. They have neat stitching and no fake wear marks. We’re sure your kids will be terrific at putting those wear marks in themselves.

Apache is wearing the Classic Jeans with Baseball Shirt and Veja shoes

The Fableists’ denim is made just for us. The cotton is certified organic by GOTS, so it is not grown with loads of poisonous insecticides. We work with a collective of small holding or marginal farmers who, by working together, have been able to negotiate fair prices for their crops, making farming sustainable in their region. The collective have also educated the individual farmers on water wastage, storage and efficient organic farming methods. The factories we use also employ a closed loop system for their dying so that dye won’t seep in to the surrounding ecosystem. Our factories use a reverse osmosis system to purify the water so that it can be re-used. The majority of the process water is recycled. Our dye house also uses rice husk, a waste product from the processing of rice, to generate steam. They do not burn fossil fuels.

The Fableists recommends reducing the amount you wash your denim items. This can be tricky with kids but stains and marks can often be spot cleaned with a cloth and some soapy water. If odours develop, try putting jeans in the freezer, which kills the bacteria that cause the odour, or hang them in the bathroom while you have a shower. The steam will take out wrinkles and odours.

Obviously, kids can be tough on their clothes and when they’ve been crawling through mud and grime, there is nothing to be done but put them in the washer. When the clothes have reached their limits, then be sure to wash in cold water and hang dry.

If a hole develops in the jeans, they can be patched, or cut down in to shorts. Don’t just throw them away! Send them back to us and we’ll give you a discount off your next purchase.

We know you’ll love our jeans. They are cut extra-long to leave room for your little punk to grow in to them. They look just as great with a big turn up! They look cool on girls and boys and are adorable on the littler ones. They also feature an elasticated inner belt on the waist to cinch up and let out as required.

Nominate The Fableists for the Observer Ethical Award

This year marks the ninth anniversary of The Observer Ethical Awards, in association with Ecover. The closing date for nominations is 21 March 2014. Once the deadline has been reached, the nominees will be voted on by the public. The winners will be announced in June.

Please nominate The Fableists!

You will have to sign in to The Guardian in order to nominate us, but this only takes a second. Then you might have to click the links for each category again.

The Fableists could be considered for two categories, so please nominate us twice:

1 – You can nominate The Fableists in the Ethical Retailer category. They are looking for companies who champion an ethical supply chain from any type of business. This nomination just takes seconds to fill in with The Fableists or TheFableists.com and for branch/city you can enter London.

2 – There is also a sustainable fashion category, Sponsored by Econyl and Eco Age, which is looking for the Ultimate Piece of Sustainable Fashion. To nominate The Fableists in this category as well, please go to this link (click the blue letters!). 

You can enter anything you like in to the spaces provided in the nomination form and can nominate any items from our collection. We are highlighting our unisex classic denim jeans because all boys and girls wear them and jeans are the most loved item of clothing in all closets – or you can copy and paste the text below for each section of the nomination form:

In Brief (you can copy and paste from below)
Something that comes by the ‘piece’ doesn’t sound very sustainable. To The Fableists, sustainable fashion means more than just an art installation. It means clothes that are made ethically, with every consideration for the Earth. It means clothes that will be worn a lot, cared for, passed on to someone else and made in to something new when it can no longer go on. Extra sustainability points for the fact that The Fableists clothes are made for kids, who can learn about where, how and by whom their clothes were made and in doing so become better future consumers. Now, that’s sustainable fashion.

Every child wears jeans and these are made for both boys and girls and built to be passed on, and on, and on. When you’re done with them, or when they are coming to the end of their lives, The Fableists will take them back and pass them on for you, or make something else out of them.

The Fableists’ denim is made to order. The cotton is grown in a part of India that is fed by monsoon rains. The cotton is certified organic by GOTS, so it is not grown with loads of poisonous insecticides by a collective of small holding or marginal farmers who, by working together, have been able to negotiate fair prices for their crops, making farming sustainable in their region. The cotton is woven, dyed and assembled into classic cut dark denim jeans for boys and girls aged 4-10 nearby.

Ethical Approach (you can copy and paste from below)
These jeans have been certified by GOTS as an organic product. GOTS carries with it a social and ethical component as well. The garment factory has been inspected by The Fableists but it is also certified FLOCERT (FLO ID 4512), and Fair Trade-USA. The stitching factories are SA8000 certified. The workers in the factories are paid a living wage and receive many allowances and premiums such as House Rent, yearly bonus, transportation, medical insurance benefits for themselves and their families and more.

