With Black Friday and the holiday season coming up, I’m sure we’re all very excited to get some new wardrobe items, which is why it’s a great time to bring up ethical clothing choices. Clothing produced by massive corporations can cause climate ramifications, as well as some horrifying human rights issues. Stick with me while I dive into some info about ethical shopping, and how you can participate. Shopping for ethically made clothing has always been an important practice, but it is now more crucial than ever. According to BBC, fashion accounts for around 10% of greenhouse gas emissions from human activity, and Green America reports that Americans generate 16 million tons of textile waste a year, equaling just over six percent of total municipal waste. For context, 16 million tons equals about 1,230 adult elephants. That’s a LOT, but the climate impacts are just the tip of the iceberg. The way clothing is manufactured also has a large part in the mistreatment of workers as well. Many of your favorite brands, such as Adidas, Nike, Hollister and Converse still use sweatshops in manufacturing of their products. Sweatshops often have poor working conditions, unfair wages, unreasonable hours, child labor, and a lack of benefits for workers. On top of that, in developing countries, an estimated 168 million children ages 5 to 14 are forced to work in grueling conditions. Large companies like the ones listed above commonly have factories in developing countries because laws around worker’s rights, wages and child labor are more forgiving and sometimes even non existent. So, what can you do? Step one is to think, “do I really need this?” Limiting the amount of clothing you buy in general ensures that those pieces of clothing will not end up staying in your closet for years until you decide to throw them away or donate them, often sending them straight to landfills. However, if you really do need a piece of clothing, consider buying it used, or from an ethical brand. Plus, thrifting is kind of fun :) (PSA, remember to thrift responsibly). With a little bit of research, finding ethical brands that sell cute clothing is not a difficult task. Here are some brands to try out, with varying price ranges and aesthetics. More expensive/luxury brands: Patagonia, Eileen Fisher Normally priced brands: Minga London, Levi Strauss & Co Inexpensive/Thrift (requires more searching but you can find some real gems :)) Local: Revolve, Second Glance, Goodwill, Buffalo Exchange (Eugene or Portland) Online Thrifting (shop carefully): Depop, Poshmark With that, happy shopping, Raiders! :) Sources: https://www.greenamerica.org/unraveling-fashion-industry/what-really-happens-unwanted-clothes https://www.dosomething.org/us/facts/11-facts-about-sweatshops https://www.thegoodtrade.com/features/fair-trade-clothing - Phia Mathison If you want to write for the Crescent Crier, we would love to see you at one of our virtual meetings, which are every Wednesday at 1:30pm! To come to a meeting, fill out this form: https://forms.gle/TrQ5PqFcDqeE2yiB9, and we’ll send you a link ASAP. If you would like to submit a single article - or anything else like creative writing, an opinion, an art piece, photo or photo series, or something else entirely - then you can do that using this form: https://forms.gle/WAHSoWJuVwK3q5du6. If you want to contact us for any reason, you can email
[email protected]. Thanks for reading!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |