
Sometimes we can be driving somewhere safely, yet literally be in another world. I call this driving on autopilot. I usually end up heading somewhere I hadn’t even intended to go because of it. I believe that most Americans shop this way, without intention, without awareness, and without the information needed to create more ethical choices. It is time for us to snap out of it, and realize that large corporations are taking advantage of us and millions of people everywhere.
I watched the documentary The True Cost about the fashion industry. I’ve known about sweatshops for sometime now, and have been shopping in consignment stores and thrift stores as a result. This documentary helps one understand the journey that our clothing takes from planting and harvesting the crop to our bedroom closet. It also shares some of the blood, sweat, and tears that happen in textile factories just so that we can represent “on fleek” for Instagram and in real life. Seriously, we have the POWER to create change by voting with our dollar on what we buy and what we boycott. Fast fashion is not our friend and definitely does not have the planet or the people creating it with their best interest in mind.
The fashion industry is the #2 polluting industry in the world aside from the oil industry.
Fashion is a form of communication without having to say anything at all, but do we ever think about who is paying the price for our fashion choices? Who is also benefitting the most? With fast fashion in particular, the clothing does not last long, is usually created with synthetic fabrics or synthetic fabric blends, and fills our closets with a lot of nothing to wear. Purchasing fast fashion may create a temporary high, yet can never fulfill that joy and bliss the advertising promises.
We used to have only two seasons each year where new designs were created, yet with fast fashion new designs are created throughout the entire year in excess to create more profit and more inventory flowing through stores weekly. There may be up to 52 plus seasons of clothing produced now because of it. These excessive seasons of style create more demand for environmental resources and textile workers forced to create more clothing at an even faster rate than is humane.
Large corporations outsource production to developing country factories, and will quickly switch production to a cheaper factory, if they refuse to produce products under a certain wage. These companies may claim to have a proper ethical code of conduct with outsourcing, yet it seems to be a bunch of lies. Cutting corners to produce products at a lower and lower wage just to maintain any business at all at these textile factories has created unethical working conditions for these factory workers.
These large corporations act as if they are doing a favor by providing work for those in developing countries, yet they are taking advantage of the desperation for opportunity.
Rana Plaza in Bangladesh is a prime example of this in 2013, where workers were forced to continue working in unsafe conditions. Over 1129 people died when the building collapsed with approximately 2500 non-fatal injuries. They were making $2 a day. The large corporation whom they were working for did not offer any assistance to the workers or their families after that devastation.
“Because the major fashion brands do not officially employ the workers, or own any of the factories they produce in, they are able to profit hugely, all while remaining free of responsibility for the effects of poverty wages, factory disasters, and the ongoing violent treatment of the workers. The whole system begins to feel like a perfectly engineered nightmare for the workers trapped inside it.” ~The True Cost A protest for fare wages for textile workers in Cambodia resulted in police brutality as if there were a war. Workers were asking for a minimum wage of $160 a month.
There is nothing dangerous about sewing clothing if you have humane working hours with adequate breaks, and make a wage that can actually support your family while improving your quality of life. We all make sacrifices to create the best lives we can for ourselves and our families, yet these types of jobs offered in developing countries seem to be lacking any of the qualities we would accept or agree with.
The next time you desire or need new clothing for your wardrobe definitely consider shopping secondhand, consignment, fair trade, and organic.
Create a capsule wardrobe so you won’t have the issue of a filled closet with nothing to wear. Find your true personal style with vintage pieces. Let’s keep textiles from polluting our landfills which produce harmful gases that are released into the air we breath. Sadly, even honorable donations to charity shops are adding to pollution when only 10% of the clothing is being sold. The rest is shipped to developing countries like Haiti. Please watch The True Cost, which is available on Netflix, and stop operating on autopilot!
One Love!
(1st Image by Dawn Michelle & others from The True Cost)
kathleen says
I just went shopping today at a secondhand store where I had a credit. The fashion industry is also very cruel to animals. Another good reason to shop secondhand. I will watch True Cost this weekend. I’ve never seen a documentary on this topic. I know once I see it, it will put the nail in the coffin for me and retail stores.
