Young shoppers don't care if their clothes are ethically produced, new research suggests.

More than half of under-25s said they weren't bothered how their clothes are made.

The over-55s have the greatest awareness of how garments are produced, with 36% looking for country of origin before making a purchase.

Marks & Spencer was rated the most ethical retailer in the TNS survey of 7,000 people. The value fashion chains were rated lowest.

Only 27% of respondents across all age groups were prepared to pay more for ethically-made clothes.

Just over half (53%) would buy them if they did not have to pay more, the survey found.

Brenda Gobine, research manager at TNS Worldpanel Fashion, said: "Whilst the importance of ethical clothing is high in consumers' minds, it is still early days and there is a lack of awareness of what's on offer - a quarter of respondents didn't know about the level of availability of ethical clothing."

The respondents defined ethical clothes as those that were not made using child labour or sweat shops, those for which the producers were paid a fair price and those where the environment was not damaged.