Ethical retailer of the week: Komodo

Fashion brand Komodo has sustainability and fair trade at the heart of its business. It is considered one of the pioneers of ethical fashion.

Joe Komodo created the brand more than 20 years ago and now has factories in Kathmandu, Bali and Lithuania, while the company is based in London.

“Named after the dragon that had once tried to eat me in earlier backpacking days, the brand was born out of a sense of fun and travel, with a philosophy of fair trade for both the skilful people who made our clothes and also for the environmental effect of the materials we used – but mostly it was about living our own lifestyle and avoiding having to get a proper job”, he explains on the company’s website.

Komodo uses eco-friendly material – organic cotton, hemp, linen, bamboo, tencel (an eco fibre made from tree cellulose farmed on wasteland), rayon and recycled rubber for its clothes.

Komodo is certified by ISO 14001 for its environmental business practices – such as use of natural resources, energy and waste disposal – and MADE-BY for what concerns the sustainability of clothes.

The firm also has a section on its website dedicated to Tibet, in which a part of the money spent on clothes is directed to a local charity Free Tibet that aims to end Chinese occupation of the area.

“We are a Fashion Lifestyle brand first and do our best to be as ethical as we can in the process, rather than eco-warriors trying to make fashion”, said Komodo.