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@gembo mentioned, as many others have before on the LIDL thread that the rock bottom prices were reflective of child labour/ exploitation. He also raised the point that this wasn't limited to budget suppliers.
This may be a good place to gather together those suppliers who have a better record.
For starters - Lusso's products are hand made in Manchester
Trakke the bag-makers are almost certainly ethical (as in, if they work silly hours its their own fault). Glasgow-based too.
Hebden Trouser Company http://hebtro.co/ - not strictly cycling gear but they do promise a lifetime guarantee on their trousers *even for cyclists* which must be worth something (and I think some of them are cyclists themselves)
Also Embers Merino who work with manufacturers in Europe and Fiji and seem fairly switched on to the ethics side http://www.embersmerino.com/help-information/our-merino-manufacture
I got the other half one of their base layers and it's jolly nice too.
Always difficult to know what to believe, but Paramo make some big claims:
http://www.paramo-clothing.com/en-gb/ourethics/
I do know that their waterproofing doesn't rely on plastic membranes, so that the "chemical" claims are plausible, so their "ethical manufacture" claims may be equally so.
Robert
There is a theme developing... Cheap rarely (hardly ever?) equates with ethical.
However cycling itself is a low material (metals/plastics/etc) form of transport, is highly maintainable, low emissions, and supports the local economy (bike mechanics and more).
http://pathlesspedaled.com/2011/08/economics-of-bike-touring/
Drifting back to the previous thread, I confess to preferring (for example) more expensive pumps with spares available (Topeak, Lenzyne and more) compared to the ultra cheap consumable varieties. Even if the initial manufacture proves equally unethical, at least the poor unfortunate will only need to make me one, rather than several.
Hmm, but then they'll be unemployed, so perhaps an ethically made consumable one would be better, but then that would be more environmentally problematic, unless it were also recycled, and then...
This stuff isn't easy to work through, and there are many more qualified on this forum to consider it than I!
Robert
@sally/ @roibeard - the spare parts/lifetime guarantee are definitely things to consider. It starts with simple things like inner tubes, so cheap nowadays that they are often disposed of at first puncture. I have found several dumped at the roadside and in the bin at work.
Agree that cheap is hardly ever ethical, but expensive often isn't either...
I consult the Ethical Consumer website to assist in avoiding products containing Palm Oil.
http://www.ethicalconsumer.org/shoppingethically/palmoilfreelist.aspx
There's a sportswear section containing pertinent info for paramo etc, but not quite as detailed, without subscribing.
http://www.ethicalconsumer.org/buyersguides/clothing/sportswear.aspx
I recently bought a Paramo waterproof jacket and trousers for non-cycling purposes based on recommendations from my girlfriend and Ethical Consumer magazine. So far so good, although I have yet to use Nikwax to rewaterproof them...
Some nice suggestions on this thread which I've bookmarked, but by G-d ethical consumerism is a rich (wo)man's game isn't it?
Making ethical purchasing choices isn't cheap. For many people on more modest means, spending a tenner on a pair of Lidl shorts or £40 on something from Lusso would be a pretty simple decision. Ultimately it all comes down to cost - why would people shop at Lidl otherwise?
That said, I'd imagine Lidl would respond fairly smartly if they suddenly found a demand for ranges where producers were less 'dark satanic mills' and more 'inspired by Robert Owen'.
Speaking as an impoverished public servant, I regularly shop for spare parts at the Bike Station. Cheap but supporting a solid social cause.
ethical consumerism is a rich (wo)man's game isn't it?
perhaps, yet quite often it just ends up meaning abstinence from things that weren't all that good for you anyway
I don't buy many clothes, but try and make sure the ones I do buy are of decent quality and then wear them until they fall apart. Unfortunately this means abandoning any hope of being fashionable unless what I was wearing anyway happens to come around on the carousel (currently grey and polonecks, so I'm right there at the leading edge at the moment).
If you're looking to make your clothes budget count for a good cause, the 2016 POP t-shirt will be up for orders very soon ...
For fun (and because I needed some), I checked the ingredients on the back of every available wrap at the localish massive Tesco. Not a single non-palm oil option, and none gave any suggestion that they were in any way responsibly sourced. Hadn't realised quite how pervasive palm oil was...
