Our dollars shape the economy, therefore - boycotts and fair trade help. We are here for the long term, after all. And I will buy any brand at all at a thrift shop - where most of my clothes are bought. The money goes to good use.

The main alternatives in the clothing industry are people recycling older clothing and other fabrics. Tamper Sustainable Fashion, a neophyte company by my friend, Gia Greer, is blogging how to make "new" clothes out of old fabrics in a simple way.

Isn't the clothing trade where unions started - the sweat shops, women locked in with sewing machines - burning to death.....