The Fableists ensure that the ecosystem around where the clothes are made is not left poisoned with toxins, which could affect the health of the communities around the factories. The worst pollution generally comes from the dying of the materials. The dye houses used run on rice husk, which is a waste product from the processing of rice for generating steam. They do not burn fossil fuel and thus are able to earn carbon credits. They also recycle and reuse the majority of their process water and have reverse osmosis plants to purify the water which can then be reused.

You’ll need an image and a link, which are below. You’ll have to right click the image below and ‘save as’ to your desktop to then upload to the nomination form. 

http://thefableists.com/girls/jeans-trousers/dark-straight-jeans-9-10.html

We’d be very grateful if you nominated us! And please feel free to shout about it over all the social media outlets in all the lands using @ObserverEthical and #EthicalAwards.

Thanks
The Fableists

Time for clothing brands to pay up!

For Rana Plaza survivors, compensation is long overdue.

Today, Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) alongside workers and trade unions in Bangladesh and around the world launch a major campaign calling on all clothing brands who source from Bangladesh to immediately pay into the Rana Plaza Donors Trust Fund, which is collecting voluntary donations on behalf of the Rana Plaza Arrangement, and is overseen by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

The Pay Up! campaign comes just two months before the first anniversary of the catastrophic collapse of Rana Plaza, which killed 1,138 people and injured over 2,000 more. The campaign aims to ensure that come April 24th the survivors and victims families are not still waiting for compensation.

CCC is calling on major international brands Benetton, KiK and Children’s Place, in particular, who all had orders at one of the five factories in Rana Plaza at the time of the collapse or in the recent past, to make significant contributions in order to ensure payments can begin.

US$40 million is required to ensure all those injured and the families of those killed are fairly compensated for loss of income and medical expenses. The fund is open to all companies, donors and individuals who wish to express their solidarity and compassion.

To date clothing brands El Corte Ingles, Mascot, Mango, Inditex and Loblaw have all publicly committed to the Donor Trust Fund.

“Numerous reports over the past ten months have highlighted the ongoing plight of the victims of Rana Plaza and their families. We therefore welcome these initial contributions.” says Ineke Zeldenrust of the Clean Clothes Campaign. “Compensation efforts to date have been completely haphazard, unequal, unpredictable and non-transparent, and have left large groups of victims with nothing. The Arrangement has set up the entire operational structure, which will put an end to this unpredictability quickly and completely. All that is needed is for companies to pay up. The collapse of Rana Plaza is symptomatic of an industry wide problem, and we encourage the entire industry to make generous contributions.” adds Zeldenrust.

Nearly all the victims of the Rana Plaza collapse were garment workers who had been ordered back into the unsafe building by factory bosses.

Shila Begum a sewing operator in one of the factories who was trapped when the building collapsed described the decision to go in. “No one wanted to enter the building that day … [but] I still went back in. If enough people hit you, you do what they say. You could see the tension in people’s eyes.” Shortly after arriving at her machine the electricity went off and the generator switched on “The floor gave way… my hand got stuck and I thought I would die.”

After being trapped for most of the day under the building Shila was eventually rescued, but her crush injuries were such that she had to have a hysterectomy, and her arm is in constant pain and she is unable to work. The trauma of the day remains with her. “I don’t know if I will ever be able to step into a factory again.”

In Dhaka, garment workers and their unions will be creating a human chain, and holding a press conference demanding the early settlement of the compensation claims. Hameeda Hossein of SNF (the Bangladesh Worker’s Safety Forum) says “After the Rana building collapsed the whole world watched for weeks while the injured and dead were pulled out of the ruins. Now is the time for all of us to act and ensure US$40 million is donated before April 24th”.

The Rana Plaza Arrangement is a groundbreaking collaborative framework to ensure that the losses of the survivors and victims can be paid.

The operational structure has been developed by the former Executive Head of the United Nations Compensation Commission, working with the Bangladesh Ministry of Labour and ILO experts. Some of the most credible labour- and civil society organisations will be involved in the claims processing and post-award services and counselling. Medical assessments will be undertaken by qualified local doctors at the Centre for Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP). A team of independent local and international claims commissioners has been identified to determine the awards. The German development agency GIZ has agreed to undertake the administrative costs of the operation.

Roy Ramesh Chandra, President of the United Federation of Garment Workers & Secretary General of IndustriALL Bangladesh Council (IBC) said ”This is an unprecedented step and allows, brands, the government, the employers organisations and unions to work together to ensure a just outcome for the victims of Rana Plaza.”

Ten months after the worse industrial disaster to hit the garment industry, there can be no further excuses. Brands can show that they can be part of the solution if they pay up now!

You can read more about this campaign here.

