Trying to find places to purchase clothing and shoes that are made with the wellbeing of the workers and the environment and are of exceptional quality is extremely challenging. Yes, I have found several places to purchase clothes. It seems searching for Fair Trade has been very helpful. I'm working on creating a list of things to buy once I loose some more weight. But, my plan of buying all new clothes that are ethically sourced might not happen. There may be a few things that I'll be backed into a corner on...such as tennis shoes. It's frustrating! But I'm not loosing hope. It's still early and I might come across more sources for some things that I will be needing.. However, I didn't really think it would be THAT hard. Further I have found that even if it's made in the USA it doesn't mean the workers are treated fairly. I find the situation very difficult to understand. How did we loose our clothing and shoe manufacturing base so quickly? I know it's trade deals and agreements that were lapsed but I can't believe that we are so fickle that we turned our back the workers and on quality products so quickly. It's GREED people. Not just the clothing labels. Consumers have been greedy too.
Soon I will be posting a review of the documentary The True Cost and the book Over-Dressed the Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion.
Sunday, February 21, 2016
Sunday, February 14, 2016
Take a Pause and Reflect on my Personal Relationship with Clothes
I've been working on research and thought maybe it's time I hit the PAUSE button and talk a bit about myself and my long relationship with clothes.
For years when school started back (even though I haven't been in school for almost 25 years) I would increase my spending on clothes. Not as much as when I was actually in school. It was still something I looked forward to every year. The cleaning out of the summer closet and the purchase of a new coat, clothes, shoes and purses to start out the fall right. However, this annual ritual has for the last several years been absent from my life. I didn't really realize this until I started writing just now. What has changed is no longer needing to save up and spend money on clothes on one great annual trip to the mall. I don't even go to the mall anymore. I've been reading Over-Dressed the Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion by Elizabeth L. Cline and she talks about the decline of department stores. She's right. I cringe when I have to take my mom to Sears or J.C. Pennys or even Macy's. I don't want to go. The prices are too high. The selection too generic. Nothing trendy there. What has happened to me? How did I get here?
While I was in college I discovered thrift stores. It was then that I acquired a taste for a wide variety of clothes. I mainly bought second hand clothes that were of really good quality. Most of which needed to be dry-cleaned. This was the era of women's business suits, blouses and pumps. I had a really nice closet of clothes. Actually, I had so many clothes that I had to buy extra racks to hang them on. I started writing down every day what I wore so I wouldn't wear the same outfit for at least a month of two. Yes, I had that many clothes. At the time I worked in an office where appearance was important. We used to wear panty-hose every day and to think I have put on panty-hose maybe once in the last few years. At the same time I still went to the mall and shopped at department stores. I spent entirely too much money on clothes. I went into debt. Big time. Clothes, purses and shoes were my obsession. I think looking back buying all these things made me feel like I was more successful or at least heading down the road of success. It made me feel good to spend money. Until the credit card bills started to pile up. It seemed that $60 sweater was really costing me hundreds in interest. I spiraled out of control.
As I got older (and more level headed about shopping) I abandoned department stores except for my annual back to school shopping trip and kept shopping at thrift stores. I also discovered consignment stores. (I even opened one for a year. It was unsuccessful but a really interesting experience working with clothes and I started to really understand quality better.) But it was during this time that Target started to spoil me. Sometime about 20 years ago I started walking into Target to buy shirts and purses. Weekly I would buy something new. Thing was the stuff wouldn't last but one season. It would fall apart before I had a chance to wear it a few times. But, crazy thing was I really didn't care. I'd just throw it out and replace it quickly. I had become, without realizing it, an early adopter in the Fast Fashion craze.
Eventually I quit thrift stores all together. Between consignment stores, Target, Carnival Shoes and the occasional trip to Walmart I was able to buy everything I need. Then there was Clothes Mentor that for the last couple of years I've been going to on a very regular basis. When I first became aware of the bad effects of Fast Fashion (the earlier mentioned PBS Frontline story on clothing factories in China) I decided to buy everything I could second hand. But, that commitment waned rather quickly. I'd pop into Target for some groceries and an article of clothing every week. My closet was in a constant state of flux. Strangely I started noticing that the longevity of these Target purchases were getting better. I could start wearing them season to season. Maybe the manufacturers got better at quality - probably they were forced to at the expensive of the workers. I contributed to this. You contributed to this. But, do we really want to continue?
The few days ago a new campaign was launched called #30Wears Campaign. It's from a group called Eco-Conscious. They work with designers to move to a more sustainable approaches to the manufacturer of their clothing. The basis of #30Wears Campaign is if you are going to wear it at least 30 times and it's of good quality then buy it. It might cost more money initially but in the long run the price per wear would be possibly even less than that article of clothing you might buy cheaply at H&M. This campaign is interesting but doesn't hold much value to me. Most of the clothes I own I do wear at least 30 times. Even the cheap Target and Walmart clothes. I have been careful about what I've been buying and working to maintain the quality of the clothes as long as I can. So, I'm really already doing this. But, it might be a good campaign for some of these "haulers" who post YouTube Videos about how much stuff they have bought and how little it cost. I wonder sometimes though that if all these cheap and trendy clothes were available 25 years ago if I wouldn't have gone into such deep debt for the fashionable looks I was after. Success today doesn't seem to be based on the quality of the clothes but instead for the variety and disposability of it all.
