Wear your conscience on your sleeve

Yeah so recently my mindset about clothing and more importantly the buying of clothing has shifted.

I hated all the bits of tat that I was "snacking" on in all the el cheapo stores (we all know which ones I mean). They aren't what I want to be wearing. They are made from crap fabrics that make your underarms smell funny 20 minutes into wearing them and generally I chuck them out after about three months beacause they have fallen apart, smell bad no matter how much you wash them or have gone see through.

So this brought up two big problems. Firstly the money wasted on the crap items and two the effect on the environment and economy of my disposable wardrobe.

The high turnover of stock in these stores leads me to think that they are not using ethical labour. Who is making these clothes? are they being paid properly and treated fairly? I doubt it. Where are these clothes going when I chuck them? Hopefully the majority are being sold in opshops but that still means there are some in landfills -yuck!

So over the last few months I have stopped buying crap and now I ...

1. have more money for the important purchases
2. smell better
3. wear nice clothes that don't show my bra colour
4. try and buy more from opshops or swap stuff with friends - very fun!
5. feel great wearing fair trade clothes where everyone involved is happy

A great place to look at if this post is something you are thinking about is the New Internationalist. They have lots of fair trade products and answer some common questions.

stay tuned for more!