Which prompts the question: if Primark can get this wrong, how is the UK printwear industry doing? First, is ethical clothing anything more than a niche issue in the printwear industry? If it is, can decorators put hand on heart and promise that the garments they work with are as ethically sound as possible? If they can, is there an untapped market waiting to be developed? The quick answer is that the printwear industry offers products which are ahead of the game. That is no excuse for smug complacency: there are doubtless many container loads of T-shirts and poloshirts reaching these shores, destined for use as printwear, which have been produced by child labour. Turning a blind eye to that inconvenient truth for a superb price is a matter for more than the individual's conscience: it may well be harming the business as consumers become increasingly concerned about this subject.

There are two diametrically opposed schools of thought on this. On the one hand there is a belief that an increasing number of private individuals will happily pay more to wear ethical clothing, but when it comes to buying for business the key factor is protecting their budgets and impressing their boss with financial savvy.

Then there is the polar opposite view that the private shopper feels that their single T-shirt purchase doesn't have much impact either way and they can't find out whether it's ethically produced or not, but when they buy for the business and they are buying hundreds or thousands of units, they know that they do have an impact, they are conscious of their corporate social responsibility and they can find out the origin and production standards of a garment.

What's more I have little doubt that both views are correct - you need to establish which variant of customer you are dealing with: always read the "mission statement" in reception or on the website. There is also the third and probably biggest category - those who don't know and don't care.

So how do manufacturers for printwear provide assurances to customers that their products are indeed ethically produced? Nicci Persey, director of Lea Sportswear, says that the key is to know who makes the product when and where. It involves a lot of travel and knowing suppliers and buying agents. Lea Sportswear prefers total production under one roof and has reduced the numbers of its supply partners. In the case of its Okarma brand, which is 100% organic, it has tracking and traceability right from the farm to delivery.

Persey considers that printwear businesses can claim to have higher ethical standards than retail. This is partly a matter of scale: printwear specialists are smaller businesses and better able to apply consistent high standards than the retail behemoths. More important still, quality and continuity of supply are essential to their customers - chasing the last five cents on price is not part of achieving that. Her experience is that distributors increasingly make a point of selling the ethical angle and some customers do ask for sight of WRAP certification and introductions to environmentally friendly printers.

Mantis World has a similar take. Md Prama Bhardwaj says "Know your suppliers inside out!" Sitting in nice offices in London, beating suppliers down on price is a recipe for a Primark debacle, she adds. Mantis insists on traceability and transparency. Its family-owned factory in Tanzania doesn't subcontact so it knows who's involved at every stage. As with Lea, they know who's making what for them on any given day. They are certified by several accreditors - Bio Inspecta, Eco Cert and Oeko Tex for environmental and ethical credentials and by BSCI on social compliance.

"Being found to use unethically produced garments would have a massive negative impact on businesses' corporate image," says Bhardwaj. "The media attention is translating this into consumer concern." In her view the information age, has made the world a smaller place, with the result that people are more connected to those on the other side of the globe who make their clothing. She predicts more and more consumers asking about the origins and ethical credentials of their clothing - particularly if it's suspiciously cheap.

At Orotoro there is a belief that the definition of ethically made garments requires both social and environmental accountability for all products a business is producing. It actively supports the key monitoring organisations including Social Accountability International, WRAP and Respect Inside. It manufactures out of only one certified factory but, says md Tom Watson, the source of cotton is vital in defining whether a garment is ethically produced. All of Orotoro's cotton comes from organic farms in India and is certified under the global organic textile standard and licensed by the Soil Association.

Orotoro also runs a zero liquid effluent discharge policy, using water and salt recycling plants which achieve recovery of 92% of salt and 95% of water used. It also uses recycled cardboard for packaging and accessories. However,Watson does not believe that the printwear industry is fully up to speed on ethical clothing.

Premier Workwear sells the Wombat brand focusing on Fairtrade. That itself is a brand which now has 70% recognition in the UK. Its perception is that corporate customers buy from them when they could buy far cheaper because they want the PR benefits (both externally and internally) of "doing the right thing". Philippa Terry says that ethical purchasing is replacing charitable giving - "giving when buying". She also says that people want to be seen to be "doing the right thing" - it supplies product with external Fairtrade branding so customers can literally wear their heart on their sleeve.

Continental Clothing says that traceability is the key to an ethical market position. That's clearly not a gimme - it involves a detailed evaluation of the whole supply chain. In particular where does your cotton come from? If it's Uzbekistan (and Continental's Head of Sustainable Business Development Mariusz Stochaj says 40% of its output still reaches the UK) then you can no way claim to be with the angels. Continental labels all product sources and is tough on providing a traceable product.

Stochaj also makes the point that there is a difference between child labour and child abuse. Damn right! Ask your parents or grandparents. In the UK, we conveniently forget that until the 1944 Education Act minimum school leaving age was 12. There is therefore a big education job involved for consumers, covering not just a definition of ethical clothing but also some respect for practical cultural differences between East and West.

Part of the communication involved is done through labelling of products. As Tom Watson says, if a garment's origins are not labelled, it should prompt the question: why not? Since all those I spoke to make serious efforts on this front, perhaps the industry at large can make bigger play of this via PR.

Where is the business opportunity in all this? Nobody should run away with the fancy idea that the whole country is about to refocus from price onto ethical standards. As Stochaj says, the business is still price led and the emergence of a high profile category of consumers doesn't change the essential dynamic of the market because it's a small category.

Nevertheless, there is demand. There is an increasing number of businesses which have recognised that social responsibility sells. As a case, the fastest growing sector in unit trusts has for several years been ethical funds - people literally putting their money where their mouth is.

Government bodies, a large number of FTSE 100 and 250 companies, schools and, indeed plenty of smaller businesses have signed up to the principle of spending responsibly. Sure, as Stochaj says, there is a lot of lip-service being paid but there is also an increasing number of organisations which perceive that the value of ethical responsibility outweighs its cost.

There is also the consumer at large. The question "what does your £3 T-shirt really cost?" has had plenty of airing in the press. No less an influencer than Lisa Armstrong, fashion editor of the Times, has addressed this topic regularly. The consumer who wants to follow his or her principles has a problem: where do they go to buy ethical leisurewear? It's not exactly crowding the high street. Therefore garment decorators, especially those sited in retail locations, have valuable business potential here: they can offer the product. What's more they can offer it in a range of colours and weights not available elsewhere.

I am not seeing, even in the three university towns and two surf centres I have visited recently, shirts bearing a message such as "This T-shirt was made without child labour in a respectable factory. Was yours?" There is a market for this and it isn't just hippies, students, surfers and vegan sandal wearers (although in some towns they add up to a pretty big constituency). It is therefore surprising how little POS material is available for decorators to publicise the virtues of these products and, indeed, their simple availability.

There is an opportunity to be had here - it's just up to the industry to grasp it.

Paul Clapham is a marketing consultant with over 25 years' experience covering a broad range of business sectors and a full spread of marketing disciplines. He runs his own business, working with small, medium and large companies alike to increase their profitability through marketing.

Tel:01453 765432

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