So, after listening to the news about the Bangladesh factory and just generally knowing stuff about poor practices of textile manufacturers overseas, I've been thinking about what to do so that I am not contributing to the overall misery of humanity in this instance. I don't really have the excuse that we can't afford to choose differently, and personally I don't have any real problem with my clothing options being limited.
But I'm a little stuck when it comes to research and weighing my values. Have any of you thought about this, and how did you reach your conclusions?
My goals are:
1. Clothing made by workers who receive a fair wage and safe working conditions.
2. Clothing materials made by workers who receive a fair wage and safe working conditions.
3. Clothing materials created in environmentally safe/humane ways.
4. Clothing that wears well.
I'm not even certain what this looks like. Jeans made with organic cotton milled by fair trade/union workers and manufactured by fair trade/union workers? Does that exist? How do I get a maternity swimsuit that fits my criteria?
I mean, with food my priorities go: local, organic/local, organic/US-Mexico, US, fair trade, whatever. In ideal world, when I'm not just like: food, get in the cart before the toddler shrieks again. Is there a dirty dozen kind of thing for clothes?
I'm in the market for toddler summer pj's. What do you think would meet my criteria and where would I get it?
AFSCME has a list of union approved apparel here. Those give union members a discount, but they're also a good place to start in general. Also, this is absolutely necessary.
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"freedom to differ is not limited to things that do not matter much. That would be a mere shadow of freedom. The test of its substance is the right to differ as to things that touch the heart of the existing order."
- Justice Robert Jackson, West Virginia State Board of Ed. v. Barnette
Thanks, LS. Those are some good links to start with.
I don't know how to weigh things like union-made US vs. fair trade vs. organic. When I can't get perfect, what is the next best? Hey, rank my values for me! I know. I guess there is so much that I don't know.
I've been thinking about this a little bit more not just with the news, but my parents shipped a bunch of things for the froguar to have for their visit and they ended up making sure that they were all made in the USA. It comes and goes when they are concerned about that, but it piqued my interest a bit in that direction, too.
I would put "not made in a sweatshop" as priority 1, as it covers a lot of ground, so US Union made and Fair Trade both meet that. Fair trade is often also organic and sometimes even Vegan to cover a larger share of the market.
I just buy from thrift stores. I takes repeat visits to find specific items, but generally I've been able to get what I want. The clothes may have been made in sweatshops, but I'm not supporting then with my money at least. I do buy my underwear unethically because ugh.
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Much of MADNESS, and more of SIN, and HORROR the soul of the plot.
I cannot believe I remembered that whole union song!
For the most part, I try to sidestep the whole thing by just shopping at thrift stores. It's not ideal in that I'm not supporting ethical manufacturers by doing that, but at least I'm not adding to the consumer demand for unethical ones.
Here's another list. It's not all union made like Janet's list, but supposedly they're all US manufactured:
The weird thing I found was that I've tried really hard to find jeans I could wear that weren't made in sweatshops, but I keep coming up empty. I might be unusually fussy, but you'd think you'd be able to find jeans, of all things, made in the US a lot more easily than that. Levi's has a small collection of jeans made in the US, but they're all men's styles.
If you are in touch with other moms through groups or activities, a clothing swap party can be a ton of fun. We all went in, got our wine, and dumped the clothes in a big pile and everyone dug through it and took a bag of "new" stuff home
Jeans are damned near impossible, though. It's really really hard to find halfway decent ones at all, much less when you start adding ethics to the mix. And they're always relatively scarce in thrift stores, in my experience.
It'd be awesome to find some reliable wearable ethically made jeans, but most of the ones I've found don't even come in women's styles. Or if they do, they're awful.
In thinking about this (all of this morning, lol), I can tell that reduce is really going to be the first step. Which is fine, since I don't really buy lots of clothes anyway, but I can be more intentional about working with what I have instead of buying more. The problem is when I need clothes or shoes, it's usually because what I have has fallen apart and I don't have the time to sift through and make a good decision. It doesn't work for the froguar who is constantly growing, but we have tons of really nice thrift/consignment stores here for children. I guess I could ask people to go on a thrifting trip and it could be bearable that way.
Plus, there are things I don't want to buy 2ndhand: bedding, towels, underwear, pjs, shoes, swimwear.
I need a new pair of shoes, new set of sheets, duvet, froguar pjs. Sigh.
I bought 90% of Kiddo's toddler clothes at the thrift shop. Just wash everything really well. As he has two older cousins, I really don't have to buy him clothes anymore, and I pass them along to another family when he is done. . If you can, find a hand-me-down friendship chain. I wear board shorts for swimwear...specifically Xelos...handmade in CA and all but indestructible. Also we wear sweats, shorts and t-shirts to bed. No PJs needed for us
Here's the big problem I have, all the major brands claim they use ethical sources and inspections and shit like that, have whole website sections devoted to Social Responsibility, but that doesn't mean that child labor and horrid conditions aren't happening anyway. We can't go inspect them for ourselves. Even "Made in the US" can be misleading as there is a whole lot more US than what we see every day. A few years back there were nasty sweatshops on Saipan, US Territory, legally clothes made there were made in the US and labeled as such.
