In fashion, words like ‘sustainability’ and ‘ethical’ are overly used
descriptives in press releases, but if you dug a little deeper there would
be little of either to be found.
Enter new e-commerce site Birdsong, a new online store founded by three
feminists with the aim of selling sweatshop-free products that give back to
women. One of the brands, Madi underwear, donates a pair to a women’s
refugee for every pair bought, or Khama prints, where 75 percent of the
cost of an item goes to making women breadwinners in Malawi.
We want to start a dialogue, and for every woman who sees our ads to
realise that they’re good enough as they are,” says Sophie Slater, who
founded the company with partners Sarah Beckett and Ruba Huleihel. To
celebrate the campaign’s launch, she discusses the problems with
advertising, why we need to pay attention to worker’s rights and how
fashion and feminism can’t stop at Tumblr.
“Our main ethos is ‘no sweatshops, no Photoshop’. We want to create fashion
that’s fairer for women, and get people to expect more from their
wardrobes. We love fashion and clothes, but the garment industry is
horrendous to its workforce, which is about 85 per cent poor women. All of
our stock is sourced from really small women’s groups or charities, we help
them get money coming in. Ninety two per cent of women’s organisations in
London have had a funding crisis since 2010, so that fact and a love of
fashion is where we started from. We also want to subvert people’s
expectations about ethical fashion, by having really nice clothes that
aren’t ridiculously expensive or hemp sacks.
Everything we do is from a feminist perspective – from using feminist
photographers to eradicate the male gaze to championing women workers and
charitable organisations by fairly sourcing our clothing through them.
We’re also committed to using diverse models, making shoots a fun, positive
experience for them, and never digitally altering their appearance. We use
our website to tell the stories of everyone involved in Birdsong. We
believe in collaboration and making women’s voices heard.”