SPEAK BESPOKE DON'T whisper IT

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Big ideas start from small ones. Personally I feel that to take a step forward in fashion we need to take a few steps back, we have to go back to the basics. My aim, for consumers is to avoid as much as possible the full on push for cheap imported and mass made marketed wear. Its about time, that bespoke wear is offered to customers with a reasonable end price range. There was a time, when such a service was available, why can it not be possible again? Take a look at what I have been able to offer local and international customers, and maybe bespoke wear and alternative purchases can make a difference for you and for general consumerist fashion. WWW.USTRENDY.COM/SAKINA http://www.facebook.com/pages/SAKINA-ALI/139762882706111

Friday 26 November 2010

Fashion's Dirty Secret

I wrote a few weeks ago, on the concept of purchasing intelligently, I thought initially, that I had researched on which big high street brands have been working to produce ethically, and that workers from developing countries are working under poor conditions because of the companies directly.

However, its not just overseas we have to worry about, the dirty side of fashion is much closer to home, in fact its on our own doorstep. Channel 4 Dispatches, show the conditions of UK factories, where it is recorded items for New Look are produced. The documentary exposed the violations of the workers, unsafe conditions, bullying and the long hours.


At the beginning of the clip its almost impossible to imagine that what we are looking at, is a factory based in Britain. 




http://www.channel4.com/programmes/dispatches/video/series-75/episode-1/fashions-dirty-secret

But should we blame the companies? The issue that really should be raised, and which high street retailers need to address, is the demand for fast, cheap fashion has only increased the drive to turn around orders within short and almost impossible time scales. This means, that where there are factories set up by western companies, who invest in cleaner working conditions for overseas labourers, the factory suppliers decide to sub-contract. In which the most likeliest cases are orders are passed on to less scrupulous companies, whose production process may not be made aware of by the actual company which the high street labels stand for. Some of this work is even outsourced to small villages, where small children are used to sew the finer detail on the clothing.
Who is really paying?



So who is at fault? The clothing companies? They certainly have a responsibility. But us as the consumers we are to blame too, if not almost marginally, the demand for cheap fashion is because we want it, if we shopped alternatively would factories in areas of Delhi become pressured to outsource. What we as consumers need to question, who is really paying for the seemingly bargain priced dress.

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