I have just started to clear out my wardrobe and drawers and I am absolutely appalled by the amount of clothes and shoes that I have managed to collect over the years.
This really does concern me, as I know that I do not buy that many fashion items in comparison to most people. Most girls can not resist buying clothes, shoes and handbags, whilst I have always been quite conservative in my purchases and have bought very cheaply.
The scary thing is, many of the items I have found have hardly been worn.
Do we really need to keep on buying all these clothes? My answer is no.
We all get excited when we go to shops like Primark. Everything is so cheap,and there's so much choice. Our hearts race and we grab and grab, go to the till and oh joy, we have bought 6six items for less than a tenner! But do we ever think "Hey if this only costs £2,(and then 1 month later in the sale 50p) how much must Primark be buying it for, and for them to make a profit on the said item, how much is the poor person being paid who is making it/ picking the cotton etc?".
These types of shops buy buy bulk cheap then sell in bulk, cheap; small profit quick return. How many of us turn off that little voice in our heads which whispers that someone must be losing out somewhere, someone must be getting exploited? Do we convince ourselves that yes we really do need another dress to add to the other ten we have, or another t-shirt to add to the dozens in our drawers, half of which we do not even wear, but keep just in case, as you never know? Do we bow down to peer pressure and fashion, happily grazing along without a care in the world behaving like sheep?
I have recently returned from India where most of the population would be gobsmacked by the level of materialism in this country . TK, so not everyone in India is living in impoverished circumstances (it's the old "the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer situation"),but many millions are. Did you know that the typical wage of an Indian cotton picker (who works in the red hot sun all day long) earns about 70 rupees. That is less than £1 a day. To get that much money you have to start very early and finish late, collecting about 50 kg of cotton. That is a lot of picking. These workers are sometimes able to buy an outfit twice a year if they are lucky, one for summer and one for winter.
This is just the start.If we follow the cotton we come to the cotton processing factories where working conditions are appalling, with similar low wages. Following the processing we arrive at the garment factories, which are based mainly in the slums. They are built high, stacked on top of each other, in narrow streets which smell terrible with the open drains. Here disease is rife, rats run freely, dogs lie dead, left to rot. It is here that your dress is made and the person who made it can only pray he/she makes enough that day to feed the family and pay the rent.
And who is making the money? Are you deceived into thinking that when you go into the more expensive high street shops, such as Monsoon, you are getting a far higher quality product which is made in better conditions. Well when i was in India I saw lots of monsoon garments for sale, and guess where they were made......you got it, India. And were they expensive? No! So when you go to Monsoon who is making that extra money you spend, is it the workers, the cotton pickers? No, it's the company who are greedy. In my opinion they are as bad as the cheaper shops.
Who is Supporting the Little Person? Is it Fair Trade?
Well that is debatable. One of the stipulations of fair trade is that the workers are paid the fair price of THAT country's average wage. So hold on, if they are selling the "fair trade" item at a much greater price (and they do, you pay what, at least a pound more for your coffee) does all that go to the workers. NO I'm afraid to say it does not. If the average wage is 100 rupees, that is what they get. Fairtrade does not mean they will receive higher wages, it merely means that they do not get less than this. So, again in my opinion, for that is all I can give, they are not receiving that inflated price you are paying, it is just a great way to market their company.
True fair trade is very difficult. It is all about getting to the source. That is where the difficulty lies.
So next time before you buy another little black dress, or that sparkly t-shirt that is “to die for”, think of the true cost.
Admittedly if we all stopped buying clothes these jobs would disappear, and a little money is better than no money at all. Very true. I do not have the solution, but awareness is needed .Maybe if we all bought less, then maybe we would be more willing to pay higher prices for genuine fair trade, where people are paid true wages, with better and safer work conditions. erhaps I am simplifying it too much.
All I know is that I for one will ask myself whether I really do need to buy that t-shirt..