Where do I go from here? Buying second hand clothes only contributes to the vicious cycle of Fast Fashion. People buy clothes to wear them once or twice and quickly resale them so they can buy something else and so on and so on. But, I'm not out to deprive myself. I've been saving money since the first of the year that I hope to put to good use buying sustainable clothes. I want my closet by the end of the year to be only sustainable clothing. Which means very limited clothing that I wear often. That will definitely be a challenge for me.
I've been working on researching the effects of Fast Fashion and also where to shop when one is trying to avoid unsustainable clothes. It's not easy. Most of the websites I've gone to either have very limited clothing options or appear to be sustainable but they don't really prove their sustainability. I'm worried that I will not be able to have a closet full of sustainable clothes, shoes and purses. Also, I'm concerned that my actions will cause someone in some far flung country their job. What will happen to all these workers if there is a movement away from Fast Fashion? How will they live? And what about our economy? If we are not consuming so much what will happen to us? There are just no easy answers and the more I look into this the more discouraged I feel.
For years when school started back (even though I haven't been in school for almost 25 years) I would increase my spending on clothes. Not as much as when I was actually in school. It was still something I looked forward to every year. The cleaning out of the summer closet and the purchase of a new coat, clothes, shoes and purses to start out the fall right. However, this annual ritual has for the last several years been absent from my life. I didn't really realize this until I started writing just now. What has changed is no longer needing to save up and spend money on clothes on one great annual trip to the mall. I don't even go to the mall anymore. I've been reading Over-Dressed the Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion by Elizabeth L. Cline and she talks about the decline of department stores. She's right. I cringe when I have to take my mom to Sears or J.C. Pennys or even Macy's. I don't want to go. The prices are too high. The selection too generic. Nothing trendy there. What has happened to me? How did I get here?
While I was in college I discovered thrift stores. It was then that I acquired a taste for a wide variety of clothes. I mainly bought second hand clothes that were of really good quality. Most of which needed to be dry-cleaned. This was the era of women's business suits, blouses and pumps. I had a really nice closet of clothes. Actually, I had so many clothes that I had to buy extra racks to hang them on. I started writing down every day what I wore so I wouldn't wear the same outfit for at least a month of two. Yes, I had that many clothes. At the time I worked in an office where appearance was important. We used to wear panty-hose every day and to think I have put on panty-hose maybe once in the last few years. At the same time I still went to the mall and shopped at department stores. I spent entirely too much money on clothes. I went into debt. Big time. Clothes, purses and shoes were my obsession. I think looking back buying all these things made me feel like I was more successful or at least heading down the road of success. It made me feel good to spend money. Until the credit card bills started to pile up. It seemed that $60 sweater was really costing me hundreds in interest. I spiraled out of control.
As I got older (and more level headed about shopping) I abandoned department stores except for my annual back to school shopping trip and kept shopping at thrift stores. I also discovered consignment stores. (I even opened one for a year. It was unsuccessful but a really interesting experience working with clothes and I started to really understand quality better.) But it was during this time that Target started to spoil me. Sometime about 20 years ago I started walking into Target to buy shirts and purses. Weekly I would buy something new. Thing was the stuff wouldn't last but one season. It would fall apart before I had a chance to wear it a few times. But, crazy thing was I really didn't care. I'd just throw it out and replace it quickly. I had become, without realizing it, an early adopter in the Fast Fashion craze.
Eventually I quit thrift stores all together. Between consignment stores, Target, Carnival Shoes and the occasional trip to Walmart I was able to buy everything I need. Then there was Clothes Mentor that for the last couple of years I've been going to on a very regular basis. When I first became aware of the bad effects of Fast Fashion (the earlier mentioned PBS Frontline story on clothing factories in China) I decided to buy everything I could second hand. But, that commitment waned rather quickly. I'd pop into Target for some groceries and an article of clothing every week. My closet was in a constant state of flux. Strangely I started noticing that the longevity of these Target purchases were getting better. I could start wearing them season to season. Maybe the manufacturers got better at quality - probably they were forced to at the expensive of the workers. I contributed to this. You contributed to this. But, do we really want to continue?
The few days ago a new campaign was launched called #30Wears Campaign. It's from a group called Eco-Conscious. They work with designers to move to a more sustainable approaches to the manufacturer of their clothing. The basis of #30Wears Campaign is if you are going to wear it at least 30 times and it's of good quality then buy it. It might cost more money initially but in the long run the price per wear would be possibly even less than that article of clothing you might buy cheaply at H&M. This campaign is interesting but doesn't hold much value to me. Most of the clothes I own I do wear at least 30 times. Even the cheap Target and Walmart clothes. I have been careful about what I've been buying and working to maintain the quality of the clothes as long as I can. So, I'm really already doing this. But, it might be a good campaign for some of these "haulers" who post YouTube Videos about how much stuff they have bought and how little it cost. I wonder sometimes though that if all these cheap and trendy clothes were available 25 years ago if I wouldn't have gone into such deep debt for the fashionable looks I was after. Success today doesn't seem to be based on the quality of the clothes but instead for the variety and disposability of it all.
