How Do You Know If Your Clothing Matches Your Values?
4 Ways to Start Aligning Your Purchases and Your Values Now
We wear clothes for a variety of reasons; for protection, as a form of self-expression, as a uniform, a way to belong, or even to stand out. Clothes for most of us are a daily necessity. No matter the type of clothing someone wears or the reason they wear it, human hands are involved in making those garments. If you’re someone that is concerned with social justice, human rights, and the well-being of others, it’s time to start paying attention to fashion.
When the fashion industrial revolution took place it was the speed at which clothes were made that changed, not the human involvement. Clothing made in factories even at today’s insane speeds and out of manmade materials is still in some way created by human hands.
Fashion companies are in the news quite a bit these days for ugly and downright unethical behavior. The industry as a whole has become well known for its negative role in the climate crisis and is often in the hot seat for human rights and labor violations.
If you aren’t familiar with fashion’s supply chain practices, it’s important to note that most companies and brands don’t own their factories. This practice allows brands to avoid responsibility and accountability for factory workers’ safety and well-being because they don’t directly employ them. It’s widely documented and known that garment workers get paid below a living wage in most countries. This is mostly due to U.S. and European companies’ demands for low prices and lightening quick production timelines.
During the COVID-19 global pandemic, major fashion brands and clothing retailers including H&M, Nike, Walmart, and Kohl’s have canceled orders and refused to pay manufacturers. In June, Kohl’s paid shareholders $109m in dividends weeks before canceling $150m in orders to suppliers. Kohl’s is worth $2.16bn. As of October, Walmart is still refusing to pay for abandoned orders. When factories don’t receive payments, workers don’t get paid. In short, fashion brands prioritize shareholders even when it means mistreating factory workers. And this time, they’ve used the COVID-19 health crisis to justify their bad business behavior.
Mistreatment of workers in the industry isn’t new, but such widespread global attention being paid to the issue has increased in recent months. “Normal” life has paused for many of us during the pandemic and it seems more people have more time to pay attention to the world around them. A lot of us who simply have more money, more resources, and more privilege felt pretty damn grateful for our safety and well-being and began to look around at those with less security, fewer resources, and zero privilege with fresh eyes.
Don’t lose this moment. As a consumer living in the 21st century, you can access accurate, real-time information more quickly than any other period in history. This means being an engaged consumer and citizen is easier than ever before. Yes, boycotting a brand is great, but working to change the systems brands operate within is even better. With the right tools, you can make informed purchases that align with your values and tell the brands you buy from that you expect them to do better when it comes to the environment and how they treat their fellow humans.
Here are four ways to ensure your clothing purchases are more aligned with your values.
Be in the know
I use Google alerts for this. I track brands, companies, and topics that are the most important to me. Alerts are quick to set up, free, and easy to edit or delete. I recommend setting up personalized alerts for brands and companies you love, shop the most, own stock in, or want to learn about before you buy.
Once you’ve set up alerts, Google monitors the web for new content that matches your search terms — including websites, news articles, blog posts, and even research. When it finds new content, you receive an email with links to the information. You can choose how often you get alerts by selecting the option that works best for you, as it happens, once a day or once a week. Alerts may not capture everything about a brand or company, but they will catch the key stories and information you need to be informed.
Ask questions and demand answers
As a consumer and citizen you have the right to ask questions and communicate with brands. You’re paying money for their goods and services and without customers, they can’t survive. Many brands place the responsibility of “conscious” consumerism back on the individual, but large brands have more impact and more control over the marketplace and the environment than any one individual ever will. You have every right to ask a brand about their environmental practices, if they pay living wages, or about the ingredients or chemicals they use.
Before you make contact with a company, check up on them using Wiki Rate. The site is free to use and provides data on over 50,000 brands. If your favorite brand isn’t being kind to it’s employees or the environment, ask them about it. I’m the queen of contacting brands. Many of the companies that I buy from have received a letter (yes in the mail), an email, or DM from me at some point (and most of them have responded). Sometimes it’s a simple product question or comment, but I’ve also asked for data to back up brand claims, or called them out on quality control issues or bad business behavior. It’s really empowering and sends a message to brands that we the consumers are watching and demand better.
Use apps and websites that tell the truth
Brands use buzzwords like sustainable, green, circular, and ethically made to attract customers. But how do we know if they’re telling the truth or if it’s just a marketing ploy? The most accurate information about fashion brands and the fashion industry comes from journalists, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and activists. Several organizations have set up websites and tools for consumers to access accurate information about brands and companies.
The Good On You website and app is a helpful tool for researching brands before you buy. They rate brands for you based on three categories; people, planet, and animals. They also curate guides by garment types like sustainable t-shirts or ethically sourced jewelry. No resource is perfect, but these sites and others give consumers access to data and information that isn’t skewed by brand marketing or PR spin.
Fashion Tracker is an excellent website for getting the full scoop on brands. The site lets you search for a brand or company via a handy dropdown search bar. Once you’ve made your selection, the site pulls up information about whether the company claims to pay fair wages, the countries they manufacture in, the number of suppliers, and the level of supply chain transparency. My favorite feature is the bright pink click-to-tweet button that reads “Take Action: Tweet the Brand.” Clicking on the button takes you straight to Twitter and drafts a Tweet to the brand, asking them to commit to paying a living wage.
Change your relationship to shopping and clothing
Remember, made in America doesn’t ensure that garment workers are being paid a living wage. If your favorite brand is guilty of underpaying workers in their factories or harming the environment, maybe it’s time to end your relationship with them. Take time to research alternate brands that have a better human rights and environmental track record. Next time you need to shop, support that brand or company instead.
If you’re a habitual or impulse shopper commit to going 30 days without making any clothing purchases. See if you can live with and enjoy the clothes you already own. If you must shop and are buying something new ensure the materials are sustainable (aka better for the planet).
While on your self-imposed shopping hiatus, spend some time inventorying your wardrobe. I use an app called Save Your Wardrobe to organize and keep track of mine. Figure out what you have in your closet, what you wear, what you don’t, what fits properly and what doesn’t, and what needs fixing or altering. Whether you do it yourself or enlist the help of a tailor, challenge yourself to mend and repair your clothes instead of throwing them out or donating them at the first sign of wear. You can learn to replace a button on YouTube, a fallen hemline can be fixed at most dry cleaners, and a hole in your favorite sweater can be darned or patched by a tailor.
When we shift our role from just consumer to citizen-consumers, we are more empowered. It’s easier to make choices to buy in new and different ways than before and engage in effective action-taking. We can’t transform entire industries on our own. Our collective voices challenge destructive and unethical business behaviors and draw attention to human rights violations, and over time, companies feel the pressure and change.
