What is the true cost of my fleekness?

Hello there Fashion Lovers!

As most of you know or might have seen on social media, it’s FASHION REVOLUTION week (#FashRev)!!! The founder of the organisation and movement is designer Orsola de Castro. Fashion Revolution is an organisation that was created following the collapse of the Rana Plaza in Dhaka (Bangladesh) which killed 1100 factory workers. Fashion Revolution week spans from the April 18 to April 24 and is a week to remember and honor the lives of the victims of the Rana Plaza. The organisation aims to structurally and internally change the dynamics in the fashion industry; emphasizing and demanding more transparency from the supply chain. What is meant by transparency is to inquire and be informed about how garments are produced,  conditions in which  workers are working and whether human rights and labor laws are observed in the wake of capitalism, high returns to scale and fast fashion.

Following the screening of ‘TRUE COST’ at the Cape Town College of Fashion Design, yesterday; my whole outlook on threads, garments, design, production, human rights and consumerism changed! Actually, my whole outlook on life changed, as I found myself questioning my consumption pattern! In the documentary, I got to be awakened to the alarming reality of the fashion industry, one that is most prevalent and ever growing under our watch ‘Fast Fashion’. Fueled by consumerism, condoned by capitalism, fast fashion is all garments sold by giant retailers and most probably made in China, Bangladesh or India. Most of these garments are shown in the display windows of outlets every other quarter, as ‘seasons’ change inviting a new batch of ‘trendy’ clothing often labelled ‘cheap’ in the industry.

Calling these garments ‘cheap’ has no derogatory intent; it’s the fact of the matter and the truth we cannot run away from. The prices of clothes have fallen substantially at the expense of mass production with a growth of 400% in two decades. For example, a retail brand outsources a factory in China and requires them to produce about a million pants for a price of 30US cents/pair and resells them for 30$US/pair. The profits made here are substantial but no one will incur the cost of misusing the human capital. As much as production increased, the quality of a lot of these garments, at times, leaves a lot to desire. With the continued decrease of these prices, the wages of the workers are continuously pushed down to satisfy the corporation’s hunger for profits and the consumer’s need to be on ‘fleek’ and ‘trendy’. Furthermore, this drastic change led to the extinction of many textile and clothing industries in a lot of countries with more stringent labor laws. 

Some could argue that it’s for the better: it makes clothes more accessible to those at the lower end of the income bracket, allowing them to dress well and feel good. And after all, it is creating job opportunities for those garment production workers and giving them means to survive. But is that the truth or the illusion we decide to preach to ourselves? At the end of the day, the race to remain trendy is a difficult one. You could never be trendy, if every other month you are required to revamp your wardrobe because seasons changed and ‘newly in’s’ are a must have!! Not only does it increase your expenses, it does so at the opportunity cost of investments or other things which are more important and have a long term use. As said in the documentary, fashion should never be regarded as disposable. Simply because seeing/thinking/making it disposable is an insult to the creatives and the creative process. So as consumers what are we condoning and nurturing, after all it’s our money that sustains the corporations? What is actually the real cost the garment we purchase for less than 5$US every other week?

Well, here is a wake-up call and the reality of life:

• 1.       Fast Fashion earns about 3 trillion $US/ year in sales from garments mostly made in China, Bangladesh and India.
• 2.       There is 40 million factory workers in the world, of which 85% are mostly women and young girls (as young as 12 years old) who are forced to work an average of 18 hours/ day for a wage of less than 3$US/a day to barely survive.
• 3.       While the sales numbers were at a record high in 2013, the Rana Plaza in Dhaka (Bangladesh) collapsed. This plaza was an 8-story building in a bad condition which collapsed leading to the death of 1100 workers. (At this point, don’t you think it is alarming? Is that new dress – is the slayage -really worth someone’s life?)
• 4.       Fashion Industry is the second polluting industry after the oil industry. The levels of pollution are so high in some of the areas such as Punjab (India), that the factory workers and farmers get ill due to the exposure to toxins. The type of toxins and pollutants they are exposed to, such as chromium, lead to skin cancer and other types of cancer, liver disease and cerebrally handicaps children, etc. So, the reality of the farmer or the factory worker is that they cannot progress in life as no healthcare is provided to them. So, all that they earn or can save goes towards healthcare expense. So now, how much economic empowerment or standard of living improvement is made from their job? Not much! They are left bankrupt and unable to survive.
• 5.       In terms of production, some of the cotton seeds have been replaced by genetically modified seeds such as Bt Cotton. In order to maintain a cotton farm, a farmer in India has to borrow money (the price of a seed increased by 17 000 times relative to pre-1950). The prices of the seeds are so high, that when the farmers are unable to pay back, the corporations take their land and flood them with pesticides. These pesticides are not only polluting the earth but the more a farmer uses them; the more they have to buy to sustain the high levels of harvest demanded by the factories. Some of the farmers unable to repay their loans resort to suicide, with a record of 200 000 suicides a year.

After these 5 points, you could argue that I am shooting myself in the foot as a fashion blogger and aspiring designer. But I think that above all else, caring and being concerned about the life of others comes as a top priority. We are on this earth to make it a better place and be of service the best way we can, with the little we have. So it’s important to implement the change even if we are alone and on a small scale, talking about these things is crucial for the sustainability of the environment and the well-being of a fellow human being.

What now?

• 1.     SHOP WITH PURPOSE: buy things if you really believe that you need them. By need them, I really mean ‘need’ them (Yes, I am also talking to myself).  As my aunt once told me, not all the things on sale are a sale or helping you save. If it wasn’t part of your budget or expenses and planned for in the first place, well it is not a sale it is an impulse purchase. Since fashion is not disposable, let’s think about why we are buying things.
• 2.   SUPPORT LOCAL DESIGNERS: if you are able to afford it, at least their production process is transparent, as you are able to obtain information about how and who makes the garments and assess whether someone’s life improves in the process.
• 3.   LEARN TO MEND YOUR CLOTHES and not just throw away the garments you purchase from retailers, which are mostly made out of polyester and thus not biodegradable.
• 4.   If you are ABLE TO DESIGN YOUR CLOTHES, you could empower a local tailor by having bespoke creations made for you.
• 5.     MAKE YOUR OWN CLOTHES OR COLLABORATE WITH ANOTHER DESIGNER OR GARMENT CONSTRUCTOR to reduce the cost of production and make ethically produced garments more accessible.
• 6.      Another option is to organise CLOTHES SWAPS with your friends or your community.
• 7.    Lastly, THRIFT SHOPPING OR SHOPPING AT A VINTAGE STORE is very much a thing. At least those clothes are of a better quality if they lasted through time. It is really the only redemption and way to remain timelessly stylish and trending.

LET’S BE CONSCIOUS BUYERS, CURIOUS ABOUT THE CLOTHES WE WEAR AND PURCHASE. LET’S BE AWARE OF THE REALITY OF THOSE WHO MAKE THEM. RESPECT THEM ENOUGH BY BUYING ON PURPOSE AND NOT MERELY PURCHASE THINGS TO QUENCH CONSUMERISM ‘NEEDS’ AND ‘WANTS’ OR JUST HOPPING ONTO THE BANDWAGON EFFECT OF CAPITALISM. KEEP THE CONVERSATION GOING, INQUIRE AND KEEP EDUCATING YOURSELVES AND THOSE AROUND YOU. TELL YOUR TRUTH THROUGH YOUR STYLE, SOME OF THESE TRENDS BLUR OUT YOUR INDIVIDUALITY IF NOT CAREFUL!

Dress: Designed by me and made by a Rwandese Tailor (Made in Rwanda)

Pants: Brett Robson (Made in SA)

Sandals: Masai Sandals (Made in Kenya)

Thread necklaces, earrings and bangles: Inzuki Designs (Made in Rwanda)

Beaded necklace: KZN jeweler (Made in SA)

Blazer: Thrifted

Love and Light