Best Dressed Company Award is a conceit for ranking which clothing and design companies are the most moral. Brunello Cucinelli comes out top and companies like H&M come out bottom. This read was an exciting discovery (http://www.anothermag.com/fashion-beauty/9944/inside-the-factory-producing-silk-for-fashion-royalty). Gainsborough Silks is a contender for top spot!
To be top, a company must conform to Max Scheler’s principles of the estate (explained at V&R Chapter 5). Currently (August 2018), the list looks something like this:
Brunello Cucinelli
Corgi Socks
Ermanno Scervino
Gainsborough Silks
Etro
Turnbull & Asser
Hermes
Louis Vuitton
Ferragamo
Janus Motorcycles
Momotaro
Bulgari
Zara
The Reformation
Patagonia
Bruichladdich (Scotch) (points for local production is offset somewhat by non-Scots ownership)
American Apparel (please see note below)
H&M
Under Armour
Nasty Gal (defunct… what a surprise).
A few comments are in order:
I’ll add more to the list (it’ll ultimately draw from Scotch to car companies, too) but in the archives to this blog you’ll find discussions about each of these companies in the list now and how I have used moral theory to assess their business plans. I have not discussed Burberry, for example, but it will be at the bottom somewhere, with a company like Mulberry above. I do not have full information about all of these companies so revisions are likely as I learn more about them. For example, American Apparel is now under new ownership. It’s ranking here reflects the company’s old commitment to localism in the workforce and in no way the behaviour of its old owner.
In brief, Gainsborough Silks is a niche company, spends a lot of time training its own workers in craft, and has a keen eye on its archives.