Raising for Rana, which is being put on in association with charities Traid and War on Want, will take place on April 24th, the anniversary of the Rana Plaza building collapse. As part of the fundraiser, Raising for Rana are holding a charity auction, which will include some of The Fableists clothing. Please find out more here. 

On Set of The Fableists’ Film Project with Director Olivier Venturini

The A-Team

The Fableists spent the weekend on set in London with eight year old skateboarding phenomenon, Finn. Director Olivier Venturini, who is represented by international film production company Great Guns, shot two days’ worth of skateboarding around London. And we were blessed by a glorious weekend – free from the recent torrential storms which have battered much of the UK.

Venturini’s idea, to create a series of films about kids all over the world – The Fableists – to highlight their talents and passions, as well as what drives them, is now underway and we could not be more excited. You can read more about Olivier and this project here.

The kids we will feature will all be from different countries and backgrounds but will somehow represent The Fableists’ philosophy: Kids are kids – all exploring the world around them and finding their way. Fun, adventure and creativity are just part of their make-up.

The shoot this weekend followed Finn as he got up in his East London apartment for a day filled with skateboarding. We followed him to skate parks, his local café, around the streets of his neighbourhood and to a final skate at City Hall. Along the way, Venturini captured Finn and his amazing talents as well as the amount of effort and heart that he and his family have devoted to his passion. He’s also shown that Finn is still an eight year old boy.

At the end of the second day, when the last shot was wrapped at City Hall, a crowd had gathered who applauded Finn’s amazing show. A boarder in his 20s approached to ask Finn how old he was and was blown away by the answer. The two then had an impromptu showdown, with the older boarder left shaking his head in disbelief at the talent of his competition.

Olivier is an established commercial director. He is known for stunning visual work as well as his character development and comedy. He began his career in 1996 in Los Angeles. He then moved his family to London where he has completed work for high profiles clients such as Adidas, Playstation, BBC, Scottish Power, Coca Cola, Cartier, BMW, amongst others.

The film is produced by Great Guns’ Tim Francis and the DOP on the shoot was Steve Annis. Our agency partners Brothers and Sisters were on hand to make sure everything ran smoothly. Further credits TBA.

We look forward to sharing this film with you. Stay tuned because we’ll be sharing it here soon! 

Send us Pictures of your Fableists!

We’d love to include pictures of your Fableists on our Facebook page!

We have created an album called Wall of Fableists featuring kids in their clothes from The Fableists.

 

If you’d like your kid to be included, please send an image to sarah@thefableists.com.

You can also hashtag instagram photos with #TheFableists to be included in the feed on our Facebook page.

~The Fableists

If Pharrell Williams is Talking Sustainable Fashion, Surely the World Will Listen

Pharrell Williams is collaborating with G-Star Raw to launch a range of denim scheduled to debut August 15th. “Raw for the Oceans” will be the first denim collection made from fibres that use recycled plastic collected from oceans.

Williams announced the collaboration Saturday with the simple words: “The oceans need us now”. He spoke of the project while standing under the 94-foot blue whale at the Milstein Hall of Ocean Science in the National Museum of American History during NY fashion week. Way. To. Steal. The. Show!

Williams co-founded the company Bionic Yarn to create this revolutionary new fabric. Their own mission statement reads:
Bionic® designs and manufactures Eco-materials.
Our spinning process transforms fibers made from recycled plastic into usable, durable textiles.

Pharrell (we’re on a first name basis) adds, “Bionic Yarn is a company built around performance, and denim is the perfect category to show the world what Bionic Yarn can do. Everyone has jeans in their closet.”

How it works:

From Bionic Yarn

CORE
Core fibre selection determines the breaking strength or stretch characteristic of the fabric.

Sheath
For every Bionic yarn configuration, recycled plastic fibers are always used for the sheath. The manufacturing process minimizes the use of natural resources while recovering plastic from the ocean to reprocess into fibres. Bionic’s goal is to match or exceed the performance standards of comparable traditionally made fabrics; to prove that recycled components can create superior products.

Helix
Helix fibres may be organic or synthetic to suit many applications.
For denim, that means cotton; for technical backpacks, nylon; and for suit fabrics, wool or other natural blends. The possible combinations are unlimited.

Regarding the collaboration with G-Star, Williams said, “Working with G-Star was an obvious choice, because they have a legacy of pushing the boundaries of fashion and denim forward”. In fact, G-Star are planning to incorporate bionic yard in to all of their future lines, as their company spokesperson Thecla Schaeffer said, “creating denim for the future”.

This is huge news for any of us working in sustainable fashion. Having a massive star like Pharrell Williams throw his name behind a project like this will get people talking, listening and buying more wisely.

Give Real LEGO Back to the Girls!

 

Earlier this year, an article appeared on the Huffington Post web site about the 1981 print ad for LEGO pictured above. The ad was made by a woman (as it happens) and as with all great ads from the time, the copy was as important as the image and read:

What it is is beautiful.
Have you ever seen anything like it? Not just what she’s made, but how proud it’s made her. It’s a look you’ll see whenever children build something all by themselves. No matter what they’ve created.
Younger children build for fun.

The little girl pictured is dressed as all kids were dressed in 1981 – in clothes that are comfortable, allow movement, are easy to care for, allow her to express her own individuality and that probably were passed down from an older child. Sound familiar?

The photo and the article must have struck a chord as they quickly made the rounds on social media and became one of the Huffington Post’s most shared articles to date. The article also included several other brands whose iconic toys from that era have been re-made to look more girly. I’m not sure ‘girly’ is the right word. They look entirely less realistic – they all look exactly like Barbie to me.

Yesterday, an article appeared on the web site Women You Should Know written by Lori Day. Day is an educational psychologist, consultant, and parenting coach and also co-founder of the Brave Girls Alliance, a global think tank and consulting group of girl empowerment experts who advocate for healthier media and products for girls.*

The article follows her interview with Rachel Giordano – the little girl from the LEGO ad, now grown up and a practicing naturopathic doctor in Seattle, WA.

Photo via Lori Day at Mother Daughter Book Clubs

Giordano agreed to the then and now photo above and talked to Day about her experience on the photo shoot, saying that the clothes were her own and that she was given a LEGO set and left alone for an hour. What is shown in the advert is her own creation. She was startled when Day showed her the new LEGO Friends line, created specifically for girls, saying: “In 1981, LEGOs were ‘Universal Building Sets’ and that’s exactly what they were…for boys and girls. Toys are supposed to foster creativity. But nowadays, it seems that a lot more toys already have messages built into them before a child even opens the pink or blue package. In 1981, LEGOs were simple and gender-neutral, and the creativity of the child produced the message. In 2014, it’s the reverse: the toy delivers a message to the child, and this message is weirdly about gender.”

Can the trajectory from playing with non-gender specific LEGO as a girl to becoming a business woman and doctor be traced scientifically? Probably not, but common sense tells me there is a definite co-relation. Girls just need to be given opportunities to solve problems and be creative without the end result being dictated to them.

There is nothing wrong with pink. Little girls are often drawn to the pinkest, fluffiest, glitteriest things. But so are little boys. Boys are just encouraged to move on from pink as it’s deemed ‘girly’. In Lori Day’s article, she lets Rachel Giordano address the pinkening of toys: “Gender segmenting toys interferes with a child’s own creative expression. I know that how I played as a girl shaped who I am today. It contributed to me becoming a physician and inspired me to want to help others achieve health and wellness. I co-own two medical centers in Seattle. Doctor kits used to be for all children, but now they are on the boys’ aisle. I simply believe that they should be marketed to all children again, and the same with LEGOs and other toys.”

We all want our girls to grow up to be independent, self-aware, fulfilled, creative, interested and happy people. Let’s be aware of the messages that they are receiving and work to help them better decode them. Start by showing them how cool Rachel Giordano looks with her very own LEGO construction.

*Lori Day’s upcoming book is out May 1st is about Mother-Daughter book clubs and how they can be a powerful tool in helping increase self-confidence and raising stronger, healthier girls. You can find out more at her web site. 

The Fableists at The Ethical Fashion Forum’s #BrandPreview

Last week, The Fableists participated in The Ethical Fashion Forum’s second annual #BrandPreview. The event ran Tuesday 4th February and Wednesday 5th February. This event is a completely online webinar where ethical fashion brands in all categories get to present their latest collections and talk about the ethos and inspiration behind them.

This is a great chance for buyers and fashion press to see ethical brands that are available and ask questions and get in touch with them individually. Attendance is open to anyone but you had to register in advance.

For The Fableists, this was a great opportunity to meet other brands who are creating ethical childrens wear. It is great to hear the stories of other people and to talk to others who are passionate about the reasons for starting their companies and the lengths that they have gone to in order to ensure their clothes are ethically produced.

The other companies who were involved in our Preview, which took place at 5:30 on Wednesday, were Animal Tails, Babaa, Dhana EcoKids, Eco Divine, edamame, Eternal Creation, Fourzero, Macarons, Pink & Grey, and Plum of London.

