Estethica setting the trend at London Fashion Week

Fin. Fashion first - ethics included.

Directly next to one of the entrances at London Fashion Week is an area of style and substance. Estethica is the 'ethical section' at London Fashion Week, and it's as fashion forward as the mainstream areas.

It's obvious from a look around the area, and confirmed by talking to the designers, that the labels here want to compete on design. While they won't leave ethics out of it for their own passions, the primary objective is to create unparalleled style.

Designer Vivien Johnston, created Fifi Bijoux, the 'luxury ethical jewellery' collection. Johnston would like to get to the stage where she can 'lose the ethical label' as it becomes the standard. 'People ask me won't I lose my unique selling point, but I'm a designer,' says Johnston, 'and I want to compete as a designer.'

This years' exhibitors appear to have achieved this. Eivnd Pytte Odegard, a partner of Fin, who's environmentally friendly fabrics include baby alpaca wool and hand-spun non violent silk, says some of his buyers aren't remotely interested in the ethics, but stock them solely because of the end result.

It's not surprising. When you look at the organic fabrics, blends of hemp and silk, and recycled pine (like Ciel's socks!), and eco-cottons, the end result is an array of tactile fabrics that outshine fabrics dulled by chemical use, which appeal to consumers on a fashion level, if not an ethical level.

The eco fabrics have been whipped up into this seasons' key looks. Beyond Skin has put its best bejewelled foot forward with clashing colours and flashes of neon; there's ornately embroidered bags from Pibiones, using Sardinian fabrics and craft; urban wear, like Veja's fair trade trainers using natural latex from the Amazon; and buyers should be in their element with the range of tailored shirts and suits and high collars, and mini dresses across the exhibit, and not a scratchy jumper in sight.

Each of the labels are easily identified by their unique strong identities or trademarks, from Katharine E Hamnett's unmistakeable slogans, to Junky Styling's distinct re-constructed pieces, to Dialog's trademark 'four fold trim' on its bags and purses, and, new for this year, dresses. Dialog's showroom is at Number Sixteen, on Sumner Place, a short walk from the main exhibition.

The process of sourcing ethical fabrics and ensuring the production is environmentally friendly and non-exploitative, is not fast - and neither are the clothes. Ethical fashion is the opposite of fast fashion. While in line with this season, many of the collections are also timeless and made to stay in your wardrobe for many seasons to come - landfill is not the final destination.

Like Julia Smith's designs. Smith is also showing at Number Sixteen, her new collection including sexy suits and corset belts, corseted dresses and jackets, all in a range of luxurious eco-fabrics. Smith wants to appeal to consumers on a design level, but also to those who care about the ethics, so those with a fashion conscience can select what they want to wear for with a clear conscience knowing that she's 'done their thinking for them'.

Being fashion first can also mean wearing your heart on your sleeve. Katharine Hamnett and the Environmental Justice Foundation make ethics fashionable with their new tees, as does Izzy Lane, who's big knits come from the flock of more than 500 sheep, she has so far rescued from slaughter. If you like to keep your ethics under wraps when it comes to what you wear, even your knickers can reveal a lot about you, and keep in in at the same time with Green Knicker's new corset knickers, made from hemp, silk and bamboo.

Whether it's fashion or ethics that you prioritise, or both, Estethica's designers have done the thinking for you on both fronts.