We are Rhetorik. One of our taglines is, Ethical as fuck.

Primarily, the tagline is used to raise a dialogue. It also refers to our ethos in the fashion industry.

All our clothing is made from organic cotton or recycled materials, the production is ethically accredited and as sustainable as possible. Many of our garments are made in renewables powered factories. We support several local, independent businesses in our supply chain.

Check out our stylish, sustainable fashion here.

We try to be as socially conscious about our business decisions as possible. This spans from who we bank with to where we get our IT and print services to which local businesses and craftspeople we support.

Some love the tagline, some hate it. It gets all sorts of attention. We’re not using it to try to be cool, we don’t need to do that. Our brand is already outstanding.

We use the tagline to initiate a dialogue.

We want you to think about why the word fuck might offend some people more than the knowledge that their clothing was made in a sweatshop in a developing country where vulnerable workers are exploited for cheap labour.

The issue of cheap labour is a complex philosophical, political, economic and social one. It’s not one we would like to discuss here; we’ll do so on another blog post. 

The issue here is about our priorities.  Should the word fuck offend us more than exploiting human beings for our very own convenience? Obviously not. So, why does it?

This issue is deeper than mere consumer preference. It is rooted in our institutions, in our government. Last year we applied to receive help from a government endorsed organisation that supports local businesses. They wouldn’t help us because we use the word fuck in our branding. Yet businesses like Primark can set up shop on the high street even though their products are sourced more than dubiously? Nice one.

We refused to remove the word fuck from our branding, our integrity is important to us. In doing so, we forfeited the help we could have had. That wasn’t a decision taken lightly. 

The issues of ethics in consumerism need more exposure, and that is more important to us than a bit of help from an organisation who doesn’t share our values.

Our community has faith in our integrity. Wearing Rhetorik means just that. It means pride in ethically sourced consumer goods. It means style and sustainability.

Not everyone will agree with the way we’re raising this dialogue. Two wrongs certainly don’t make a right, and we sincerely hope we don’t drastically offend anyone by using that naughty word.

Perhaps we should remove fuck from our branding and make the point another way? Perhaps not. Speak to us, how you feel about the matter is important.