Is ethical fashion a privilege? In short, yes. Ethical fashion is an umbrella term to describe ethical fashion design, production, retail and purchasing. It covers a range of issues such as working conditions, exploitation, fair trade, sustainable production, the environment and animal welfare. Ethical and sustainable fashion does not start in the manufacturing of clothes. It starts from the beginning with raw materials and ends in your wardrobe. Ethical clothes help minimize the negative impact on the environment, worker exploitation and is overall better for everyone. You have probably seen these clothes advertised as being “100% organic cotton” or being derived from “recycled materials.” It is no surprise that with these practices, ethical fashion prices are higher than fast fashion. A plain white t-shirt at a sustainable fashion brand can go for $200, which prompts the issue. Being able to buy beautiful clothes with a good story behind them is a privilege. Being able to use your money as a way to help the world is a luxury that quite literally not everyone can afford.
The prices of sustainable brands exclude many people who cannot sacrifice money. With this, rich white women become the biggest audience for ethical fashion, which excludes everyone else. This, intentionally or not, turned this movement into a class issue. Minority groups already struggle to shop at mass-market retailers, which puts them at an even bigger disadvantage when deciding whether to shop from ethical brands. For some, buying one thing at an eco-friendly company can be their entire paycheck for that week.
Courtesy: WTVOX.com
The sustainable fashion movement often looks down on those who continually buy fast fashion without considering what could be hindering those from doing so. There’s a famous quote by Anna Lappé, author and educator on sustainable food. “Every time you spend money, you’re casting a vote for the kind of world you want.” This is true, we need to be cautious about where we spend our money because it can directly or indirectly shape our future. However, to imply that people who don’t shop ethically don’t want a prosperous future is very classist when in 2017, 84.9% of the world was living in poverty. Today, sustainability is a way of doing business rather than just a concept. Research shows that customers actually do care about where their clothes are coming from. Especially when factory workers are still losing their lives to the harsh conditions of these places. Rana Plaza is one of the many examples of this.
Courtesy: ourgoodbrands.com
I try to become a better shopper by researching brands and figuring where and how their products are made but it can be discouraging when you want to be a part of the movement and can’t. Finding a shirt you like for $10 as a college student on a budget can be a steal. But when you remember that the shirt is probably not ethical fashion, it no longer becomes exciting, but much more depressing.
This is not to say those who shop ethically should stop or not encourage others to do the same, just be more empathetic to everyone’s situation. As more people begin to shop ethically, the brands will grow and hopefully, we will be able to afford to buy fair trade or eco-friendly clothes for lower prices. Sustainable brands at a lower cost is the future that we all want so more low-income and minority women do not feel guilty for not being able to shop consciously. We should all want sustainable brand prices to be more inclusive because that allows for everyone to help make the world a better place.
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