Belgian designer offers Honest, transparent fashion

Belgian fashion pioneer Bruno Pieters is breaking from tradition and offering high-end customers “transparent shopping from A to Z” through Honest by, a web-only label he created last year which  gives the shopper an intricately detailed breakdown of a product’s elaborate supply chain. In the world of fashion, “you can sell a €50,000 dress without being aware that the product was made by children,” Pieters said. “Few ask themselves the question.” However, the question became a burning one after the catastrophic collapse of a clothing factory in Bangladesh killed 1,100 people in April. The disaster shocked consumers, putting the spotlight on the often appalling conditions for workers making garments and, activists hope, creating a desire in shoppers to consider every link in the worldwide supply chain. On the Honest by website, buyers click on an item of clothing and a long list appears, itemising the suppliers that made the garment, prices included. The customer “can verify the origin of materials, where the clothing is made and at what price,” said Pieters. For example, a tunic priced at €225.87 has a wholesale cost of €69.14, which is displayed on the same page on the website. The mark-up is the company’s premium for creating the item. “Companies can no longer produce in China then slap on a ‘Made in France’ label,” Pieters said. “Transparency will soon become inevitable for the luxury business because the only reason to pay the prices, is quality and know-how,” he added. Pieters, 38, is a refugee from high fashion. A former art director at Hugo Boss, he suffered a burnout  in 2009, embittered by the drive for the bottom-line that he says rules the luxury goods industry. He took a two-year break from fashion before building his firm. Honest by, whose name is a play on the honest buyer, is not a large-scale business, producing about 1,500 pieces since its launch, expanding only by inviting young creators to also sell on the site. Pieters says that 20% of the profits made in designer collaborations will go to charity, but the company overall does not yet turn a profit.

(AFP)