It's time to make some purchases...

I haven't bought anything to wear in three months!  I've decided to start out with some easy items that even if I lose weight I'll still be able to wear.  Socks, a sweatshirt hoodie jacket, t-shirt and a purse. 

I have to find these items that is fair trade and ideally made with organic material. 

Socks, Hoodie and T-Shirts https://wearpact.com  They are responsible in making sure their partners are paying a living wage and treat them well in responsible working environments.  Check.  No Child Labor. Check.  No toxic pesticides in their cotton. Check.  Non-GMO Cotton. Bonus, Check.  One down side is I don't see any size measurements to confirm I'm buying the right size.  They do have a generous return policy.  I'm buying 2 pairs of socks, a navy hoodie and two t-shirts.  I only spent $67.00.  Nowhere near as much as I feared.

That leaves a purse.  I have really missed my purse buying.  The last few weeks I've been saying to myself that I'm living a life of deprivation.    I'm getting tired of it.  Weary in fact.  When you are used to running into a Target and picking up a new shirt or purse every week or two it starts to bother you.  It's not like I don't have lots of perfectly great clothes sitting in my closet.  But, there is something about that new purchase.  I'm still trying to kick the overall habit of buying but I also want to build my wardrobe with quality items that are purchased from socially responsible sources.  I found a company a couple of months back that sell purses, http://www.swordandplough.com/  They take old military items, such as parachutes and hire veterans to sew purses.  It creates opportunities and reduces waste.  Plus, its veteran owned and made in the USA by companies that hire USA Military.  So, it's more than a win-win.  Plus, they have a purse that, although expensive, I really love.  I think I'm going to get a lot of use out of it. 

There was another reason I wanted to get a start on buying some clothes.  I need some clothing comparisons for my review of how to identify a quality garment.  So, soon I hope to be able to compare with my clothing expert bad quality vs. good quality and share. 

Nothing to Report...

Over the weekend I stopped at my local Target.  Not for the obvious temptation (fashion!) but since I was there I thought I'd make my way around the aisles surrounding the clothes.  I could see quite a few pieces that, if I hadn't made this promise to myself to abstain from, I would be seriously considering purchasing.  When I first made this new year's resolution to myself I wasn't entirely sure I could pull it off.  I'm still not.  It's not like I bought new clothes, purses, etc. for myself all the time.  But, I would by a shirt here and there.  I've been loosing weight and some of my jeans no longer fit.  They look obviously large so it is time to replace.  Jeans and shoes are really difficult to find if you want to pursue this crazy method of purchasing.  Fortunately, I was able to dig out a couple of pair of old jeans that I haven't been able to get into for a while.  I'm glad I'm loosing weight but I've been worried about how to proceed on buying new clothes.  I don't want to buy something while I'm loosing.  If you don't buy clothes made in the fast fashion industry you will end up paying a pretty penny.  I don't want to do that and then end up having these new ***expensive*** clothes sitting in my closet.  At some point I'll have no choice but for now I'll wear ill-fitted clothes.  It's just the way it has to go for now.

I'm trying to hang in there...but it's been tough!

The True Cost (Documentary - 2015)

This documentary is a good and painless way of expanding anyone's knowledge of the changing clothing/garment industry.  Most of the same themes that were detailed in the previously reviewed book,  Over-Dressed the Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion were explored in this documentary.

The following points were made in this documentary.  Up until the 1960s the USA made 75% of their clothes.  Now we make only 3%.  Worldwide the fashion industry is a $3 trillion industry and 1 of 6 people work in the industry.  The most profitable year in Bangladesh history was the same year as their infamous tragedies (2015 as mentioned in previous posts). 

I already knew about the benefits of eating organic food but I never gave any thought to organic clothing.  I've already had my concerns about big monopoly seed/chemical companies like Monsanto who are also involved in seeds of cotton.  It might not just be in the wearing of the clothing that could be a problem but it could be causing illness among the farmers not to mention when we get tired of the clothing it sits on landfills. Did you know that each one of us throws out 82 pounds of textile waste annually?  These textiles are not bio-degradable and will be sitting in land fields for 200 years releasing these chemicals.   India has been introducing these seeds and chemical farming techniques which aren't cheap.  These farmers have ended up owing these big conglomerates and end up loosing their land.  There are 250,000 recorded farmer suicides in India alone from these chemical companies taking over their land.

Leather for shoes and clothing that are being treated in India is polluting their waterways and people are suffering from diseases as a result. 

Surprising fact...did you know that fashion is the #2 polluting industry in the world?  (Oil is #1.)

