Video: Fair Trade Fashion

For the past several days, all eyes have been on the glittery runways of New York Fashion Week, where top designers vie for the hearts and minds of fashion editors, celebrity stylists and merchandisers eager to set the buying criteria for must-have trends six months from now.

While planning a wardrobe two seasons ahead can be aesthetically inspiring, it contributes to a vicious "fast fashion" cycle that hurts people and the planet. Consumers acquire more clothing than they can possibly wear in a lifetime, increasing demand for duds with a short shelf-life. This leads to mass-production of easy-sew, chemical-laden garments that pollute the earth, mistreat garment laborers who work under dangerous conditions, and gorge our landfills with cheap clothes that quickly fall apart.

On this episode of Conscious Living®, we visit pioneering fair trade fashion brand Mata Traders, who offer economic empowerment to women artisans in India who create their beautiful eco-conscious clothes and accessories.