It'd be awesome to find some reliable wearable ethically made jeans, but most of the ones I've found don't even come in women's styles. Or if they do, they're awful.
I might agree with all this, but I think about all those factory workers who will be out of work if these factories are shut down. It's not like they have a better job to go to or they would have already, rather it's out af work and back to poverty, in a way I can only imagine. Do you think those factories are built in a land of plenty with a multitude of opportunity? they build them where there is nothing else and the workers depend on them for what little they do get.
I do have thoughts on this, in my area there are local designers who make all sorts of clothes. American Apparel has kids, underwear and other things made in the US with non-sweatshop labor, but the owner's a pig.
You could go completely hippie and make your own damned clothes. Unfortunately, all the fabrics are now made in sweatshops in Central America, so you would need to weave your own. Me, I've taken to wearing the skins of those I've conquered.
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Sleep - the most beautiful experience in life - except drink.--W.C. Fields
Also for kid's clothes, Hanna Andersson, which I used to work at, tended to buy fabric from Scandinavian countries. I'm not sure what the hell they are up to now, but at least their sizing and durability means you don't buy as many clothes.
ALTHOUGH NOW THEY FUCKING SELL DISNEY™ CRAP.
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Ishmaeline of Domesticity drinker of smurf tears
Are Levis ethically made? Because I wear a lot of Levis.
Also the way I buy jeans in thrift stores is that I buy six of them in my size for five bucks each and bring them home and try them out. If only one or two pair make me happy, I'm still only averaging 15-30 bucks a pair and I donate the rest back. It takes me a while to decide if I like jeans, but srsly all of my favorite ones were acquired that way.
Are Levis ethically made? Because I wear a lot of Levis.
I would say no. For a number of years Levis were made by foreign workers in Saipan so they could put the "Made in USA" labels on their products. The workers were working in slave-like conditions, 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, at half or less than the U.S. minimum wage. Levi-Strauss was the last company involved to settle a lawsuit brought on behalf of the workers for substandard working conditions. The company ended up paying a little over $6 million to workers involved back to 1989. Levi-Strauss continues to claim they did nothing wrong. By that, I'm sure they mean illegal, not unethical. Levi-Strauss stopped buying clothes made in Saipan in 2000, and enforcing a code of conduct on factories elsewhere (?) that manufacture their clothing. It's not like they were alone, almost all major clothing retailers were doing the same, from Tommy Hilfiger to Target, Abercrombie & Fitch to Sears & Roebuck, et al.
I might agree with all this, but I think about all those factory workers who will be out of work if these factories are shut down. It's not like they have a better job to go to or they would have already, rather it's out af work and back to poverty, in a way I can only imagine. Do you think those factories are built in a land of plenty with a multitude of opportunity? they build them where there is nothing else and the workers depend on them for what little they do get.
I can see this argument up to the point people are working 12 hour days, 7 days a week, limited or no breaks, shithole conditions (like in buildings you shouldn't be standing in cause they might fall over).
Couldn't they pay them 25 cents and hour, with free pop breaks, 40 hour work weeks with 3 shifts and a weekend crew? Maybe in a solid building with doors that open in a fire and bathrooms.
Then I could get cheap ass clothes and they'd get treated decently while making above average wages.
I'd rather they use a robot so the sizes are consistent and I wouldn't have to try on clothes. I hate trying on clothes.
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Build a man a fire and he'll be warm for the night. Light a man on fire and he'll be warm the rest of his life.
Are Levis ethically made? Because I wear a lot of Levis.
Also the way I buy jeans in thrift stores is that I buy six of them in my size for five bucks each and bring them home and try them out. If only one or two pair make me happy, I'm still only averaging 15-30 bucks a pair and I donate the rest back. It takes me a while to decide if I like jeans, but srsly all of my favorite ones were acquired that way.
OK, so weirdly, we are dungaree twins. That's pretty much exactly what I do. Go get multiple pairs of jeans at the thrift store and just re-donate the ones that don't work. But the ones that do are almost always Levi's. I have a weird butt, and those usually come closest to accommodating it.
I was extremely mad at Levi's for a long time, but I couldn't quit them because of that.
I cannot find any confirmation of this now, but I am pretty sure that some years back, K-Mart offered to open up a new US manufacturing plant for Levi's in exchange for some sort of exclusivity deal or something, but Levi's thought that the association with K-Mart would damage their reputation too much, so they rejected it. Of course, they had no problem making that awful 'Signature' line for WalMart or something, where it's basically like denim-colored pantyhose. They actually RUN when they get snagged.
I might agree with all this, but I think about all those factory workers who will be out of work if these factories are shut down. It's not like they have a better job to go to or they would have already, rather it's out af work and back to poverty, in a way I can only imagine. Do you think those factories are built in a land of plenty with a multitude of opportunity? they build them where there is nothing else and the workers depend on them for what little they do get.
But nobody has the goal of shutting the factories down and putting those people out of work. The goal is to ensure that those workers have some minimum standard of working conditions.
No, American level wages need not be paid in a developing country, but enough to buy food needs to be paid. And the factory needs to not be a total death trap.
Ethical Clothing (etc.)
stalking you today. 
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