New online store sells feminist, non-photoshopped, ethical fashion

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."