As I have been learning about the fast fashion industry I've noticed how interconnected some of the issues I've been concerned about for years -  food industry, worker safety, fair pay, declining manufacturing in the USA and environmental waste.  My hope is I'll be armed with the knowledge to make responsible and informed purchases in the future. There is still so much more to examine.  In future posts I'll be reviewing how to identify a well made product,  exploring places to purchase from (and I'll be sharing my experiences in making purchases), a review of these feel good companies and if they are truly effective (you know those companies who offer to give away one shoe for one shoe purchased).

More information about this documentary can be found at http://truecostmovie.com/ Currently this documentary is being show on Netflix.

Over-Dressed the Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion by Elizabeth L. Cline Part 1...History of Textiles/Clothing

Looks like there are others who have already researched for me!  Here are some of the points made in Over-Dressed the Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion by Elizabeth L. Cline.

Further destroying my idea of buying clothes made in the USA Cline points out that most of L.A.'s garment workers get paid per piece.  Your are suppose to make minimum wage (probably the same law as waiters in restaurants) but they don't always. 

There seems to be many factors as to why the textile/clothing industry left the U.S. .  NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) was passed which caused the garment industry to flee to Mexico causes the loss of tens of thousands of L.A. jobs. (NAFTA went into effect on January 1, 1994.)  Additionally, the lifting of MFA (Multi Fibre Arrangement) in 2005 removed  limits on the amount developing countries could export to developed countries.

The U.S. did at one time have a strong textile/clothing industry.  Prior to 1990  The International Ladies Garment Workers Union was active.  Clothing made by union members had the ILGWU Union label affixed. (According to Wikipedia this union lost too many members and was absorbed into the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees, called UNITE.)

It used to be the higher the cost the higher the quality but that is not the case anymore.  In 1994 Consumer Reports found a rayon chenille sweater being sold at Barneys was of no better quality than one at Kmart.  It seems the price is based on the status of the brand these days but they are probably all being made at the same factories as the cheap clothes.  Consumers only pay more for these items because they perceive them as having a higher status.  It's an economic term Veblen Goods.  So, basically when I'm buying that Coach purse or any other high status item it just might not be of any better quality than a cheap purse I might pick up at Target.

Years ago clothes were expensive and you only had a limited amount of them.   You could also hire a local dressmaker and get them to alter or even re-create older clothes into a fashionable style. But today H&H & Forever 21 get daily shipments of new styles.  "Topshop, which has a U.S. location in Manhattan, introduces an astonishing four hundred new styles a week on its Website."

I remember a couple of years ago walking through the clothing aisles at Target and thinking that everything they had for sale were exact copies of clothes we wore in the 1980s.  In the past fashions came back but changed enough that you couldn't actually wear the clothes in the back of your closet for three decades.  After reading this book I realize I wasn't imagining things.  Those were the same designs.  Cline cites a vintage clothing dealer who once sold an old Calvin Klein sweater and was told that they were shipping it to an factory in China to be replicated. 

If you are donating clothes you might be surprised what happens to them.  Only 20% of donated clothes sells in thrift stores.  What the stores don't sell they sent clothing overseas in bales.  This then puts a damper on these foreign countries in their garment industry.  When our second hand stuff is so readily available and cheap they don't need to make their own clothes. 

Over-Dressed the Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion by Elizabeth L. Cline Part 2... Fast Fashion Manufacturing

"In 2010 America imported $365 billion worth of products from China, and according to the Economic Policy Institute, the trade deficit with China has cost the United States nearly 2.8 million jobs, or 2 percent of our domestic employment."

Cline reviews the story of Knights Apparel Alta Gracia division makes clothes for Colleges.  Back in the 1990s there was a widespread college protest on how these clothes were made.   Alta Gracia changed their business model and started paying their employees in the Dominican Republic a living wage.  They know they are paying more but feel it's the right thing to do.  I guess they were tired of all the protests too. (A google search shows that Knights Apparel was sold in 2015 to Hanes.   Fortunately, it did not include Alta Gracia.)

The problem with most of the manufacturing is 99% of Chinese factories subcontract.  That means finding out if they are following ethical standards is near impossible.

Companies send mix messages in how they handle manufacturing.  For example, H&M said they wanted the government in Bangladesh to pay more to the employees but at the same time they demanded lower prices from these same factories to "stay competitive" for the garments. 

One way to know that what your buying is safe from employee abuses is to buy from a Fair-Trade Certified source.  (I've found several sources for Fair-Trade clothing and will share later in future posts.)

I think the mystery as to why most of my older clothes came from China but the more recent ones from other countries was solved after reading this book.  China has become a little too expensive and easier to make products (like t-shirts) that are made cheaper elsewhere.  China though has the most experience and therefore is where companies go for more complicated garments.   Unfortunately for workers and the environment China's population is getting interested in fashion over the last decade.  They are starting to turn to fast fashion.

Next I will talk about the Documentary The True Cost.