There is an unease, when you buy an item, do you ever feel that guilt? I wonder why this item is so cheap? Were these made by children? Is it OK to buy into a system, where a child should be at school and not earning a pittance if they are lucky of 50p per week?
The ethical issues of how a garment is made, does not even cover the other issues of the environmental costs and the effect of what it is doing to our planet by consistently buying into the "out with the old, and in with the new" idea.
However the industry has been side-lined by an ugly truth, that for the majority of us, we can usually only afford items that are placed on the high street, amongst stores such as Gap, Debenhams, Primark, Miss Selfridge's etc.. We do not maybe have the luxury to avoid the human cost, we accept that to purchase something bespoke made, by a group of well paid seamstresses, who are not over the other end of the globe, who have a competitive wage packet, with workers rights and a union if they pleased, is impossible.
In fact, that jumper you maybe wearing that cost a sheer £9 at full price, the likely scenario is, that 'it' has been made by the hands of a child, or a woman struggling to feed her family. Am I regurgitating another cliché endeavour? or is it self-righteous for me to say so? Maybe. However, regardless of my intentions, the nagging doubt is there, that's the cold truth, we buy into a heartless regime of consumerism, not thinking twice about who or what suffer's. And although at the best of times, it can not be proven where 'that' purchase may have come from, the tiny bit of doubt should be enough to affect any decent individual to think twice.
So.... what next? How do we buy intelligently? Is it expensive?...
There are an increasing number of organisation's, that are working within the fashion industry, whether they are individual designers or larger companies that desire to meet new standards of sustainability and fairer practices. Such well known labels are the likes of New Look, Top-Shop and now even H&M, and with smaller brands like People Tree as well as my own.
(To find out more about Ethical Fashion Standards) see the following link:
EFF
As a provider of Bespoke, I began my small business to offer the chance for consumers to buy, at competitive high street standard rates. As well as the opportunity to have good quality fashion, and to have that peace of mind, without worrying about where it might have came from, but rather knowing where it has come from. Guardian Article,
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