Green party: Fashion with a conscience

Stella McCartney is a designer who pioneered high-end ethical fashion, shunning fur and leather and launching an organic skin-care line.

Roland Mouret is a womenswear designer who produced a sellout line for Gap and Gap (RED) in 2006.

Ali Hewson runs the socially conscious fashion line Edun with her husband, singer and activist Bono.

It's not just about being eco-friendly; it's about having compassion

Anya Hindmarch is a designer whose ethical "I'm Not a Plastic Bag" project became a global phenomenon last year.

Rachael Clay is head of ethical consumerism at Oxfam, which campaigns globally for fair trade.

Katharine Hamnett first brought politics to fashion in the 1980s with her challenging slogan T-shirts.

Christine Gerrard is a spokesperson for the clothing company Next, which has a long-standing ethical policy.

Is socially conscious fashion possible? Can you really care about the consumer, the worker and profits?

Ali Hewson: "The consumer is leading the move toward socially conscious clothing. It's gone beyond questioning what's in our food. People want transparency about the manufacture of other products they buy - they want to know that their clothes tell a good story. I think meaning is becoming the new luxury."

Katharine Hamnett: "Consumers are increasingly becoming more caring - even if the industry isn't. Conspicuous consumption is being regarded as tacky to the point of provoking conspicuous abstention among some luxury customers. It's now possible to make desirable, affordable, high-quality clothes ethically and environmentally. Fashion companies have to do this or risk losing their market share."

Roland Mouret: "Concern about what's happening to our planet has become a trend over the past year. But a trend is in for a short time and then out again. The greatest challenge now is to create something that's luxurious yet researched properly and produced ethically. I'm a designer who doesn't design handbags, so I don't have a huge brand to support - with all the compromises that that entails. I know where I stand and where my clothes are produced, but the sad reality is that most other people in the luxury business don't."

Rachael Clay: "Window-shopping may actually be the most ethical thing you can do. When you think of the 'real' price of a product, you need to consider the wages of those involved in making it, the CO2 emitted in producing and transporting it and how long it will last. Retailers and designers have a responsibility to ensure that customers are not unknowingly behaving unethically by buying something that has resulted in the abuse of someone else's rights."

Christine Gerrard: "Of course, there is an ethical issue with products that are very cheap. If something is on sale, we have to accept the possibility that the low price is being achieved at the expense of quality or the people making those products."

Stella McCartney: "It's not just about being eco-friendly; it's about having compassion. This is something that has been totally overlooked. Nobody is accountable in the fashion industry. Here, we think compassionately as a brand, but we're not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. I mean, we all travel by plane."

Image courtesy of Stella McCartney