Ethics are the new black | Dr. Sue Thomas | TEDxHeriotWattUniversity

Every piece of clothing we own has a story, whether it is made of cotton grown in a field, or polyester pumped out of an oil rig. Our choices dictate what story the clothes tell, and it is our duty to ensure we minimise our impact on humanity.
Buying a new dress or jacket is no longer a simple undertaking. The customer and the designer are both participants in the fashion supply chain, the garment life cycle and perhaps unconsciously linked by their ethical choices.
Dr Thomas has taught fashion around the UK and Oceania, and is the creator of the MSc Ethics in Fashion course at Heriot-Watt University.
She is an advocate for ethics and sustainability within fashion the supply-chain and wrote the new MSc Ethics in Fashion programme. She has presented research in the USA, UK, Hong Kong and Australia. In 2014 she contributed a chapter to the Routledge Handbook of Sustainability and Fashion, and currently, she is finishing a book for Routledge on Fashion Ethics due in 2016.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at ted.com/tedx