Is The Ragged Priest Fast Fashion? An Expert Breakdown!

October 25, 2023

The Ragged Priest is a UK-based clothing brand with its flagship store located in London. Over 200 retailers carry The Ragged Priest products across 30 countries.

The Ragged Priest was established in 2007 by James Cutmore in Southend-On-Sea, England. His innovative idea was to reimagine and market the well-known streetwear apparel in a fresh way. The successful application of this concept is Ragged Priest.

The Ragged Priest began as a vintage clothing company on eBay in the UK. It has now grown into one of the greatest alternative brands throughout Europe and England, attracting punks and pastel goths alike with annual sales of close to $1 million.

Old-fashioned clothing that has been repurposed and reworked into new shapes is what Ragged Priest primarily sells.

Ragged Priest does not have as many physical stores around the world as other businesses, hence its products are less popular than typical clothing.

Therefore, it is evident that brand representatives avoid mass production because there is less demand for their goods.

However, the company is still classified as fast fashion because it sells cheaper imitations of old classic gowns.

Sustainability Rating: 3/10

Category: Clothing, accessories

For: Women, men

Products: Bottom, jeans, t-shirts & tops, shirts, coats & jackets, knitwear, sweatshirts & hoodies, skirts & shorts, dresses, trousers, accessories

Style: Retro, punk, vintage

Quality: Average

Price: £

Sizes: XS-XL, 6-22 (UK), 2-16 (USA), 34-50 (EUR), 4-22 (AUS)

Fabrics: Cotton, viscose, polyester, nylon, spandex, acrylic, rubber, faux leather, wool, denim, knit, faux fur, polyurethane, elastane

100% Organic: No

100% Vegan: No

Ethical & Fair: No

Recycling: Yes

Manufacturing countries: London, Turkey, China, India

Certifications: No

Interpretation Of The Sustainability Score

Brands with a rating of 3/10 are beginning to adopt sustainable practices and are conscious of the harmful effects of the fashion industry. Though not enough to be regarded as sustainable, they do supply some useful information.

What Are The Sustainability Practices Of The Ragged Priest?

On The Ragged Priest’s website, the brand says that they are aware of their obligation to improve and implement sustainable practices in order to reduce their environmental impact and produce collections as sustainably as possible.

Since the brand began as a vintage store, they have been making recycled clothing from the beginning. Now, they say that they are improving the methods they employ, working to reduce their environmental impact while maintaining a sense of morality.

The brand collaborates with The Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) to source environmentally friendly cotton that is recycled, Fairtrade, and organically grown for the production of their jeans.

According to the brand, they have teamed up with Ecologi to determine the average carbon emissions of each member of their team (both at work and at home) and are now financing tree planting initiatives all around the world.

They also claim to ship their orders FSC-approved environmentally friendly packaging, and all of their packaging—including the sticker and protective clothing poly bag—is recyclable. Furthermore, their neck labels and swing tags are created from recycled and recyclable materials.

The Ragged Priest's sustainability efforts demonstrate their concern for the environment and their commitment to do more to lessen their impact on the environment.

Are There Any Ethical Practices Of The Ragged Priest?

The brand promises to pay living wages to its employees, not tolerate child labor, and provide safe and hygienic working conditions for the workers. Furthermore, they ensure that all of their suppliers consent to abide by the ETI base code.

However, there is no proof that they actually fulfill their promises or that their suppliers are actually abiding by the ETI base code since a huge part of their clothing is sourced from China and India, where workers receive subpar pay and are required to put in excessive hours.

The brand also prides itself on creating its unique designs and ideas since it does not mass produce its clothing.

However, the brand was accused by a PR Director on Instagram Rachel D' Amico of copying a design from an independent New York-based brand StickyBaby. She shared a picture of a pair of broken heart-printed jeans that Bella Hadid wore on a day out in Paris.

The Ragged Priest website currently has a number of really similar designs with the same broken heart motif in a range of various hues and tints, despite the fact that Rachel did not give an image of the infringing Ragged Priest designs she was referring to as far as her copying accusation.

Although Rachel was quite impassioned in her post, Ragged Priest refused to accept the allegations at face value. A spokesman for the company responded to Rachel's post in a comment, denying any claims that the company had plagiarized StickyBaby's designs.