Known as the birthplace of edgy designer clothes, London Fashion Week has taken a new direction.

The fashion industry has changed in the past few years, with smart designers responding to widespread changes in attitudes. This means that having a wardrobe with a conscience is now almost as important as celebrity endorsement.

Today, for the first time in its history, the British Fashion Council – which runs the iconic London Fashion Week – has added a sustainable catwalk show to its program. While ethical fashion has existed on the periphery of the industry for some time, it now finds itself sharing the limelight thanks to acclaimed international designers such as Christopher Kane and Burberry.

Clarence House is the setting for the open air event which will see established designers such as Vivienne Westwood and Stella McCartney joined by the likes of People Tree and Junky Styling – the former known for its celebrity partnership with Sienna Miller and Emma Watson. While both Westwood and McCartney will have later shows in London and Paris, their presence at the ethical runway adds significant clout and influence.

The show will be held in conjunction with the Prince’s Charities Foundation initiative START, which seeks to promote and celebrate sustainable living. London Fashion Week is already the site of Esthetica, the static exhibition which showcases those designers on the edge with a commitment to eco-sustainability.

The fair-trade fashion industry looks set to step further into the catwalk spotlight after Messe Frankfurt announced its takeover of the former Parisian Ethical Fashion Show.

The green event, a highlight in the past six years of the Paris Fashion Week, was unveiled by its new owners last Friday. Messe Frankfurt is the world’s third largest fair trade firm, and has an annual turnover of around half a billion euros (USD 671 million).

Messe Frankfurt has been in operation for almost a century, with strong historic links to the textile industry, notably in Asia. The move represents the group’s first foray into the fashion industry.

Detlef Braun, Messe Frankfurt’s director, said the move was testament to his company’s commitment to a highly topical issue – that of sustainable development.

The ethical fashion market has been well supported by the dynamic British industry, where the point of difference is a key marketing tool, while the Ethical Fashion Show has grown to become the leading global event for fair trade-fashion and eco-friendly fashion habits.

The event involves designers from all across the globe and has grown from 20 exhibitors in 2004 to 90 in 2009. Each one of the displays at the four-day event is done with a firm social or environmental commitment, notably to respectable working conditions, the preservation of traditional practices and the protection of the environment.

The event will take place in Paris, for the last time, from 25 – 28 September at the Fashion and Design City on the Docks en Seine.