One thing that is so important to us is that we view other people that are working in ethical and sustainable kidswear not as competitors but on the same team. We are all small and to go up against the big guns, we need to work together. If there is room for a Brand X on every high street in the world (and then some), there is room for all of us small, ethical producers. This is a bandwagon we want everyone to jump on. Our brands all vary in terms of design, aesthetics, ethics and inspiration but they are all on the same track and it is a track that we want everyone to climb on.

For many of us, our brands and message include an aspect of education because it is crucial that our message gets out to consumers. At the end of the day, most of started our brands in order to produce clothing that did not harm the Earth or her people.

Our panel was chaired by Tamsin Lejune, Managing Director of the Ethical Fashion Forum. She highlighted some trends in ethically made kids wear including:

• Collaborations with artists and designers
• Adult trends being replicated for children
• Bright and cheerful colours
• Personal expressions and diversity with clothes representative of lifestyle and interests rather than generic clothes for kids
• How the brands are creating ambassadors for the ethical movement out of children

She then introduced each of the brands with a slideshow and spoke about each one. One of our favourites was Babaa, which is a Spanish knitwear company. Each item is hand made in Spain with 100% natural materials. They are made to last and each item is unique. They are creating products mainly for younger children but also have some toys and women’s items. Their knitwear is absolutely gorgeous and truly original. They feature bright colours but are also classic and so kid-friendly.

Matt Cooper, Founder of The Fableists spoke about how The Fableists began, highlighting that we had wanted to do something different from what we has seen before. He discussed how our look is based on a vintage, grown up look and that it is meant for every day wear. He spoke about how our clothes are built to last and made to be passed on to other children when you are done with them.

He went on to say that while sustainability is a key factor for us, design has equal importance. We want the kids to love the comfort and movement of our clothes but we want parents to love them too for their beautiful and cool designs but also for their ease of care. Our clothes are never meant to be out of style and most are unisex.

The topic that got the most response on our Twitter feed was the announcement that we will soon be launching a 2.5 minute animated film called The Epic Thread. This follows the story of a girl who pulls a thread on her t-shirt and follows it to find out how and where her shirt was made. This has been written by creative agency Brothers and Sisters and animated by The Mill. A teaser for this film will be available soon. So watch this space!

We are also launching a series of documentaries about ‘The Fableists’ all over the world. We are talking to amazing kids who might have a great talent, a passion for something, or have overcome obstacles. Our brand is not just about the clothes but about the story of the clothes from all angles – which is where we took our name, The Fableists. We are also promoting a lifestyle that is sustainable but fun, stylish, healthy, family oriented and all about getting out and doing and living well.

Another thing that Matt touched on is that we launched The Fableists as a creative collaboration with friends and colleagues who work in the advertising and film production world. Our clothes very much fit the aesthetic of how this industry dresses. We were inspired by the story of OshKosh, who made work wear for labourers but really became popular when they made a range for kids that imitated the uniforms of their fathers. As kids leave the toddler stage, they want to be differentiated from babies and wear proper, grown up clothes. At the same time, we think kids should still look like kids and not be following the latest fashion trends. Kids clothes need to be age-appropriate.

The full audio of the #BrandPreview is now available and can be accessed at this link.

The SOURCE Brand Preview 2014: February 4/5 Featuring The Fableists

The SOURCE Brand Preview 2014 is a webinar presented by the Ethical Fashion Forum. It is a chance for ethically produced brands to showcase their collections, introduce themselves and tell the story of their companies. Media, buyers, students and members of the public are able to attend virtually using computers to interact with the brands’ representatives.

There are a series of one-hour webinars throughout the two day period, each one focussing on an area of ethical fashion, from prints to clothing and accessories (incl Kids Wear). A selection of ethical brands working in the specific field will be featured. See the full programme here.

The Fableists will be participating on Day 2: Wednesday 5 February from 17:30 to 18:30 GMT in the panel on Children, presented by Dhana EcoKids. Register here to listen and participate. You will hear all of the brands presented by the moderator and then Matt Cooper, founder of The Fableists will speak and answer a few questions. If you have questions, they will be referred to the presenter you wish to ask.

Visitors can register online and are given a unique URL so that they can listen in to the presentations and send questions.

If you work in fashion, this is a must to find out which brands are working ethically. As a member of the public, you can get a great idea of the fashion that is out there that is made to a high ethical standard.

The Ethical Fashion Forum says:
SOURCE Brand Preview uses a powerful meeting platform to connect you with the brands and designers exhibiting in your chosen categories. Connect directly with inspirational entrepreneurs, founders and designers from the world’s most pioneering brands, gain a visual introduction to products, get your questions answered and update on latest innovation in sustainable fashion. We run SOURCE Brand Preview in association with SOURCE Founding Partners: brands, suppliers and organisations who are pioneering best practice across the fashion industry supply chain.