Where do I go from here? Buying second hand clothes only contributes to the vicious cycle of Fast Fashion. People buy clothes to wear them once or twice and quickly resale them so they can buy something else and so on and so on. But, I'm not out to deprive myself. I've been saving money since the first of the year that I hope to put to good use buying sustainable clothes. I want my closet by the end of the year to be only sustainable clothing. Which means very limited clothing that I wear often. That will definitely be a challenge for me.
I've been working on researching the effects of Fast Fashion and also where to shop when one is trying to avoid unsustainable clothes. It's not easy. Most of the websites I've gone to either have very limited clothing options or appear to be sustainable but they don't really prove their sustainability. I'm worried that I will not be able to have a closet full of sustainable clothes, shoes and purses. Also, I'm concerned that my actions will cause someone in some far flung country their job. What will happen to all these workers if there is a movement away from Fast Fashion? How will they live? And what about our economy? If we are not consuming so much what will happen to us? There are just no easy answers and the more I look into this the more discouraged I feel.
Tuesday, February 2, 2016
Los Angles Garment Industry
A report was completed by the Garment Worker Center (A Worker's Rights Organization) in LA in September of 2015. They surveyed 175 garment reports and found the following issues:
"Nearly 40% saw rodents or cockroaches in their workplace. Approximately 80% of garment workers did not receive health and safety training prior to beginning work, and nearly half reported they did not have access to first aid should a workplace injury occur. One out of every three workers surveyed reported not having clear access to emergency exits. Some shared that the exits were blocked with fabric or boxes while others reported not knowing where the exits were at all. 22% of workers said their workplace was poorly lit. 21% of garment workers have seen physical or verbal violence in the workplace. 6% experience sexual harassment in the workplace. Half of the workers surveyed responded that their factories have poor ventilation, and approximately 30% reported lack of clean drinking water provided on site. The LA garment industry leads all other industries in wage theft, with a 58% minimum wage violation rate!" Piece rates are as low as 4 cents. For example, "two trimmers, a finishing operation, who filed wage claims at the GWC, for example, received on average $1.90 per hour for their work. 62% of garment workers indicated working daily overtime hours, but because of the piece rate many are not paid proper overtime. 48% work 10 hours or more a day. Almost a third of garment workers reported not being allowed to take rest breaks when they needed them."
I can't say I'm really surprised by these findings. Disappointed, yes. Surprised, no. Looks like I will have to take a much closer look at any purchases I do make. I had previously thought that if I bought something made in the USA that I would have the reasonable expectation that the worker's would be fairly treated and paid.
Next I'm going to look at some made in USA clothing manufactures and see how they stand up.
(By the way www.garmentworkerscenter.com website has a catalog called Shop with a Heart with several really cute items for purchase. When I get around to buying again I'll re-visit their offerings.)
Health and Safety in LA Sweatshops (2015 Report) www.garmentworkercenter.com
"Nearly 40% saw rodents or cockroaches in their workplace. Approximately 80% of garment workers did not receive health and safety training prior to beginning work, and nearly half reported they did not have access to first aid should a workplace injury occur. One out of every three workers surveyed reported not having clear access to emergency exits. Some shared that the exits were blocked with fabric or boxes while others reported not knowing where the exits were at all. 22% of workers said their workplace was poorly lit. 21% of garment workers have seen physical or verbal violence in the workplace. 6% experience sexual harassment in the workplace. Half of the workers surveyed responded that their factories have poor ventilation, and approximately 30% reported lack of clean drinking water provided on site. The LA garment industry leads all other industries in wage theft, with a 58% minimum wage violation rate!" Piece rates are as low as 4 cents. For example, "two trimmers, a finishing operation, who filed wage claims at the GWC, for example, received on average $1.90 per hour for their work. 62% of garment workers indicated working daily overtime hours, but because of the piece rate many are not paid proper overtime. 48% work 10 hours or more a day. Almost a third of garment workers reported not being allowed to take rest breaks when they needed them."
I can't say I'm really surprised by these findings. Disappointed, yes. Surprised, no. Looks like I will have to take a much closer look at any purchases I do make. I had previously thought that if I bought something made in the USA that I would have the reasonable expectation that the worker's would be fairly treated and paid.
Next I'm going to look at some made in USA clothing manufactures and see how they stand up.
(By the way www.garmentworkerscenter.com website has a catalog called Shop with a Heart with several really cute items for purchase. When I get around to buying again I'll re-visit their offerings.)
Health and Safety in LA Sweatshops (2015 Report) www.garmentworkercenter.com
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