Things. Everybody has them. In some capacity, everyone needs them. Clothing is something that we use every single day, but we don't always know where it is coming from. While yes, we might be able to pin down which store we got it from, many of us don't know where the clothing actually came from, where it was made, and what kind of conditions they were made under.
In an age where we want everything to be cheap and fairly easy to buy it's quite simple to press "add to cart" without giving it a second thought. But maybe we should.
In some cases, though hidden under excellent marketing strategies, there are people making our clothes who are being treated like they aren't human. With long and confusing supply chains it's easy for some stores and brands with unethical practices to go unnoticed by the average consumer.
At the end of some of these chains, there are people who are being paid very little in substandard and sometimes dangerous factories overseas. These unsafe and unfair factories are being called upon to do extra work when they may not even be legal. These practices are being swept under the rug. And we are buying it. When we come to the realization that the clothes on our backs could have been made in this way, it can be unsettling and very disconcerting.
The question is, what can we do? While I am not yet myself an expert on the subject and everything there is to know, I do know some steps that we could and should take together if we want things like this to stop happening, or if we want to know that we aren't a part of it. Doing research before you shop is always a good measure to take.
While not every company and brand is transparent about where they are sourced, there is a lot of information on many of our favorite brands out there. Using our choice to buy or not to buy can make a difference in these unfair labor practices. If we are a little bit more conscious of where the products that we are consuming are coming from, then maybe we can to continue to make a difference, as many others have already begun to.
