A palm glides over the felt of a hat, linen puckers as the dress is rubbed between forefinger and thumb. A few paces away I stand surreptitiously sniffing the new leather of a bootie.We are at the last Durban leg of a three-city "slow fashion" exhibition hosted by indie design label darling Jane Sews.The event is part stop-and-stare ''art" exhibition, part sensory experience. There is even a performance component - two men whirr and snip away at their machines, laying bare the process that goes into the creation of a single dress.Jane Sews creator Amy Venter says the event came together by chance. She was in Cape Town when a family friend mentioned that an art gallery had a gap in its calendar.Venter had been mulling over the idea of doing something with her brand to highlight the values and ethos of the slow fashion movement, emphasising minimal wastage of materials, eco-consciousness, ethical labour practices and appreciation for craftsmanship in fashion.''I've been researching the fashion industry and watched a documentary called The True Cost. I was really shocked to see a lot of the people in the supply chain are being unfairly treated to get clothes out at a certain price."At Jane Sews we believe clothes should be well made. We wanted to be transparent and to allow customers to see the make-up of what they are buying. We want to honour all the hearts and hands that touch each product."To this end Venter's team decided to adopt a growing trend in the socially aware retail industry called transparent pricing. Essentially, they are letting it all hang out - costing, production process and profit formula. The company tells its customers how much it costs to make each item as well as what each item's mark-up is.A sign chronicling the provenance of a Signature handbag shows, for instance, that it cost R967.94 to make the bag and that the finished product retails for R2199.Comparatively, it might sell for R4999 at mainstream retailers. The R967.94 ''true cost" of the bag is the sum of the R531.07 for materials, R420 for craftsmanship and R16.87 for trim.Six people are involved in the creation of the bag. Alongside it another card tells us that 74 people are involved in the making of a Tate shirt, and 10 in the making of the hat.''I think those who subscribe to the ethos of slow fashion are definitely a growing market. With the world we live in today, people are feeling a lot more empowered to ask about the products they're buying."It's become relevant to know the environmental impacts of what we buy. I think we're proud of the fact that we're a brand that stands apart from the mainstream."The Jane Sews identity also has international appeal.''We've sent parcels to places like Japan, Russia, Lisbon. The States is our biggest overseas market. Also Australia.''We really value our customers' input and we wanted to hear from them, so as part of this exhibition we set up a board where they could leave suggestions. We wanted to create something that was educational in a non-confrontational way. We like to think of it as a journey and a partnership," she says.Jane Sews has an online store at www.janesews.co.za..