But Izzy Lane is changing that perception. The North Yorkshire label showed its autumn/winter 2008 collection to great acclaim at London Fashion Week earlier this year, presenting its caringly-produced, traditionally-made, utterly fabulous clothes to leading fashionistas and proving that being ethical does not automatically mean amateurish, dull and the wrong side of retro.

Izzy Lane was launched 18 months ago, although vegetarian founder Isobel Davies, who is from Yarm, had been researching the possibility of ethical sheep farming for fleece since 2002, when she was horrified to discover through suppliers to her organic home delivery company, Farmaround, that many farmers who kept sheep were burning their wool.

"The price they could sell it for did not even cover the cost of shearing," she says. "At the same time, I learned that about 80 per cent of the wool that we use in this country is imported, predominantly from Australia and New Zealand."

Isobel began by saving four butcher lambs and now has a flock of 600 mainly Wensleydale and Shetland sheep, animals that would have been sent to slaughter for being male, lame, small or old or having imperfections such as a black spot. Isobel pays equal or better prices to save them and they live out happy lives at her sheep sanctuary near Richmond, North Yorkshire.

Sheep can live up to 15 years old and if they are not forced to breed perpetually, can produce a very fine quality of wool throughout their lives, says Isobel. The flock size continues to grow as she continues to save any sheep she hears are about to go to market.

"I get really upset about the whole concept of factory farming and live export," she says. "They are never considered as sentient beings."

Isobel is designing the spring/summer 2009 collection herself, but to date the clothes have been designed with her input, using young designers from British fashion colleges, and made in the north of England and Scotland, using traditional methods, although Isobel is finding this increasingly difficult.

Her dyers in Bradford have recently closed, as have her worsted spinners, based in Halifax.

"The whole textile industry has virtually collapsed in this country. One day we will find that there is no skill base or manufacturing left.

"People talk about food miles, but what about clothes miles?" she says.

The dresses, skirts and jackets are made from the super-fine fleece of the rare Shetland sheep, the cashmere garments are made from the fibre of Scottish cashmere goats, which are lovingly cared for in Kelso, in the Borders.

The knitwear is made with the lustrous, kemp-free fleece of the Wensleydale sheep, an endangered breed, knitted in the Yorkshire Dales by 70 knitters, mainly retired women working in the traditional way from home. But this too is a skill that is dying out, says Isobel. "It's the whole problem of clothes being so cheap," she says. "What's the point when you can buy something for ten quid?"

This week Isobel will be at the Great Yorkshire Show, showing Izzy Lane – which includes menswear and fab shoes, approved by the Vegetarian Society – on the catwalk. In general, she says, she finds the farmers she meets are supportive of her sheep-saving, high-fashion venture.

"They have been having such difficult times over the past 10 to 15 years, with foot and mouth, and price pressures, that they have got used to looking at diversification, so they are quite broad minded."


The autumn/winter collection from Izzy Lane can be seen at the Great Yorkshire Show today and tomorrow at the Skipton Building Society Fashion Pavilion: 11am, 12.30pm, 2.30pm and 4pm.

Izzy Lane is also available to buy online on www.izzylane.co.uk.