Huge rises in raw material costs threaten its already precarious sales
Ethical fashion is trying for a wider audience in France. Organic cotton goods now on sale at H&M and La Redoute have made them mainstream, while Louis-Marie and Nathalie Vautier, who opened their first Ekyog shop in 2004, pride themselves on enforcing strict certification from the fields to distribution.
No pesticides or fertilisers are used on crops, only limited heavy metals are present in dyes, goods are transported by boat, and producers guaranteed a minimum price, so the organic cotton they buy costs about 60% more than the standard product. Ekyog is now the leading environmentally aware brand in France, with 46 shops and $11m sales in 2009.
But it will only just break even this year. “We have invested a lot, without achieving critical mass, and the crisis has affected our sales,” says Vautier.
The price of all raw cotton is soaring, according to Rachel Liu, a founder of Ekyog rival Idéo. “In India they are forecasting a 50% to 100% increase in the cost of the summer 2011 collection. We have had very tough negotiations with our trading partners to try to make them understand that we cannot possibly pass on such huge increases to the consumer.”
She reckons that fair trade clothing is “nearing the end of a cycle. We will have to change the way we dress, take the opposite course to throwaway fashion, make our clothes last, find ways of reusing them.”
What are your thoughts? Would you be prepared to pay more for the peace of mind achieved from eco conscious fashion? Tell us in the comment section below.
Source: Le Monde
The liveeco team