Sometimes I just want to stick my head in the sand, but on this topic, it is time to wake up and stop supporting these corporations that are literally killing people while they line their pockets.
kathleen says
And killing the planet!!!
Dawn Michelle says
Hi Kathleen,
I’d love to hear your thoughts on the documentary once you see it. It is extremely eye opening. This is definitely a topic more should know more about. Wishing you a wonderful holiday season!
Glenda says
Hi Dawn Michelle,
I had an interesting talk on Thanksgiving with a stylish new girlfriend of an old friend. I heard her respond to a complement on her clothing that it was organic & fair trade, and another time I heard her say she was inspired by project 333. So later I was happy to talk with her further about her clothing purchases & her opinions on shopping.
She rarely shops thrift or consignment stores because she hasn’t yet been able to find any that carry organic & fair-trade clothing, but she feels that is an open market that someone will take advantage of soon.
She never buys thrift & consignment clothing that is not organic & fair trade because she feels it perpetuates the very market that you described in your post above: she believes people who buy “standard” new clothes & then later send their used clothes to thrift/consignment would be less likely many times to buy those new clothes initially if they knew there was no secondary market for what they are buying, that their buying of those unethical new clothes was a dead end. So she feels that buying standard thrift/consignment is still supporting the very clothing industry that she would not dream of buying as new clothing.
I asked where she buys her clothes, and she said that at this time she doesn’t have any particular brand she favors over any other, but that she often begins her search at Fair Indigo, which carries a number of organic and ethical clothing lines.
I enjoyed talking with her as she is a very gentle, happy, and calm lady, and she gave me a lot of food for thought.
Hope you are enjoying your holidays, and thank you, as always, for your posts!
Glenda
Dawn Michelle says
Hi Glenda,
This is a very interesting perspective. I feel secondhand and consignment are much more ecofriendly since you are giving use to items that have already been made and no new resources are being used. Plus that is clothing that is not going into the landfill. My second preference is definitely organic and fair trade when buying new. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this documentary when you get a chance to see it. I’m so glad you enjoyed this article too. Happy Holidays!
linda says
this sounds like an interesting documentary. figuring out how to deal with clothing in an ethically responsible manner is definitely a challenge when we consider issues of fair trade, the environment and health (not using pesticides in fabrics). i’m not sure if there is one best option, but i admit buying organic & fair trade clothing would be my preference if they were readily available and more affordable. i’ve just never been crazy about wearing used clothing. maybe sewing my own clothes from organic fabrics might be easier though than trying to buy fair trade & organic clothing online. i did ask my local large fabric store if they carried any organics and sadly they didn’t.
just fyi: in Pasadena there is a great fair trade store Ten Thousand Villages on South Lake Ave. their products are truly attractive. they have great beaded jewelry, purses, etc. i try to buy any gifts i give there. while i do try more & more to be an ethical, environmentally conscious consumer i also balance that with realizing that eventually “the earth will wear out like a garment”. Isaiah 51:6
Dawn Michelle says
Hi Linda,
Thanks so much for your comment! Your last statement does have truth, yet I believe the earth is a living thing and can always heal itself if given the chance. It just doesn’t help to overtax it for financial gain which seems to be the motive of many industries.
If you do sew, creating some of your own organic clothing can be awesome. I do feel that organic and fair trade clothing to be more expensive than clothing purchased through unethical practices, yet at least the person was paid a fair wage for their work. When you do watch the documentary you will understand even more. Have a beautiful day!
linda says
thanks for responding. i just wanted to say i really enjoy your blog, especially all your skincare info. i’m currently reading The Story of Stuff and it sure is eye-opening to learn more about how our consumption habits affect the whole world. i’m looking forward to seeing this documentary when i have streaming again. take care!
Dawn Michelle says
Hi Linda,
The Story Of Stuff is very very eye opening! That’s so awesome that you are reading that!