Written by Yara Shaheen-Abuelreish
October 13, 2020
‘Girls Support Girls’ is scrawled across the white tee in pink cursive lettering. I eye it for a bit, feel the fabric and check the price tag -$9.99, but $7.99 with my student discount. After seeing it all over Instagram, it takes me a few more minutes to walk past it, and a little self-control to walk past the bedazzled ‘feminist’ choker and the ‘making herstory’ hoodie to make it to the exit. With almost everything I’m passionate about, whether it be an event, an artist, or a cause, there’s a part of me that wants to stick it on a t-shirt or a tote bag and wear it out. Some of it may be superficial – I want to show off my experience and my awareness but there’s a second part of me that wants to draw people in, create an unspoken connection with strangers that care about the same thing. Becoming a feminist was a journey shaped by personal experience, anger from the things I learned about, and a hope to make things better. Especially now, during this isolating pandemic, wearing my statement hoodie is a nice reminder that other people have gone through a similar thing and we’re all working towards the same goal.
However, this network of solidarity often comes at a hidden cost to girls and women around the world. From an environmental standpoint, the fashion industry is one of the biggest contributors to carbon emission and wastewater. Dye and microfibers are dumped into landfills and water supplies at exponential rates and the water consumption for textiles alone illustrates the significant environmental cost of fashion in general. Fast fashion specifically has a record of reckless waste management. Of course, the CEOs of these companies will not suffer the consequences of this; the citizens near China’s Li River, and other communities like it in Vietnam, Bangladesh and India, are the ones exposed to the toxic fumes with their closest water source rendered unusable. Through more indirect means, racial minorities are disproportionately targeted here in Canada and the United States due to climate change’s well-documented impact on Black and Indigenous populations.
For the mostly young women and girls who produce our garments, their working conditions have been compared to slave labour by the European Parliament. Throughout the years, multiple fires have resulted in the death of hundreds to thousands of garment workers. The infamous collapse of the Rana Plaza factories in Bangladesh brought to light the truly horrific working conditions garment workers had to endure to produce for companies such as Zara, H&M and Mango. Since then changes have been imposed to improve conditions (unions, training, inspections), but the follow-through is hard to measure. Proper protection from harsh chemicals is still mostly unavailable, wages are still atrociously insufficient, hours are ridiculously long with no weekends, many companies still refuse the right to unionize, and child labor is widespread.
It’s important to remember the blame is on these companies that continue to operate under unacceptable conditions, outsource production for lower wages and justify it by claiming lower prices, which is the common nonsense heard within capitalism. The onus then falls on us as consumers to vote with our dollars and make our voices heard. The first step is to look into the places we purchase from and look for alternatives. goodonyou.eco has a database ranking companies based on their environmental and ethical impact. Sites like thegoodtrade.com and sustainyourstyle.org have shopping guides and lists of sustainable and conscious replacements. SustainYourStyle.org also has great guides for managing our impact like buying less in general, choosing more natural fibers and looking closely at labels for countries of production and materials.
Another step is to shop local and thrift. Organizing clothing exchanges with friends, visiting your local thrift shop and buying locally-made garments are a few ways to make a change. I know that thrifting has its own issues; personally, I’ve been advised to handle this by shopping at more ‘chic’ second-hand stores instead of more accessible ones like Goodwill or Salvation Army. Thrifting and locally-made clothes usually mean higher costs, but even a slight decrease in the amount of clothes away bought from fast fashion brands has its own impact and makes the difference. Companies are noticing as more major brands transition to more sustainable options hoping to appease consumers that have redirected their attention.
For shirts that truly support girls, I’ll link a few feminist sustainable clothing brands below that aim to both create a community and protect the workers that create them. There has definitely been a shift in the past year to more conscious purchasing and we can continue to play a direct role in making sure more changes come about.
Stores to buy ethically-made feminist merchandise:
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