Does fashion DIY tarnish my ethical halo?

I love fashion DIY - I get to be creative, produce something unique, and try to re-use materials that might otherwise be binned. Pretty good ethical credentials, surely? Brands are increasingly communicating what they are doing (or trying to do) about working conditions in their supply chain, but how many of you ask where those zips were sourced or how much was paid to the person that dyed those feathers, or grew the cotton that ends up on your carefully chosen reel? It is right here that even the most advanced corporate CR falters - getting full visibility all the way down the entire supply chain is almost impossible when you start to try and track every component. All of this may go through an agent or supplier that cannot or won't give details of where their materials are from, and who supplied their suppliers; who mixes the dyes, where the raw materials came from to make the dyes. Tier 2 visibility and beyond is like a never ending ripple outwards (or backwards). So, moral dilemma - do you stick with the big brands that you think put the effort into getting this visibility, or support smaller businesses that often provide more varied and exciting stock but may not ask the questions and wouldn't have the power to effect any change? Where does this leave my industrious halo? I'll have to keep digging on this one, but these kinds of thing don't change overnight sadly...