Ethical Fabric - Sri Lankan Lace

Over a period of time at the beginning of this year I did an internship for a Greek designer called Sophia Kokosalaki, October 2011 saw the launch of “Kore-Sophia Kokosalaki”, an ethically conscious debut collection with ASOS. This collection had lace trims throughout made by a group of women in Sri Lanka.


The lace is not only ethically sound, it is also ecologically sound; the lace is not made in a factory using up heaps of electricity, or in a huge building. The women sit outside in covered shade with their bobbin cushions and make the lace in the natural environment of Sri Lanka; the only un-ecological thing about the fabric is the air miles it has to do to get to London.

My Grans Bobbin Lace

The lace is made by this ancient technique called Bobbin Lace.  It is a fantastic way to make lace and looks beautiful once complete, it is a very slow way of making the fabric but once the lace has been made it looks fantastic and different, each lace is made using a pattern, these patterns then have pins in them with thread wrapped around to create the holes, then each bit of thread is connected to a bobbin.

You can see this in the picture on the left. This is a photo I took of the bobbin lace my Gran does at her lace making class. This technique may be ancient, but it is still very popular, this is probably because of how rewarding it must be once the work if finished.

'I've been aware of this technique since I was at St Martins, but I thought it was dead, long gone. I thought, who has the time to do slow fashion? But the Sri Lankan lace-makers do, and they take pleasure from it and they can work from home if they are mothers.' [1]– Sophia Kokosalaki

What is lovely about Sophia helping these women is that Sri Lankan women do not normally get to keep their jobs in their home country. ‘1.7 million Sri Lankans were working abroad in 2009.[1]’  There are a few factors for this major number, most of it is to do with un-employment in the country and inflations, but one other issue is to do with domestic problems like drug abuse from male partners. I think for a woman to be made to up-sticks and move to a different country to work because they can’t make the money in their hometown is really upsetting. Most of these women will have children and families to look after as well.
Sophia is paying these women to be able to live in their own country, which is fantastic. Most of these women work from home anyway so they do not even need to leave the house, so their families can be well looked after.


Sri Lanka likes to say it has some of the best rights for women, one of the first women prime ministers was elected in Sri Lanka in the early 60’s; this doesn’t mean as a country all women get the same type of rights. Unfortunately unless you are really well educated it is hard to get a job in Sri Lanka, even if you are male, this makes it hard to bring up and support a family. Sri Lanka is a beautiful country; it is horrible to see so many of the local people are forced out. Sri Lanka’s main exports to the UK is their tea, as a country the UK now set up a fair trade offer with the tea growers out in Sri Lanka, this all helps with the rural poverty that hits the country. A fair-trade on tea is common, but on apparel and fabric is pretty un-heard of.  Apparel is another one of Sri Lanka’s main exports to the US and Europe, unfortunately it does not make as much money for the locals as tea because it is cheap labour that they cannot get in their own countries. As tea cannot be grown in England it would be stupid to not offer them a fair trade, unfortunately we can get apparel from other areas so people will only use Sri Lanka’s goods if it is the cheapest, and it is not for a country to turn down business. This makes Sophia’s efforts to give these women a fair wage for fabric is brilliant, and may start something off. These women work hard for a living we should not be stealing off them.

Sophia Kokosalaki - Kore Collection for ASOS

[1] Tamsin Blanchard, Sophia Kokosalaki Hooks Up With ASOS, http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/columns/tamsin-blanchard/TMG9022788/Sophia-Kokosalaki-hooks-up-with-Asos.html, 21^st January 2012

[2] Wasantha Ilanganthilake, Sri Lanka aims to improve rights for women migrant workers abroad, http://www.trust.org/trustlaw/news/sri-lanka-aims-to-improve-rights-for-women-migrant-workers-abroad, July 2011

The Quotes of Eco-Fashion

Here are a few quotes from my essay, which I have written my opinion on in bold afterwards.

‘We have become a nation of shopaholics. We love the fact that we can now buy armfuls of clothes – several outfits – for the same price we used to pay for a single item’[1] – Tasmin Blanchard

It is something I believe in massively, the world of Primark and other cheap alternative stores is something we all love. We cannot deny we all love a bargain, but do we realise the impact this has on the environment. How many of us recycle clothes? The thing with Primark clothes is that no one really wants them much after, it isn’t something we can sell on or really even give to a charity shop, because we can buy it brand new for the same price anyway! These clothes end up in the bin. 

‘If you’re spending £8 on a jumper, its worth asking, was the person who made it paid a living wage? I know you love the jumper, and I know it was a bargain, but it is no coincidence that the minimum wage for garment workers in Bangladesh halved in real terms during the 1990’s.’ [2] – Tamsin Blanchard

How can we not agree with this, it is unreal how much cheaper we can grab clothes for these days, and how can we think someone gets paid a good amount for making it? There are millions of people working for pennies a day, just so they can make enough money for their families to live. This is not eco fashion, how can it be, we are so caught up in the recession that we really don’t care about the world, or even others around us. Not only are these clothes bad for the environment, being made million of miles away in large factories to be shipped over, they aren’t very ethical. No one is getting paid a fair wage to make them, and they are working in disgraceful conditions, away from their families. Do you still believe we are becoming eco-friendly? I know what I think.

‘Another major issue was the style factor. While a far cry from their hippie hemp-sack origins, the garments, sold under the catchphrases eco fashion and green fashion, had yet to be equated with chic.’[3]

Eco fashion seemed to have been missing the chic look, it is as if designers thought the name carried its own chic so the outfit didn’t need to. That is what I believe this is all about anyway. Green fashion isn’t something we actually care about its just fashionable to be green.

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[1] Tamsin Blanchard, Green is the New Black, July 2008,  Page 3, Introduction
[2] Tamsin Blanchard, Green is the New Black, July 2008,  Page 4, Introduction
[3] Eco-Fashion, http://www.vogue.com/voguepedia/Eco_Fashion#cite_note-1

Why do we long to be green?

What is it about the environment and looking after it do we like so much? We've brought the 'green culture' into pretty much every industry we possible can, recycling is part of everyones lives now, but are we all really that bothered. Do we actually care? or is it just fashionable to be green?

For my literature review I've decided to look into 'green fashion' and what it really means to us. I want to find out if its popular because of the clothes or just for its meaning, whether 'green fashion' will take off or whether it'll just fall flat.


When do you think Green fashion took off? 

MMM Recycled Garment (from MMM Facebook)

It was 1989/1990, thats right the early 90's which is 22 years ago... Martin Margiela’s first collection, for spring 1989, features a leather butcher’s apron repurposed into an evening gown. He will soon become known as the leader of the deconstructionist movement, and for his use of recycled materials in his collections. He stated, “I like to collect old clothes and give them another life. When they are lying there, they are dead." But real, lasting environmental change would be slow to take root. Designers had/have that mammoth task of getting customers on their side... lets face it we are the hardest to please.


It wasn't until around 2002,  12 years later, when customers first got their hands on a much awaited new McCartney label, that eco fashion began to look less like a joke and more like a serious business proposition.

Magazine Clipping

Do you remember the 'I'm not a plastic bag' The original, the most fashionable and the most rememberable tote. The designer... Anya Hindmarch, she became a noteworthy of eco-cool.


I could go on for ages, but what do you think? Do we care of is it just a fashion statement?