Consciously Girly

Note: I hope this post doesn't sound preachy. My goal is to let people know that if there's something that upsets us there ARE things we can do to change things. I can't make decisions for anyone but myself, but I hope this inspires you to look into this and similar issues.

Filling my closet with clothes bought from my heart.

I try not to fall into gender stereotypes. I think it's important to celebrate the traditionally masculine and feminine in everyone. One thing I am hopelessly girly about, however, is dressing up. Clothes, perfume, shoes, skin care stuff (I don't wear makeup but I love creams and scrubs), I've got it all. I have impractical shoes that I rarely wear (I'm 5'9, so why do I have three inch heels?) I put perfume on every morning no matter where I'm going. I put outfits together to go grocery shopping. If the television show "What Not to Wear" is on I turn into a zombie. It's pretty silly, but it's me. Lately though the silliness of dressing up has become a bit serious. On April 24 a garment factory in Bangladesh collapsed and killed 1,127 people. Just sit with that number for a minute. One thousand one hundred and twenty seven people. The five garment factories housed in the building made clothing for most of the brands we see in America (Gap, brands sold at Wal Mart, JC Penney, Sears, etc.) One woman survived in the rubble for 16 days. The building was poorly made; but the working conditions were atrocious. No days off, working from sun up until 11 pm, hundreds of people crammed in rooms with little to no air conditioning and physical abuse. All for about $50 a month. People all over the world live like this so we can have cheap clothes. It feels like we as a society have compartmentalized the dignity and worth of those we know and love from the dignity and worth of those working in slave-like conditions around the world.

I can't compartmentalize anymore. I've decided to do two things. First, I've researched the Bangladesh Saftey Plan that would increase safety and human rights standards within garment factories and refused to shop at places that refused to sign it (as well as anything saying "made in Bangladesh"). Second, I'm focusing on buying clothes that are made in America. I know American made clothes have there own ethical and environmental issues; but at least there are regulations here to prevent the working conditions seen in Bangladesh. Wes and I like to put our money where our mouth is; and this can be hard when our family income is earned from Nike, which has a troubled history of it's own. We've had many conversations about how to deal with this contradiction, and for now it's a work in progress.

I'm not suggesting we all wear only locally made clothing or anything. But if we can educate ourselves and speak with our wallets then why not make some easy changes? There are a lot of affordable, easy to find clothes that are made in America. As a person on a budget I've found that shopping more consciously has not been as expensive as it's made out to be. And even if it is, that extra money means a living wage and a safe work environment for the person making our clothes. That I can spend some money on.