The US outdoor clothing manufacturer has been a big player in ethical fashion since the mid-1990’s. They’ve lead the way with innovative manufacturing processes that allow them to use recycled plastics as the principle material source for their fleeces and puffa jackers. There’s little question that they where their principles lie in terms of ecological product development and unquestionably their customers will be happy with the ethical product offering.
In addition their commitment to the Common Threads initiative has to put them in a class of their own. As the producer they commit to build products that will last and recycle used products and materials when their useful life has passed. On the other side of the coin the consumers makes a similar ethical commitment – to repair broken goods, reuse, sell or share what a used might no longer need and allow those products to be recycled where ever possible. The pairing of ecological commitments on both sides of the consumption equation is impressive. In ethical fashion there is undoubtedly the temptation to pitch the high-end products as ‘pieces’ – not transient fashion but a longer lasting statement of style. But the Common Threads initiative undoubtedly pins the retailer into a commitment to deliver quality that runs on and on like a Duracell bunny and edge way from the temptation to deliver flash in the pan season by season styles.
Photo courtesy of ßlϋeωãvε on flickr. http://flic.kr/p/pmi88
