Endangered

Generally we (myself included) don’t give enough thought to sustainability in our fashions and accessories. But we don’t have to go too far back in time for examples of resources that were exhausted by humankind.

Case in point, ivory and tortoiseshell jewellery. Here are two examples that I have recently found at thrift shops. I won’t get into the terrible ways that these materials are acquired. But harvesting elephants and hornbilled tortoises to produce relatively cheap baubles nearly drove these animals to extinction.

Ivory and tortoiseshell bans have help turn things around for these creatures and I hope legislation against bad environmental and  labour practices will also help make the fashion industry a little more ethical.