Bringing Social Justice to My Closet--Part 3

You may have been wondering during my last two posts, what me re-vamping my closet and wardrobe has to do with social justice and human trafficking.  Here is the post that connects my desire to change the way I dress with my drive to promote social justice.

When I started looking into the issue of human trafficking I was overwhelmed by the enormity of the problem.  It seems to pervade every area of life, hidden just under the surface.  Modern slavery lurks just far enough out of the way to make it easy for most people to turn their head and not see.  However, if you choose to open your eyes and look, you will find it, and it is indeed involved in the fashion industry.

Tracing the involvement of human trafficking through the supply chain of fashion retailers is an extremely complex undertaking.  The following information came from the Free2Work.org report on apparel trends from 2012.  Free2Work (a project of www.NotForSaleCampaign.org) assessed 50 companies that sell clothing and fashion items and rated them in regards to their social responsibility practices.  This is the link to the report.

Free2Work.org Apparel Trends 2012

I read through the report and for this post I am just going to highlight two of the areas it investigated regarding injustice in the clothing industry.

First, there is the issue of using children and/or forced labor (slavery) in the clothing industry.  Thanks in large part to increased awareness, the use of children as slaves in the clothing industry has declined over the past 2 decades.  There are still six countries that are known to use forced and/or child labor.  These countries are Argentina, Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia, China and India.  China and India are among the top 10 global exporters of clothing.

Secondly there is the issue of making a living wage.  A living wage is defined as a wage that is high enough to support a normal standard of living.  This is not talking about luxuries or frills.  Living wage is about being able to provide food, shelter, water, clothing, education, and transportation ect... In the 2012 report, only 2% of the companies assessed assured that the workers in the supply chain at the cut-make-trim level receive a living wage.  Not a single one of the companies assessed get their textiles and cotton supplies from suppliers that provide a living wage.

The first time that I looked into the issue of human trafficking in the fashion industry I was so frustrated by it that I just quit looking and turned the other way for a while, ignoring the intuitive feeling I had that something was not right.  That nagging sense of something being wrong stayed with me until I could no longer ignore it and realized that action was required of me.   It was time to stop going with the everyday flow of consumerism and take the time to really assess what I was supporting with my dollar every time I bought an article of clothing.

Clothing shopping has always been tough for me.  As I explained in my previous posts in this series I am "fashion challenged".  I have always found clothing shopping frustrating, so I tended to stick with what was easy.  I also have 4 kids, so added to the easy part, I was most likely to stick with things that were cheap.  I was always on the lookout for a good deal.  I never stopped to consider who was paying for my good deal.
You see, its true that there is no such thing as a free lunch.  Someone has to pay.  It's just a question of who that someone is.

Gradually, as I became more aware of social justice issues it became clear who was paying the cost for my great deals on clothes.  Whether in the form of ridiculously low wages paid to workers in the garment industry or straight out slavery involved in making them, people along the supply chain were paying for my deal.

The following quote really hit home for me, I'd ask you to consider it for a moment:

The long and short of it for me, is that it is time to put my money where my sense of morality is.  Time to act justly in the matter of my clothing shopping.  For me, acting justly in this matter meant to look beyond the deal I was getting by buying inexpensive, easy to acquire clothing, and to consider the cost to others that go into providing me with the deal.

So, what can we do.  Here are a couple action steps you can start with:

1.  Contact retailers you shop from and let them know that you do not want lower cost if it means that those cost cuts are paid for with someone else's misfortune and misery.  

2.  Find retailers that share your values and support their business.  Let them know you appreciate the effort they are making to do business with social justice in mind.  It is not easy for retailers to keep watch on everything in their supply chains.  The supply chains are very complex and it takes great intentionality on the part of the retailer to provide ethically produced goods.  Support them with your money, and support them with a call or note of thanks that you appreciate the effort they are making.  

3.  Boycotting is not always effective for this problem.  From all the reading I have done on the issue it seems that boycotting most of the time hurts the workers at the bottom of the supply chain rather than hurting the industry owners and people who make the decisions.  There are also items that are almost impossible to find with fair trade and social justice in mind.  For those things there are still some things you can do to make a difference.  When you buy, let the store know that you would like to see them make efforts to promote social justice in their supply lines.  Then, buy less, and buy quality so that you are not having to constantly replace the items. 

 I love this image I found on Pinterest from thebeautifulthink.com.au (the link did not work when I clicked it from Pinterest, so I can't give you the original web link)  

My last post in this series will highlight retailers that I have found that offer ethical clothing choices.  I'll share with you my search for the perfect Little Black Dress to fill in my basic capsule pieces for the French Five Piece Wardrobe as well as my search for my 5 new pieces for Fall/Winter.