When it comes to ethical fashion, introductions can be pretty intimidating. Where did all of those clothes in your closet come from? Were they made in a sweatshop? What’s the most eco-friendly fabric? And — question of the hour — what about those new fall wardrobe additions? Skip ‘em? Buy vintage?

Relax. All the clothes you see in your closet, in the shop, and on the street have something in common: a life-cycle. And for anyone who’s ready to make the move toward a more conscious closet but needs a little guidance, this is your ticket.

Of course, the first part of every garment’s life-cycle is its production. In this phase, some impressive combination of energy, thought, labor, and other resources transformed raw materials into, say, your new fall scarf.

From the factory to Nordstrom to the thrift shop, every article of clothing has different phases of utility.

The details of that combination are important in fashion ethics, but chances are they will be pretty difficult to nail down. There is a growing universe of different fabrics involved — organic cotton, hemp, silk, linen, recycled polyester, and vintage leather among — and an often-mysterious supply chain.

The size and scope of fashion supply chains can vary widely — from knitting a scarf out of wool produced on your own farm, to domestic factory assembly, to complex multinational chains.

For a good example of just how complicated the supply chain can be, check out a Guardian article by Fran Abrams and James Astill called “Story of the Blues.” Back in 2001, the authors tracked down the origins of a pair of everyday jeansm from the cotton field to Cromwell’s Madhouse. It was no easy task. By the time those “middle aged” jeans made their way into the shop, they had passed through more than a dozen countries.

As sustainable fashion experts (like Sandy Black, author of the excellent text Eco-Chic: The Fashion Paradox) will tell you, fashion is one of the last major industries to depend so highly on manual skills. And aside from all the waste generated in garment production, fashion leaves quite a carbon footprint.

We can try our best to buy the most ethically-made garments. But even after your new scarf finds its home in your closet, its human and environmental impact is far from over. A few years from now, experience tells us that the star of your fall 2008 wardrobe will probably be getting the boot.

At this point, our scarf story could continue in one of many ways. To take the worst case scenario first, it could go to landfill — in which case the utility of this scarf has ended. And so has its life-cycle.
But you’re interested in taking the ethical route, so let’s say you’ve passed it on. (It could have also been recycled, or restyled – which, for a scarf, is admittedly a difficult task.) Depending on the circumstances, it could become a family heirloom, be re-bought in a thrift shop, or make its way through the enigmatic used-clothing trade into a foreign land.

As George Packer wrote in a 2002 article for The New York Times (“How Susie Bayer’s T-Shirt Ended Up on Yusuf Mama’s Back”), “If you’ve ever left a bag of clothes outside the Salvation Army or given to a local church drive, chances are that you’ve dressed an African.” Choosing a University of Pennsylvania t-shirt, Packer followed the garment from a U.S. thrift shop to its new life in Mombasa, Kenya.

Packer’s story is a fascinating and thought-provoking one, but for the purposes of our tutorial, it leaves us with the phase of the life-cycle between Cromwell’s Madhouse and landfill or thrift shop: the time spent in your closet.

Charcoal grey "Soopascarf." (Yokoo/Etsy.com)

Even if you’ve managed to find yourself the ideal scarf that’s organic, sweatshop-free, “zero-waste,” and naturally dyed, you still have one monster of an ethical question left to answer: Will you – or someone else – be wearing it for years to come?

And so you’ve encountered the difference between ethical fashion and ethical style. Rather than searching for the most ethically-made shawl on the planet, ethical style can be as simple as learning to shop with the entire life-cycle in mind.

Learn what you can about those slippery supply chains, fabrics, and labor practices. But in the meantime, a rule of thumb: Some of the most ethical pieces you can buy today will someone’s heirlooms -– and your legacy -– tomorrow.