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The SOURCE: The Global Platform for Sustainable Fashion
The Ethical Fashion Forum, the industry body for sustainable fashion, has launched the Ethical Fashion SOURCE – a groundbreaking international platform for sustainability in the fashion sector.
The SOURCE brings together in one place an industry database, an online magazine, and the world’s first ethical fashion sourcing trade show. The platform will save fashion professionals time and money whilst integrating sustainability at the heart of what they do.
 It aims to do three things: make it easier for fashion businesses to work sustainably, make it easier for consumers and buyers to buy from sustainable businesses, and link Fair Trade and ethical suppliers to market. Its goal is to support a major shift in the fashion sector towards social and environmental sustainability - to transform livelihoods for 2.5 million people in the developing world within 5 years, and to radically reduce the environmental impact of the fashion sector.
The initiative has been developed in consultation with the Fairtrade Foundation, World Fair Trade Organization, and Textile Exchange, and aims to promote the work of these and other organisations working to improve standards in the fashion sector.
The SOURCE (www.ethicalfashionforum.com/source) includes 3 components:
The SOURCE Directory is the place to go to find businesses and initiatives that are pioneering in sustainable fashion. Incorporating 10 sub directories, the database is a one-stop shop for fashion professionals, consumers, buyers, press and researchers to find leading ethical designers and brands, shops and buyers of ethical products, experts, and ethical suppliers and manufacturers. Later this year, press, trade show, college, and High St directories will launch- detailing latest sustainability developments in some of the largest High St fashion retailers.
The SOURCE Magazine represents the world’s leading source of sustainable fashion business intelligence, from brand leaders and why they are succeeding, to pioneering suppliers, what buyers are buying and why, and market and supply chain developments. Content is organized in four sections: Business Focus, Market and Sales Watch, Supply Focus, and Expert Analysis. The magazine puts the spotlight on the fashion sector businesses which are combining commercial success with high ethical standards, then evaluates this success so that other professionals can learn from it and follow suit. SOURCE Style, a more consumer focused element of the magazine, is set to launch later in 2011.
The SOURCE Expo, now in its third season, is the only international fashion industry trade show dedicated to ethical sourcing. Taking place in 2011 on the 17th-18th October at the stunning Sadler’s Wells, London EC1, the show will bring together more international manufacturers and suppliers working to Fair Trade and ethical standards than ever before. The event includes a programme of seminars, introducing new products and exemplary supply and production systems. The Designer Pavilion at the SOURCE Expo will once again bring together the very best designers pioneering in sustainable sourcing alongside outstanding design.
Access to full content in the SOURCE Magazine and Directory, or the opportunity to be listed on the Directory, is through membership of the Ethical Fashion Forum (EFF). As a not for profit organization, all membership fees are dedicated to the EFF’s core goal of increasing sustainability in the fashion sector. A sliding members fee scale is designed to allow EFF to subsidise access to information and promotion for small and Fair Trade suppliers that are changing lives in some of the world’s poorest communities.
The EFF's founder Tamsin Lejeune, who has spearheaded the development of the platform says: "The SOURCE builds on 5 years of work by the Ethical Fashion Forum with fashion businesses. We hope that this platform will accelerate the success of pioneering businesses, make sustainability achievable across the fashion sector and increase transparency for the consumer. We are delighted to be working in partnership with the Fairtrade Foundation, World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO), MADE-BY and many others, to develop this tool, which will act as a catalyst for the sustainable fashion movement and transform lives for potentially millions of people in fashion industry supply chains.”
"The new SOURCE platform is a great answer for a retailer like Young British Designers where ethical considerations rank very highly amongst our priorities. The Directory makes it easy for buyers to track exciting, emerging designers while the Magazine is a guiding source of intelligence for fashion professionals everywhere." Debra Hepburn, founder of Young British Designers
“The site will reach a wider industry audience than the Fairtrade Foundation could reach alone and provides a perfect platform for us to promote our work and link more producers to the UK market.” Victoria Waugh, Business Development Manager, Fairtrade Foundation
"The SOURCE is an inspiring concept – a website that creates collaboration between the various bodies supporting fashion businesses, saves fashion brands time and resources, and builds capacity and market access for Fair Trade and ethical suppliers in the South. Its a win-win solution to a complex set of problems." Bridget Russo, Global Marketing Director, Edun.
To learn more, please visit website www.ethicalfashionforum.com/source
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