Happy Earth Day! (a day late)

Happy belated Earth Day! Yesterday was filled with discussions about pressing issues such as global warming, pollution, and endangered species. Celebrities, talk show hosts and journalists across the nation offered advice on how to “live green.” But how does fashion fit into the green movement? Is it possible to be a frequent shopper and still minimize your impact on the environment? I did a little research and found some interesting stories about the fashion industry’s improving relationship with the environment.

According to EarthPledge, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the environmental friendliness in the fashion industry:

 

“Fashion uses more water than any industry other than agriculture. At least 8,000 chemicals are used to turn raw materials into textiles and 25% of the world's pesticides are used to grow non-organic cotton. This causes irreversible damage to people and the environment, and still two thirds of a garment's carbon footprint will occur after it is purchased.”

 

EarthPledge first helped to introduce eco-fashion during New York Fashion Week in February 2005, with a runway event called FutureFashion, co-sponsored with Barneys. Since then, many top name designers have incorporated ecologically sound materials and fabrics into their work – in 2008, Burberry, Calvin Klein, Diane von Furstenberg, Michael Kors, Ralph Lauren, Stella McCartney, Versace, and Yves Saint Laurent were among some of the bigger names that participated in an EarthPledge event.

            An environmental column on www.about.com also mentioned Heatherette’s work with corn fiber materials in their clothing and spotlighted designer Linda Loudermilk, who has made it her goal to produce stylish “luxury” clothing using natural materials, “including bamboo, sea cell, soya, and sasawashi.”

            The clothing we wear is just as much a part of our everyday lives and can make just as significant an impact on the environment as limiting the amount of water we use when we brush our teeth or switching the light bulbs in our house to compact fluorescents. In my search for eco-friendly clothing companies, I found a great website called www.greenloop.com, which lists and sells clothes from “conscientious companies.” A great place to find unique and environmentally friendly jewelry, made entirely from recycled materials, is www.uncommongoods.com.

            In the same vein as my sweatshop-free list, I will update the blog with any other good eco-friendly sites and designers as I come across them. 

Sweatshop labor: don't sweat it? Why aren't more people paying attention to this issue?

I’ve been inspired by a recent debate on the campus of the University of Maryland to discuss a hot topic not so much in the fashion world, but certainly in the commercial clothing market: sweatshop labor.

            First, a little background on the UMD issue, which has been around for a while but was raised again during the SGA elections earlier this month. Maryland administration is under fire from angry students after it was discovered that the supplier of Maryland spirit apparel (sweatshirts, shorts, t-shirts, etc.) sold by the Book Center and other university-run shops, makes their clothing in Honduran sweatshops promoting unfair labor practices. 1,800 workers for the successfully unionized Jerzees de Honduras factory will soon be jobless because Russell Athletics, the American company that runs their factory, has decided to close it down in a blatant effort to intimidate and discourage other sweatshop laborers who might consider unionizing. Russell Athletics has also been accused of trying to suppress organizing efforts and firing workers for unfair reasons. An opinions article from the Diamondback explains the issue in more depth. 

            My father works for a labor union (the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union), so I have always been a pretty strong supporter of unionization and workers’ rights. My family intentionally buys certain food products over others because we try to support unionized companies. I’m ashamed to say, however, that I have never given much thought to whether the clothing I buy is sweatshop free.

            In an effort to find out more about popular clothing companies and their involvement in unfair labor practices, I did a cursory internet search and found it difficult to discover much, probably because companies understandably don’t want this kind of negative information out in the open. After a little more in-depth searching, I found www.sweatfree.org, a website that seeks to improve working conditions worldwide and assist workers trying to unionize. Their annual “Sweatshop Hall of Shame” awards listed some major companies that I have unfortunately purchased clothes from before: American Eagle Outfitters, Cintas, Dickies, Disney, Guess, Hanes, New Era, Speedo, Tommy Hilfiger, and Walmart. Gap was also found to use child labor in their factories in India.

            Other than the lack of information available to consumers about clothing companies’ labor practices, I think another problem is that it is difficult to find alternative clothing companies that manufacture stylish and affordable clothing. Even companies such as H&M, which claim to be devoted to fair labor, have been accused of underpaying workers and other unfair practices. Students for Labor Justice, a group at MIT, list some sweatshop-free companies, but the only one that I had heard of was American Apparel. I will continue to research popular clothing companies and try to compile my own list, because I think that consumers could really use such a resource. Until then, I guess I’ll have to stop shopping at American Eagle – a shame, since it’s one of my favorite stores! 

Let them eat cake?

So here it is, the first post. Another fashion blog is born… but before anyone questions whether there is a need for yet another platform to debate the merits of leggings, deride or praise the resurgence of that 50s fashion staple, the romper, or gush about a gorgeous pair of J. Crew flats, I’d like to make my intentions for this blog clear. While the inspiration for its title, “a fit in the fitting room” comes from a Florence Eiseman quote imploring us not to have a fit in the fitting room (“your fashion life begins there”), my aim is to shake up the complacency that has fallen on much of the fashion and commercial clothing world when it comes to important issues like the industry’s effect on the environment, use of fur, sweatshop labor, and so on. This is not to say that I won’t occasionally write a frivolous post or two – I wouldn’t take the time to blog about a topic that I don’t enjoy – but I think that many valid concerns have been blithely ignored of late, especially because of fashion’s ability to distract and entertain us with beautiful design, to obscure any problems with a sheet of silk or taffeta.

One more thing before I move on to the first topic: I am not in any way an expert on the topic of fashion or the fashion industry. An admirer and enthusiast, yes – but I don’t claim to be an authority on any of the issues that I cover, and I realize that, as with any issues involving art and controversy, there are bound to be ten people who have a different opinion for every one who wholeheartedly agrees with me. Therefore, I’d welcome and encourage comments of any kind. Please tell me if you think I’m off the mark about any particular topic – or let me know if you love my point of view.

So, on to the first topic: fashion and the economy, a huge issue recently, and one that I’ll likely cover more than once. There were a lot of articles around New York’s fashion week last September (including this one from the Wall Street Journal) about the industry’s fears that shoppers might not buy into the idea that they had to completely update their look this spring. One woman in the Wall Street Journal article confessed to budgeting $15,000 for a new wardrobe each season, but suggested that she would be cutting costs to $10,000 while the economy is weak. Personally, I was shocked by the amount of money she admitted to spending, and by the fact that many fashionistas probably spend more each season. Where does the impulse to discard piles of clothes every six months and stock up on new ones come from? Does fashion’s short attention span spur creativity, or is it just another way to convince consumers to part with their money? Is funding the fashion industry like funding art, or could all of that money be put to better use elsewhere? Sometimes it’s hard for me not to feel a little bit revolted by the cost of a designer purse, and, especially now, even $10,000 for an entire wardrobe seems extravagant. 

Spending large sums of money on clothing seems to me to hearken back to the days of monarchy and aristocracy, when the goal was to make wealth apparent. In times of economic hardship, the fashion industry's continuing high prices make them seem out of touch with the majority of the country. Nevertheless, I can understand that designers consider their work to be art, and, accordingly, it will be more expensive than mass-produced, factory-made clothes. Designer clothing also inspires cheaper versions for the rest of us to wear, so it's not an entirely elitist industry. The question, I guess, is does the industry do more harm than good? I'd like to see more appreciation for the beauty of well-made clothing and less frantic trend-hopping and buying new clothes for the sake of having new clothes.