KEY POINTS:
What can you tell from the price tag on a piece of clothing? Apart from the fact that you'll be a little poorer in, oh, about five minutes, of course. Well some would say that if you're spending more money on clothes, then they must be more ethical. Because clearly they are not being made in a dingy sweatshop by underage innocents, and obviously they're not responsible for the melting of any nearby ice caps.
But hold on a cotton pickin' minute. Before you cancel your Greenpeace membership and rush out to spend the refund on a new frock, this reminds you of the first time you went to buy a can of organic beans at the supermarket. Mid-shop, a truckload of complications unexpectedly crashed into your do-gooding, forcing you to ponder where the beans had come from, how far they had been shipped, how far you had driven there to get them, whether you were taking them away in a plastic bag. And so forth and so on until you - gasp - gave up and bought good old Wattie's instead. Which is why next time any puzzled trendinistas are looking for an excuse to blow the budget on a particularly fancy frock, they'll be having exactly this argument.
So, are expensive clothes more ethical?
Yes they are
* Because some of the most expensive clothes you can buy in New Zealand are those made by local labels. And many of those pride themselves on getting their garments manufactured in New Zealand. Which means there is no exploitation of cheap or child labour.
* Because if you're not paying for the clothing, then someone, somewhere, is. If the prices are super-cheap it's possibly because shortcuts were taken. Workers may not have been paid or looked after properly, factory conditions may have been bad, pollutants from various processes - say, dying or printing - may have been dumped into waterways rather than removed in a way that cost more.
* Because, currently, environmentally friendly fabrics cost more and if a designer uses them, their prices will go up marginally.
* Because for most of us, if we spend more money on something, we're more likely to consider that purchase more carefully. And we're less likely to chuck the item away as soon as the next trend comes along. So buying good quality garments at higher prices forces you to step outside of disposable consumer culture. If you're paying more than the price of a cup of coffee for your T-shirts, then the heftier price tag stops you from buying it, wearing it once, then chucking it out.
* Because luxury brands tend to be far more sensitive about image and bad press. Therefore they can be held more accountable. For instance, if you heard that the strange, nameless clothing shop down the road was selling shirts made by 10-year-olds in China, you wouldn't be surprised. But if you heard that Gucci was doing the same, you'd be pretty shocked. Which means that if conscious shoppers ask questions of more expensive brands, hopefully they're also more likely to listen.
No they are not
Because some of the most expensive clothes you can buy in New Zealand are international imports from Italian and French labels. And although these may be high quality and have been made by artisans in Europe - and thereby avoided the cheap labour issue again - they've had to get to New Zealand somehow, which means that their carbon footprint could be bigger than anything made here or in Asian countries closer by.
Because expense is in the eye of the beholder. For some, a dress costing $100 is a lot of money, for others, a $1000 frock is not a lot. And if you're in the former group, then when it comes to ethical and environmental questions, the difference between a $40 dress and even a $200 dress isn't always that big. Indeed, they may be being made in the same factories, using similar fabrics. In fact, author Dana Thomas, who wrote Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Lustre, argues that many fancy luxury, or designer, brands are not even made the way you might expect them to be any more.
Because the most ethical clothing of all is recycled clothing, and mostly this is available at budget prices. The other very ethical kind of clothing - you know exactly where it came from and who made it - is the hand-crafted and home-made. And that's not expensive either. Or hang on, maybe the most ethical clothing of all is designer clothing, hand-made in New Zealand, and then recycled? Still, none of the above is expensive.
So for all we know
From the price tag, an expensive garment could have been put together in exactly the same way as its budget imitation. We assume that at higher prices we are getting a more ethical piece of clothing. But we don't really know unless we ask.
Which is what various experts in ethical clothing are now telling the average fashion shopper to do: ask. Use your power as a consumer who cares, and hold your favourite fashion boutiques accountable. Don't be afraid to ask where their clothes have come from, what they've been made from and how they got to the store.
