Business in the Community is a business-led initiative that aims to promote sustainable development through corporate social responsibility.
The organisation, whose patron is President Mary McAleese, counts both Penneys and Marks & Spencer among its members. According to its chief executive, Tina Roche, there is a strong business case for companies to be seen as more corporately and socially responsible.
But one difficulty that ethical sourcing can present is that, although a company may be able to establish that its main supplier for a garment is adhering to its ethical standards, it may be more difficult to do so with sub-contractors or others down the line.
For example, while a shirt may be produced in a factory which has been ethically audited, a clip or fastener on the shirt might not have been.
"It can be difficult to push your standards all down the chain," explains Roche. "This is why it is so important that large companies examine everything they are doing."
She also points out that there are some difficulties in expecting conditions in say, a developing world factory, to be in line with those here in Ireland. Such countries are at a different stage of development - whereas the standards in an Irish factory have evolved over time.
"Do I think there should be growth on that as time goes on? Most definitely I do," she says. "But there are standards which exist - both economic and cultural - which have to apply as well."
Another platform for the development of ethical trading is the UK-based Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI). Comprised of trade unions, non-governmental organisations such as Oxfam, and businesses, it requires its members to sign up publicly to a code of principles, which include commitments not to use child labour, and to allow freedom of association and fair working hours.
"Poor working conditions are endemic across all countries, and across all industries," Julia Hawkins of the ETI says. "All big companies have a responsibility for knowing what's happening in their supply chain. Having said that, companies also need to be quite clear about what claims their suppliers are making."
Although initiatives such as BITC and others do exist, there is at present no direct equivalent of the ETI in Ireland. It has no Irish members, other than Bewleys, which also trades in the UK.
"Any consumer concerned about these issues should write to the chief executive of the company involved, as it is senior management who are the ones that make the decisions," Hawkins advises. "Also, get involved in campaigning organisations such as Oxfam and Labour Behind the Label."