Outdoor gear shops are like a Santa’s grotto of expensive goodies, luring us into the multicoloured wonderland of Gore-Tex and Polartec.

Right: outdoor clothing: we go under the label

But unlike Santa’s grotto, nothing’s for free and it’s easy to come away with a bag full of waterproofs and a severely lightened wallet. Do we ever stop to consider the ethics behind the well-known names on the hangers?

grough has poked its magnifying glass between the weft for a close look at what goes on behind the label. For an illuminating look at the ethics of what we buy and what effect our purchasing decisions have on the wider world, see our story here or click on the feature on the outdoor clothing trade in our groughFeatures section.