Expensive Taste (www.expensivetaste.co.uk) is an on-line boutique is full of contemporary, beautiful, carefully selected accessories and clothes which prove that looking good needn't cost the earth. Expensive Taste was also set up as an ethical company – we have in place a system of morals and conduct which determines how we source our products, the price we pay for them, the relationships we forge and the prices we ask for our products. We also consider the environmental impact of how we do business.

Expensive Taste is a very small business set up by two women from home. We have no large commercial company in the background so do not, at present have the financial resources to join large Ethical Trade organisations. However, we have researched the subject of ethical trading and have developed our trading practices accordingly.

PRODUCTS FROM DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
Often, we consumers do not consider the people who work to produce the clothes and accessories that we wear. Expensive Taste will only buy from producers or wholesalers who are able to demonstrate that their goods reach us via a chain of employees who have been fairly treated, fairly paid and not exploited in any way. Our objective is to ensure that those people and companies whose products we sell to our customers have a commitment to improve the lives of those workers.

For example:

• We currently buy from a jewellery company that employs six African ladies. All their jewellery is hand made by this team of full-time beading ladies. Each is paid for every item she makes, and payment is guaranteed whether or not that item is sold. The company also co-sponsors an 11-month-old orphaned baby elephant.
• We will soon be selling ethically produced cashmere designed by a UK based company whose garments are made in Nepal. The company is sponsoring a group of orphaned youths in Nepal with money going towards better nutrition, decent bedding and improved facilities.

PRODUCTS FROM UK AND EUROPE
Most of our stock is bought from designers who either make their products themselves or have set up manufacturing in their own country. This achieves several aims:

• GOOD QUALIY AT REASONABLE PRICES.
  we can develop a relationship with these individuals, which allow us to have some influence over the colour of the goods we buy. The optimum scenario for us is to develop a dialogue so that we can commission goods that we believe our customers would love to buy, which benefits the customer, the designer and us. Thus we can offer a marketplace for these hard working people to display and sell their work. We have come to realise that there are many very talented people out there who may not yet have been spotted by the big guys, but who are nonetheless producing lovely things.

  For example:
  The ‘B’Jewelled’ collection is made by one jewellery designer in Surrey. We meet regularly to choose the colour combinations which will be used in our next product range. She provides the creative flair whilst we make sure the colours are combined according to our specifications.

• THE ENVIRONMENT
  At Expensive Taste, we offer good quality products with a sensible price tag. Good quality means that the item will last and give good service and the sensible price tag reflects the quality.

  We all love a bargain. I meet people who are delighted to inform me that *** are selling 100% cotton tops for £6. This is all very good for their bank balance but it troubles us at Expensive Taste. Retailers have to put a percentage onto the wholesale price in order to make a profit, so the price of the garment reflects the cost of materials, producing the garment and delivery plus the mark-up. The conclusion has to be that either the raw materials are of poor quality, therefore cheap and/or the labour costs are minimal.

  We have already outlined our attitude towards fair employment. The use of poor quality materials means that the end product will also be of poor quality, which means that it will wear out quickly and probably won’t survive the washing cycle well (shrinking, changing shape or fading). The manufacturing process has also to be done on the cheap so finishing is poor - seams come undone, buttons fall off etc.

  The availability of ‘cheap chic’ leads to a trend towards buying clothes which last for not much longer than a two-week holiday and are then simply thrown away, because you can just go back and buy some more cheap stuff. If you were to consider the whole process of making cotton t-shirts, from growing the cotton (pesticides, intensive farming, factories) to packaging and delivery to the shop you can see the picture that to emerges if demand for cheap products continues; the whole process has to happen more and more frequently to keep up with demand. Interestingly, some of the clothes put into recycling bins these days are not even of sufficient quality to be reused other than as cleaning rags for industry.

  We believe that retailers like us have a responsibility to question the ethics of selling cheap clothing. We believe that the consumer also has a role to play and might just question how these goods can be produced so cheaply. Our message is, rather than buy three cheap tops for the price of one because when they are worn out it won’t hurt our pockets to just throw them away, why not buy one which will last and give good service? Surely that’s good value.

  And just one more thought - if the large and powerful supermarket chains and cheap retail outlets are able to mimic catwalk trends for a mass market in record time and at a minimal price by buying from for example, Sri Lanka (making the clothes practically disposable) and as 'cheap chic' becomes increasingly popular among new fashion icons, what happens to our own fashion industry here in the UK?

  We know that on this small scale we are unlikely to fundamentally affect any of these issues - however, we also know that a beach is made up of thousands of small stones and we hope that we will make our contribution to the way that retailers conduct their business by adhering faithfully to our principles.