Dear friends, seeing this made me realize I want to use what little I have learned running a textile cooperative to offer a guide to investigating the "ethics" of clothing brands, from my perspective as a Muslim.

This will be long-ish. Let's pierce the manufacturing veil: https://twitter.com/muftidank/status/1308781324598214657

Your questions should start from the very beginning of the process.

What is your garment made of and where did the materials come from? Think about the fabric and the lining, but also oft-forgotten items like zippers, buttons, clasps, seam thread, labels & tags, fillers, etc.

Is the fabric made of natural, processed natural, or synthetic fibers?
Natural = silk, wool, cotton, linen, leather, jute
Processed = bamboo, rayon, modal, lyocell
Synthetic = polyester, acrylic, nylon

Nothing but 100% natural is acceptable (for too many reasons to share here).

Don't trust "innovative" fibers for their chemical runoff and don't trust anything with "tex" in its name, even if they try to call it "eco-___." That doesn't make it so.

Words like velvet, satin, brocade, etc. refer to the type of weave, not the composition of the fibers.

The rule across the board is: if the company doesn't, or won't, say, assume the worst. Achieving ethical alternatives in this industry is no easy feat. If they did the work, I promise they'd want to talk about it.

So you've got your natural fiber! Now some more questions.

Where was the cotton grown? It should be on a small, organic pesticide-free farm preferably with non-Monsanto seeds. It should be at a sustainable scale.

How are the animals which provided your wool treated?

Do the sheep have their tails cut off (docking) like the Australian wool industry does? Are they kept inside their whole lives to keep the wool clean? These things are not acceptable.

"Peace" silk is better, when possible, as the worms aren't boiled alive.

Now we need to ask what chemical treatments even our natural fibers underwent. How was the runoff dealt with? Where was the chemical waste dumped?

Into the rivers and lakes of the Global South is too often the answer, and we can't allow it any longer.

My rule of thumb here is if its not compostable, if even the insects and the bacteria won't come near it, its not safe enough for my skin, and it certainly wasn't safe enough to be produced in the non-West.

This goes for dyes too. How were the colors of your garment achieved?

They say you can tell what colors will be "in" next season by the colors of the rivers in China.

Opt for natural dyes (plant "based" isn't good enough). God has provided the means to produce extravagant and breathtaking colors, which people have used throughout history.

Is this starting to sound unattainable? That's kind of the point (the whole industry is sick), but wait we're not done!

Now these fibers have to be turned into fabric. Where were they spun and (separately) woven? By whom? How were the workers paid? Treated?

What local economies of traditional weaving and spinning were displaced by these capitalist factories?

Handwork is always best for me, because it is accessible work (to home caretakers, to elderly, to disables people) in which the artisans own the means of production.

Okay, we've got fabric! Now it's time to turn it into clothes. First we need designs.

Do the designs of the this clothing brand accord with your ethics? Do they objectify the human form? Do they draw from non-white cultures and if so, are those cultures adequately recognized?

Do those cultures materially benefit from the sale of these goods? If not, pass.

It's time to turn these designs into patterns (2D shapes to be cut out of the fabric and turned into the 3D garment). Who made the patterns and how were they compensated?

How do these patterns treat the human form? Choices always have to be made to produce clothing at a level higher than the individual. What choices did this brand make? What body proportions do they promote/accept? Look at the waist-hip ratio of their smallest size, for example.

Ok, we've got the patterns, it's time to cut and sew! This is the part that we are often most accustomed to asking about.

WHERE were the clothes made and in what conditions? How safe, physically, mentally, and financially are the garment workers? What choices do they have?

What is the relationship between this brand and its factories? Does it work with certain factories consistently, so it can visit and monitor conditions? Or does it hop around from week to week, generating instability for workers and a "race to the bottom" among factories?

How many garments does this brand produce annually, and how many does it sell? What does it do with unsold stock? (It better not burn it) What does it do with its waste? Is rapid decay/turnover of their garments built into this brand's business model?

Do the garments have any embellishments? Don't forget to ask about the origins and materials from tweet 2! Is something printed on it? What is the composition of the ink? Is it printed using a plastic adherent?
Is there embroidery? Where was it done & how was it compensated?

Ok, we've got clothes (oversimplifying here, of course), time to sell them!

How does this brand "market" its pieces? Does it use language which perpetuates hyper-consumerism? Which leaves one dissatisfied with what they already have? Which ignores the Source of all creation?

What images does it produce? Does it sexualize and abuse women's bodies? Does it contribute to harmful classist and racial beauty standards? Does it commodify the faces of real people in their airbrushed and make-up'ed forms?

To me, these are unacceptable choices.

How does it reach clients? Does it abuse your personal data and disturb your peace of mind by tracking and following you with social media ads and retargeting? Does it pour money into the damaging SM industry?

What benefit / blessing do its products offer you? Does it care?

How does it price its garments? Does it charge 10x the production cost / the market rate in order to give the appearance of higher quality and target a "luxury" market? Fair pricing is ethical pricing is Islamic pricing.

Is it a Western brand profiting exponentially off of non-Western labor and manufacturing, thereby further the global wealth gap and impoverishing our GS nations further. How much of the final sale price stays in the hands of the communities which created that product?

Finally, it sold a garment! Now it just has to ship it. At this final step, does this brand use recyclable, recycled, natural materials in its packaging? Does it offset its carbon emissions from global shipping?

I hope this has been helpful to you all.

This was just a taste of some of the questions involved in the process. My intention is not to hate on companies which are learning and growing, but to connect my faith with my ethics across the board in all practices. Ultimately trust your heart, your ethics, and be scrupulous!