12 months ago I made a conscious decision to reduce the number of clothes in my wardrobe. This process started out my need to reduce the material item that had become my driving force. I started out planning to replace my cloths with cloths made in Britain. I decided that and I would only buy clothes that have been manufactured in a manner that does not damage the environment or take advantage of the worlds poorest people.
This blog post was inspired by a documentary called "the true cost" this is worth a watch if you care about those people in third world countries who destroy their lives and environments to produce the clothes on our backs! A true eye-opener!
So right now I'm wearing a pair of Nike air trainers, Levi jeans, a next tee shirt and a peak performance jacket. I aim to find out where this clothing item was made and how to have this item impacted the world.
I started with doing a simple WIKI search on each company and from that search, I was very surprised what I found
Levi's
After reading the search I was not shocked to see the company had been involved in a scandal relating to the use of China sweatshop labour to produce their products. They don't use the Tan group anymore from what I can see but their manufacturing operations are still primarily outside of the US.
Judging from my limited experience this company appears to operate as all the major fashion houses do with little regard to the environment and the people they indirectly employ thus keeping themselves free from facing the true cost of fashion.
The company traded $4.5billion dollars in 2016 that is a lot of jeans.
Nike
While Google searching it did not take long to find out how workers in factories in Cambodia and Indonesia were passing out due to terrible working conditions. These poor people are working 50hours a week in terrible conditions for £190 pcm
Next
has a list avalible stating who they use and they have a statement on their website that the ensure the companies treat their workforce better. It is easy to say you are doing more but all the cloths are still manufactured in the countries that don't have the correct workers rights in place.
Peak Performance, this company has no negative publicity I can see they also gave a comprehensive code of conduct and values towards sustainability, climate change and the environment.
After a few minutes of research, I learnt that my actions have allowed these poor people to be taken advantage of. They need work a fair wage and don't have the luxury of refusing to work until conditions improve. We in the UK like to moan when our working conditions are not at the highest standards but we seem to care nothing for the poor people that make the cloths we buy, even when we are paying top price for designer / branded cloths are the worst even less of the money is actually going to the workers the farmers, fabric manufacturers and garment manufacturers but plenty is going to the corporate fat cats and investment elite.
I would gladly pay top price for cloths made in Britain, made of good quality material and made to last. I wish people would open their eyes to the way the world is operating, don't take my word for it do your own investigation and draw your own conclusions.
Wear cloths that last, that made to last from sustainable fabrics and local people.
Think before you buy needlessly and think where your excess end up, we all have a responsibility to improve our current environmental situation.
No comments:
Post a Comment