Do you pay too much for your clothes?

Up until recently I was always one to boast about how cheap the items of clothing I had purchased were. I have also obviously gained a bit of a reputation for this as well, as my mum said to me the other day "you would be so proud of how much I paid for this piece of clothing". Meaning it was quite cheap. Previously, I could rarely justify spending over $100 for any one single item of clothing and now looking at clothes in many mainstream women's clothing shops it is in fact quite difficult to buy any single item for less than about $80. But what is the true value of the clothing that you wear?

About 12 years ago I worked in a ski clothing "factory". They imported clothing made in China that they designed here in Australia. The original cost of these items were markedly different to the direct manufacture cost, which I am not sure whether most people are keenly aware of. For example, a beanie that you would pay $20 for, costs the shop only $10 to purchase from the Australian designer. The Australian designer would have only actually paid the manufacturer about $2- 4 for the item, covering the costs of material and manufacture (including labour). To me I can't understand how this price covers a person's wage and all the other bits and pieces required to make the original item in another country.

With the real cost of clothing revealed, are we paying the right people the right amount of money? I believe not. The person that actually physically makes most of the clothing items available in Australian stores are likely to work in poor conditions, be that physical, financial or mental and generally under-valued for their input. Sure these people need employment and these industries employ them but I believe that we in developed nations can make significant contributions to improving their working conditions and the industry as a whole. We as the consumers are a very powerful group of people.

This issue is not a simple one by any stretch of the imagination, but another way to ensure that you are paying the right person for a quality product is to invest in local manufacturers or individuals, as I have discussed in previous posts. If you seek out the right types of clothing, you can ensure that the base materials are appropriately and ethically produced, the clothing is then manufactured in a manner that is environmentally and socially responsible, has a smaller environmental footprint, appropriately priced and has provided the right people with appropriate compensation for their work and goods. They can be produced anywhere in the world (carbon footprint aside) but the fundamentals of a fair price for an ethically and environmentally produced item of clothing is the outcome being sought.

I know this is a bit leap and I certainly haven't made the leap yet with any great success, but I am certainly investigating the alternate options to clothing available in traditional stores. As a result I have found some interesting local designers and manufacturers and fair trade clothing groups sourcing clothing products from developing nations, which provide their workers with ethical working conditions and appropriate compensation.  Pin It

Unique clothing/Hand-made things

Last year I did a post on sewing your own clothes. I realise that most people don't have the time, patience, interest, machinery or skill to do this, including me on most days. So how can you can avoid mass produced clothing, household "luxury" items or gifts? Look on-line for websites and groups that support individuals that produce such items in a manner that supports their individual talent, unique products, excellent working conditions and low carbon footprint distribution (if made local to you). Alternatively, look for boutiques or designers within your area and support these people and this form of trade.

A couple of well known hand-made websites are Made It and Etsy. The latter is an international site, but does have Australian designers/producers on it. I am also lucky in my local town (which is a hinterland town in south-east Queensland) to have a designer/dress-maker boutique shop which always has very unique clothing pieces. If you're not lucky enough to have such people within your town just do a internet search for the product you are looking for and the region you live within and you will definitely be surprised who is located in your broader region. Just look out and make sure the people you find aren't just distributors for products mass-produced in a sweat shop somewhere overseas.

Support your local talent and reduce your carbon footprint at the same time. Pin It

Hang your washing in the sun!

Another tip for a smaller environmental footprint that I really didn't consciously consider as a way that I make a difference, but after reading it in a book I thought this was definitely a way that I make a difference.

What am I talking about? Well, instead of putting your washing straight from the washing machine into a dryer in your laundry, why not hang it on the washing line in the back yard? There are so many benefits for doing this.

1. You get outside and this is always a positive
2. If you hang it out in the middle of the day you'll probably also get your required dose of vitamin D
3. You don't have to pay for the electricity that would have been used to power your dryer
4. You won't contribute to additional electricity usage to power your dryer
5. Whites will be whiter, without using any nasty chemicals. The sun actually whitens whites and can remove some of those stubborn stains from your clothes/sheets/towels, etc
6. Even if it rains during the 'drying process' it will wash some of those nasty chemicals that some of us wash with out of your clothes and then will dry your clothes once the sun comes back out.

I think another reason that this wasn't something that I consider as something good for the environment is because I have always done it and my mother has always done it. This I find interesting because we can accept behaviours/activities into our life and make them an everyday activity and not consciously recognise that we are making a positive difference.

So, whatever you choose to do to reduce your environmental footprint, it might be difficult or annoying to start with but over time it will become part of your normal routine and you'll be making a difference without considering it a burden on your lifestyle. Just start small and do things that are manageable for you and your family.

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Blood, Sweat & TShirts

Watched the above show on ABC last night. It was about a group of fashion loving early 20-somethings from England going to India to see where their clothes are made and in what conditions. It certainly didn't open my eyes in regards to conditions, although I'm sure being in an actual sweatshop in India would be a completely different experience to watching and reading about them.

The thing that got me was the discussions about no matter what the conditions were the people employed in these conditions were just happy to be paid. I'm not sure whether I am just being ignorant but surely providing some of these less than ideal sweat shops with additional income as a result of increased prices in the shops would ensure better working conditions and maintain their employment status? I don't know - is this just being idealistic and not realistic?

I am so ignorant on so many of these social issues. I have my own perspectives, which I consider somewhat enlightened but I think that I am still looking at these issues with a pre-existing idea of what should be done, which isn't always what the people that you're trying to help want. Best intentions, but again need to learn more about this issue. Pin It

Sew your own clothes

Why? Well my logic is that I know that it isn't made in a sweat shop. I am pretty sure that most of my clothes are currently made in such circumstances as I haven't made the effort to seek alternatively made clothes and/or don't want to spend a bucket of money. As such this is an exercise that challenges me and will take a bit of willpower.

I have started to implement this through inspiration from my mother (an avid knitter and excellent seamstress). So far I have made my daughter a basic skirt with cute pockets. It seems I overestimated the size and she will grow into this skirt rather than just walking out of the study (where the hand-me-down sewing machine lives) with it on. I also made myself a skirt from the same pattern. It is alright when you hold it against yourself, but I think the style isn't something that a modern female would wear anywhere outside the bounds of their house. But hey I have started and it gives me an idea of the type of clothes that I might be able to make (in terms of skill) and style (you can't try it on before you create it).

I think my comfort level (that is, whether I will be happy to walk out into the world wearing these clothes) with the finished product is currently low because I lack any sewing skills. I will just have to accommodate these flaws whilst learning the craft and figuring out how to properly cut the material prior to the sewing process.

Let's see whether my passion for undertaking this task lasts very long. Have to remember that the costs of the fabric and patterns are likely to be less than I would spend on clothing purchased in the store (surely that has to be a motivating factor), it is an original one off product, not made with slave labour and maybe in the future will be nicer than the clothes you can buy off the shelf in any of the stores. Pin It