Is ethical fashion too slow to compete – or am I just being impatient?

I never meant to get stroppy with the ethical fashion brand. I’d stumbled across their Instagram ad, for a lovely forest-green dress, at a time when I was already thinking about how I could shop better and avoid fast fashion. The brand, Unfolded, promised high quality, no waste and fair pay for garment workers; the dress, at £47, looked just as good as the sustainability credentials. It took a handful of clicks, a matter of seconds to order it. I didn’t bother myself with the small print, but went about my day, looking forward to wearing it at a few spring events.

Four weeks later, spring was in full swing and I hadn’t received the dress. Unfolded emailed me frequently with cheerful updates in an Innocent smoothies tone. My dress was being “cut”, “stitched”,