"To create real economic development, an apparel company needs to create as many economic linkages in a poor country as possible, " he continued.

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The Apparel Industry Partnership, a group put together by the White House that includes activists and apparel firms, agreed in November to create an industry-wide code, although some campaigners have pulled out.

ECONOMIST: Business ethics

Together the two companies teamed up to create the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, inviting other major brands, such as Levi Strauss, Nike, Gap and Adidas to join them in crafting clear, quantifiable standards for environmentally responsible clothing production.

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But barely two years in, they realized they needed even more money to grow their venture into the kind of business they envisioned: a maker of women's apparel that would let consumers choose from an array of patterns and colors to create their own designs, or select items from the company's collection.

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Design teams work directly with clothing manufacturers to create private-label lines, avoiding the mark-up applied by apparel companies which normally serve as middlemen between retailers and manufacturers.

ECONOMIST: Retailing