My first ethical purchase: Gideon Shoes

When I chose to start making ethical choices when buying fashion, I went into a frenzy of internet searching. It seemed thin on the ground at first, but soon I had found a number of exciting stores offering me various guilt-free products that I totally drooled over.

But then I had to face the horrible truth. That a big part of ethical fashion is the way we consume. It's not buying the stuff unless we need it. And since I had been a slight shopoholic in my pre-ethical days, I didn't need it. I am still waiting and waiting to need some of these lovely things.

I did, however, need one thing. I was going to be teaching TAS (technology and applied studies) as well as Maths this year, and I would need leather shoes (or synthetic leather) for the workshop. After reading "To Die For" I was conflicted on the leather/synthetic debate so I kept an open mind to both, and was swayed to leather by other factors.

My feeling about ethical purchasing is that there are no right or wrong choices as such, just choices with good bits to them. No product is perfect. Everything has some kind of footprint. So I just look to find things with lots of positives.

So I found Gideon Shoes. The positives:

• Handmade in Australia under ethical conditions
• Ethical Clothing Australia accredited brand
• Mostly Australian materials
• Profits sustain the Noffs foundation charity work

There is more I could wish for in a leather shoe, but I thought that was a lot of stuff, and I'm very happy with them. I have the classic low roo in the tan (which is the natural colour of the roo leather, apparently). They are comfy, lasting well so far (I wear them about 3 days a week to work) and look good with my casual-maths-teacher jeans, shirt and knit vest image :)

For people who don't need leather, they do "The Giving Shoe" which has this to say about itself: "Hi! I'm vegan, made from fair trade organic cotton and natural rubber and most of me is biodegradable. 100% of my profits go to building Street Universities around the world." Didn't really suit me but pretty good credentials.