Other retailers will tolerate and mostly ignore ethical pioneers unless the pioneers make a dent on their turf. AA’s advertising gets you to look at and want their product for reasons other than just the ethical angle. It seems to answer the many utterances of “I’d buy ethical if the clothes weren’t a bit… dull” and from what I can see, AA is driving forward the sweatshop-free message in its marketing too, raising demand for that.

It does pay to mention objections like this though, so people who are concerned about those blemishes can choose accordingly.