A Life-Changing Pledge to an Ethical Wardrobe
My wardrobe was killing people.
Caught in the rat race of mass consumption and swayed by cradle-to-grave marketing campaigns, I filled my closet with fashion brands with questionable labor practices. Countless news reports showed how child labor, extremely low wages, and dangerous working conditions were the fuel to the global fast fashion machine; but, honestly, I felt overwhelmed by it all. I was just a community college student with journalistic aspirations confined to a barely-read blog.
What could I possibly do to change anything? Why would my actions matter? Questions like these threatened to keep me stagnant in a convenient state of passivity.
Yet I could not ignore that I was sponsoring these unethical labor practices with my shopping habits. Every time I walked into a mall, I saw brand names that had been found on half-burned clothing tags in the remnants of the factory fire in Dhaka, Bangladesh that killed at least 112 workers in 2012; which was followed by the collapse of the Rana Plaza factory that killed 1,134 Bangladeshi garment workers only five month later. These events not only shed light on the devastating working conditions within these factories and many “sweatshops” alike, but also on the many Western retailers that heavily rely on a lack of oversight to avoid responsibility for working conditions.
Fashion brands made big promises in an attempt to save face in the midst of the public outcry that followed these tragedies. In the past seven years, roles were shuffled, responsibility was pushed down the line, reports were drawn, and policies for the global production process became blurry, until eventually the hype died down.
Today, garment workers remain trapped in a cycle of extremely low wages, a work environment that’s threatening the lives of mainly women and children, and a work culture where sexual assault is the norm instead of the exception.
It’s easy to point fingers and pin the blame on the fashion executives at the top, but it’s the consumer that ultimately decides. Every dollar is a vote. Every garment purchase is a sign of support of the brand’s choices, including their labor practices. The average consumer is unaware of the story behind the garment, yet ignorance is no longer an excuse. A plethora of articles and real-life accounts from sweatshop workers are literally at our fingertips, only one Google-search away.
It was said Google search that made me realize that passivity was no longer an option. I may not be able to make a dent in the appalling injustice woven into the very fabric of the fashion industry, but this does not excuse me from the personal responsibility for the impact of my daily lifestyle and shopping habits. I either support these violations of human rights by default, or I make a stand and boycott the brands that do.
Thus, I made a pledge to buy no new clothes. For the past two years, I’ve replaced my visits to Zara, H&M, Anthropology and Old Navy with finding fashion gems at local thrift and consignment stores. This is where it starts: taking a pledge and finding alternatives to replace unethical purchases. This pledge can be to stick with either ethically and ecological sustainable brands only, or to opt out of the fast fashion madness altogether.
No student has to wait until a successful career brings a position of influence or the financial resources to significantly support charitable efforts towards change. One pledge to change shopping habits is not just a step in the right direction, it's a statement of integrity towards the value of people over profit. This value will leave a mark on every decision of that student's life thereafter.
Educating myself about the ethical alternatives increased my commitment to new shopping habits, which effortlessly overflowed into a more minimalistic, less wasteful, and more budget-friendly lifestyle. One pledge changed my life more than I ever thought it would. Yet my hope remains that it will change many more than just mine.