ETHICS In Fashion
Faerie’s Dance was started with a laser focus on protecting and conserving the environment. It didn’t take long to figure out, however, that no garment could be considered sustainable if the people who made it were subjected to inhumane working conditions. Sweatshops, child labor, and 80+ hour work weeks that result in subsistence wages cannot be considered “sustainable”. Sustainability must include the health of the planet and the health of the people involved in the industry.
The Rise of Fair Trade
Over the years, the rise of goods that are fairly traded -- meaning they support the workers that make them and not just the corporations that sell them -- has grown exponentially. From Asia to Africa to South America, we are adamant that all of our products benefit workers with living wages and are produced without sweatshop or child labor. From Maggie’s Organics “Real Fair Trade” initiatives to Echo Verde's on site factory checks and long-term relationships to Comazo|Earth's third party Fair Trade certification, Faerie’s Dance strives to work only with sustainable fashion brands that treat workers equitably.
Want to see what else our amazing brands are up to? Watch the video below to see how the Leakey Collection has configured their business to fit the lives of the native Maasai women they work with rather than altering the women's lifestyles to fit their business.
Animal Ethics
Fur and leather are beautiful -- on the animals they belong to. On people, not so much. Suffering isn’t beautiful and mindless slaughter, seal clubbing, and feather plucking can never be beautiful. At Faerie’s Dance, we avoid the use of animal products in our collections. You will never find fur, leather, or down in our products. We briefly tried “peace” silk, but upon further research, realized that it didn’t meet our lack of suffering criteria. With the exception of a few older pieces in our sale section, you won’t find silk of any kind either.
We do, however, offer 1 or 2 heavy wool or alpaca coats each year. These coats are exclusively from Indigenous Designs who guarantee that their animals are free-range roaming herds with pasture rotation. They are individually hand-sheared appropriate to the weather, are never subjected to mulesing, and have shelter available to them but are not forced into enclosures. The animals live out their normal lives in Peru until natural death and are never killed for food.
Faerie's Dance offers these coats because a number of our northern customers, whose winters are too cold for cotton options, requested them. These folks were looking for an ethically produced product that was also sustainable. While most of the technical fabrics that are “down alternatives” are super warm and free of animal products, they are mostly petroleum-derived and do not meet our sustainability criteria. Other than our 1-2 coats each year, which are clearly marked as having animal origin, the rest of our 1200+ items meet an all-vegan criteria. Faerie’s Dance’s Owner and Founder is also a vegan, and we serve vegan snacks and drinks at all of our live events. Some years you can even find us set up at the Portland VegFest.
Giving Back
Fashion is a multi-billion dollar industry. At Faeries Dance, we think it’s important to share some of that wealth with nonprofits and communities that support our business. Since 2005, Faerie’s Dance has supported three environmental charities with a portion of our annual sales. We also choose smaller charities and events to support throughout the year to continue the pattern of giving.
Ready to join the slow-fashion revolution? Shop our collection of organic women’s clothing and sustainable men’s fashion today.