Oxford is becoming a hub for socially minded entrepreneurs, many of whom are cross-fertilising ideas at networking events around the city. A few of them came together earlier in the year to organise a Fairtrade fashion show at Oxford's Vaults Caf and Garden.

Beautiful designs from Fairtrade labels such as People Tree and Think! were shown, but the tall and elegant compre, Elizabeth Laskar, wore perhaps the most stunning.

Her emerald green silk dress was made from an old (hot air?) balloon by designer Debbie Little, but she certainly knew how to wear it.

In fact, Ms Laskar wears a lot of ethically-traded clothes in her line of business as, together with two other women, she runs the Ethical Fashion Forum (EFF). It is the perfect job for a woman who loves fashion and Fairtrade.

The forum is a network for designers, businesses and organisations to promote social and environmental sustainability in the fashion industry and was set up two years ago by Tamsin Lejeune, a former Oxford Brookes university architecture student and Ms Laskar.

There are barriers to people in the fashion industry who want to source in a socially responsible way, mainly because of a lack of information, communication and awareness.The EFF is intended to break down those barriers by providing a hub for anyone involved in the industry - whether it be a consumer, producer, academic or organisation - to access or swap information through fashion shows, seminars and a newly updated website.

As it is a not-for-profit company, the founders also set up the Ethical Fashion Consultancy as a means to provide seed funding to help get the EFF off the ground.

While the forum provides access to information, support and training for members, the consultancy allows the EFF to make money through running seminars, workshops, fashion shows and projects together with other consultants and organisations.

A third charitable arm, the Ethical Fashion Foundation, is intended to focus upon the EFF's core goals of poverty reduction, education and the environment, but will only become fully operational in 2008.

The two founders met at a Fairtrade conference in Oxford. Ms Laskar, who was born and brought up in Oxford, came along because of a course she'd been attending on simplifying one's life at her local church.

"One particular bit was on clothing. We talked about this Christian campaign called Lift the Label. It's all about where your clothes come from and I was just devastated to find the support of child labour and the support of no health care, of people working phenomenally long hours and not seeing their families," Ms Laskar said.

Ms Lejeune suggested she organise a Fairtrade fashion show for the Women's Institute at Oxford Town Hall. Her involvement grew from there and she is now responsible for events, marketing and public relations.

When she first met Ms Lejeune, Ms Laskar had just set up a business called The Royal Connection as an image consultant and stylist.

While that business is mainly now on hold, her training has been extremely useful for organising fashion shows and other EFF events.

Ms Lejeune in the meantime is responsible for strategy, programming and the business in general, while the third director Pamela Daniels focuses on communication, publishing and corporate identity.

The three women are relying on other jobs while in this initial start-up phase, although Ms Laskar is now being paid as a consultant by the organisation for certain projects.

For five months she has been involved with an organisation in South Africa called Tabeisa.

She explained: "It raises AIDS awareness through literature and provides business skills to disadvantaged people all over Africa."

The organisation was working with a particular group of artisans in Ghana who had very little access to markets for their skills. It commissioned the EFF to organise a competition called Design4Life Ghana to link fashion students, graduates and designers based in the UK, Ireland and Ghana with Ghanaian artisans and entrepreneurs.

Results of the competition can be found on www.design4lifeghana.com.

She is also involved with two campaigns being run by the BBC. The first, advertised through BBC Slink, its website for teenagers, was to raise awareness of unfair practices in the industry. The prize was a photo shoot where all the clothes were from ethical companies made using recycled, organic or Fairtrade practices, and a visit to London Fashion Week.

The second, involving BBC Blast, its new creative initiative, means that the EFF is facilitating a series of workshops around the country on fashion and ethics. The workshops are running alongside a fashion design competition aimed at young people.

Although it has only been going for a short while, the EFF has already attracted attention in the fashion world.

Ms Laskar said: "We had to be a little bit careful starting up, because we've had so much interest from all over the world."

As it is a small organisation, it has developed a website to provide as much information as possible.

"There is a blog going where people can access and exchange information and we will also have a members' forum."

While Oxford is rich in places where you can shop, eat and drink ethically and organically, Ms Laskar thinks what it lacks is a very good Fairtrade fashion boutique.

Perhaps this is an opportunity for one of those socially-minded entrepreneurs to open one?

Contact: www.ethicalfashionforum.com