Fairtrade products guarantee to pay farmers and workers in poor countries a fair price for their produce and the concept has moved beyond its original priorities of chocolate, coffee and bananas.

Last year, sales of Fairtrade cotton soared by more than 3,000 per cent and the most recent Ethical Consumerism Report, which monitors spending on all Fairtrade, sustainable, organic and energy-efficient products, reported that expenditure jumped from £29m in 2005 to £52m in 2006.

But for ethical and Fairtrade clothing to make a real difference, many in the fashion industry stress that it must move beyond offerings of worthy looking T-shirts and wooden beads to bring a truly stylish alternative to the cheap imported products that dominate the High Street.

To this end, Jane Shepherdson, formerly of Topshop and now chief executive of Whistles, is also non-executive director of People Tree, one of the first eco-chic brands which ploughs its profits into education and ecology projects in developing countries. She is also advising Oxfam on creating a fashion range of ethically sourced and produced fashion.

In the past, Shepherdson has attacked the High Street trend towards cheap clothes for exploiting the developing world.

Ethical fashion in its broadest sense – that is, products that are kind to the environment, to workers and to animals – is making its way on to the international catwalks. The company Exclusive Roots (it's the trading name of Tabeisa, a consortium of universities, including Coventry and Durham, plus companies in South Africa, with all profits ploughed back into deprived communities in Africa) recently showed at Paris Fashion Week.

Meanwhile at London Fashion Week earlier this year, fashionistas were impressed by Izzy Lane, the company based in Richmond, North Yorkshire and run by Isobel Davies, who rescues sheep and uses their wool to make collections of exquisite clothing for men and women, with tailored coats and skirts and fabulous knitted jumpers, tops
and dresses.

The company has just been shortlisted – with M&S and Topshop – for a RSPCA award.

And Danish-founded ethical fashion label The Earth Collection has become the first company with environmentally-friendly garment design and manufacture in China to receive the European Eco-label award.

The Earth Collection has 30 stores in the UK where it is based in Liversedge in West Yorkshire. It uses fabrics produced in an environmentally friendly way from raw natural fibres such as cotton, silk, hemp and ramie, and natural materials and accessories (eg, coconut and bamboo buttons). Synthetic thread is only used for sewing as cotton thread is not durable enough.

The company supports several health-related projects in Togo and other areas where materials are sourced.

All of which suggests that feeling good about fashion is becoming as important as looking good in it.