| Counting the cost of clothing |
 How one woman’s passion for justice is driving her business By Mark Woods Can what you wear really save the planet? Probably not – but, says Annette D’Oyley, it can help. Our furry and feathered friends need all the help they can get nowadays, and the businesswoman and designer is doing her bit. Her children’s clothing company Animal Tails was set up to provide garments that don’t just look beautiful, but which send a message – and help people in the developing world, too. Its designs feature some of the world’s most endangered species – the Asian Elephant, Siamese Crocodile, Leatherback Turtle, Luna Moth and many more. With each item of clothing comes a story label written to the child from the perspective of the animal featured, with fun and amazing facts about the animal, why it is endangered and what young people can do to help. The clothes are certified under the Global Organic Textile Standard, which ensures that the garments are not only organic, including all the dying process and silk screen inks used, but also ethically manufactured. And Annette’s Christian faith is at the heart of what she does. She’s been what she calls a ‘live’ Christian for over 17 years, though was brought up in the faith by her parents. But “it had no impact on me until just after the birth of my first daughter,” she says. “I met a group of wonderful Christian women who helped me discover Jesus as real, loving and wanting a living relationship with me. I moved to a great depth of faith after I was baptised by a friend of ours (a Baptist minister) in the sea during a summer holiday at Sizewell Christian Conference Centre in Suffolk.” She started her work on ethically-produced clothing after an ‘apprenticeship’ as a fashion designer creating what she calls ‘over-the-top ballgowns and meringue- inspired wedding dresses’. But time out spent backpacking around South East Asia opened her eyes to a different world. “This was the first time in my life that I had encountered poverty – I was shocked not just by the rural poverty, but also by what that poverty drove people to do,” she says. Reeling with shock “I remember now reeling with shock at the age of 21 when my friend and I walked into the red-light area of Bangkok, the girls were so young – younger than me, selling themselves because they had absolutely nothing else. “I later learnt that many of these girls were sold into this trade after their families were tricked into believing that they were been offered factory work in the city – or worse still they had been abducted and were effectively slaves.” When she came back to the UK she joined the Civil Service and worked for the Department for International Development (DfID) and had her horizons “seriously widened”. “Although I was visiting countries to bring help and knowledge, in reality I think I was the one who learnt more. I discovered the real causes of poverty and environmental degradation, and every time the root seemed to be firmly planted in our so called ‘developed’ economies which seem to feed off developing countries. It troubled me deeply then and still does today.” Some years later she had a vivid dream about creating a company that would use all her skills in fashion and business and her knowledge of development issues – so vivid that she wrote it down and discussed it with her husband and a close Christian friend. Two years later Animal Tails was born. It’s doing well, and it’s changing lives – but it’s only a small company, with nothing like the power of supermarkets and big chains. Can it make a real difference? Not immediately, Annette says, because it takes time to change the way the high street does business. But, “I do think that if ethical manufacturing can be done on a small scale, if the will is there, it can also be done on a large scale. “If we demand ethical goods and are prepared to pay the real price for making those goods, then people’s livelihoods and the environment won’t be sacrificed.” Annette works hard, and is totally committed to what she does. What is it that drives her on? “A desperate, desperate desire to try and make a difference to vulnerable people’s lives – the impacts of poverty make me weep,” she tells me. For more about Animal Tails, visit www.animaltails.co.uk Books on fair trading: Lift the label – the hidden cost of our life style, by David Westlake and Esther Stansfield Modern Slavery – the secret world of 27 million people, by Kevin Bales, Zoe Trodd and Alex Kent Williamson |
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