(PS: my forenames are Robert Owen, although I was apparently named after a radio weather forecaster rather than the individual referenced up-thread.)
Hadn't realised quite how pervasive palm oil was...
it gets a lot murkier in the shampoo world, where the alternate scientific names kick in
http://www.palmoilinvestigations.org/names-for-palm-oil
check every label
maximum respect to all those who care enough to reject the wholesale destruction of the endangered animal habitats
history will be our judge
http://www.palmoilinvestigations.org/what-s-wrong-with-palm-oil
Wither expensive or cheap may not be ethical Nike and apple are not cheap but have received criticism for labour practices.
If buy a Parsley with brooks saddle and tires made in Germany may be made at living wage.
However the poor person in china may prefer you buy from them, is it more ethical to not buy and leave poorer and buy from EU supplier or is it more ethical to buy from poorer place where conditions may be worse but worker may be poorer?
I think at the minimum you'd be hoping your stuff was made in a factory where the fire escapes weren't bolted shut, there was no child labour, and the building doesn't collapse without warning. A job, even a poorly paid job, is one thing - but cheap clothes aren't worth risking peoples' lives for. Unfortunately guaranteeing that without just sticking to things manufactured in developed countries is quite hard (and actually with the rise of trafficking and zero hours contracts even that isn't guaranteed). Even the most well intentioned company can get the wool pulled over its eyes by middlemen if they don't take compliance seriously.
"the building doesn't collapse without warning"
Although the Rana collapse stands out, in general it's difficult to see in the list of structural failures in the last 10 years if any countries or areas are over- or underrepresented.
The list includes a shopping centre in Ontario, another one in Latvia, a bridge in Minnesota, a stage roof in Indiana and an ice rink in Germany.
In any case, next time you come home from work without having been trapped in a burning building, perhaps spare a thought for Health&Safety and the "EU red tape" that Cameron is moaning about all the time.
Can I throw a vote in for Howies' kit. Not massively expensive, generally very high quality, a preference for organic...
I have a couple of merino tops, their bibshorts and their 3/4s - all are pretty much my favourites...
@adamthekiwi, I like the look of bowie's but their sizing in their website seemed wrong? Big jumps in inches between medium which might have been too small and large too big?
I do not think they are as ethical as they used to be as I think they sold themselves on to a less ethical bigger business? So not sure how Welsh they remain.
Howies sold out to Timberland in 2006, but bought themselves back out of the deal and went independent again in 2012
I buy the occasional item from their sales, medium size is reasonably large
Bax, I may therefore take a look. How Welsh are they now? They were quite Welsh before, I liked the red white and green trim on their long sleeve black jersey. I am pro Welsh. Had a lovely holiday on the lleyn peninsula a few years back. Very good ice cream, beaches, loaves, port Merion, bar in Porthmadog train station, duffy's pub that you have to walk to. Etc. Apparently pis he'd down solid the week before but we had a week with a few good days and then at the end of the week, which was Scottish school's first week a few scousers started appearing. I am pro a few scousers and indeed the whole of Liverpool. All good. Most electricity is of course stolen on merseyside. Slur
For me Patagonia is up there with ethics for employees and the environment, not cheap but I have a gilet which is 11 years old and looks new no matter how it is treated.
I try to buy it on sale when I don't need it.....winter stuff in summer etc.
If you start thinking about products then stay away from looking at why food is so cheap in certain shops
Trakke the bag-makers are almost certainly ethical (as in, if they work silly hours its their own fault). Glasgow-based too.
Ooof! Seriously wonky horizon on their huge front page photo. The bags look nice though.
You can end up down a total rabbit hole trying to buy "ethically" as others have already pointed out. Buying second hand can help as the company in question already has the first buyers money, you are preventing it going to landfill and you are not buying a new one from another company which may or may not be ethical whether they want to be or not.
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Thousands sign petition calling on Tunnocks to scrap palm oil from production line
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Team tunnocks deleted the lion rampant and also hydrogenated fats making their tea cakes healthier (erm, I really only like the Carmel log but will eat the wafer but never the tea cake, despite having their jersey, years before the indyref fallout). So I predict team tunnocks will seriously look at palm oil. Obviously the lion rampant is back.
Very useful PDF link at bottom right of this page, for UK palm oil free consumer guide, and cut out and keep guide to best buy products available in UK shops:
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