Should the tail wag the dog?

Whilst looking around at what people are saying on ethical fashion issues, there's a question that's been growing in my mind:

Should the consumer dictate what the retailer sells, or the retailer dictate what the consumer buys?

At first glance it seems entirely obvious. Of course the consumer dictates what the retailer sells, after all, we're the ones with the money right? Well, perhaps not!

Dig a little deeper, and it becomes less clear. It seems very "chicken or egg" to me. Consumers will dictate, to an extent, what they are willing to pay, and therefore what they are willing to buy - the success of Primark shows us that. However, just because the consumer likes to buy cheap, does that give the retailer the excuse to disregard how their articles came to be? Should, in fact, the consumer be making more of a stand on ethical and social consience issues, thereby forcing more consumers to become informed about ethics issues?

If the fair-trade movement has taught us anything, it's that there is a market for goods that have been created in a manor that is fair and ethical. The sadness of it is that there will always be other companies quite prepared to disregard environmental and social consience issues in order to make a greater margin on their goods.

In short, the tail MUST wag the dog. Consumers must become better informed about the history of the goods they are buying so that they can make better discisions about what to buy....and that's where great sites like the ethical trade initiative come in - http://www.ethicaltrade.org/. 

So, please, tell all your friends, and get reading too. The more people out there talking about ethical fashion, the better it'll be for everyone.