Ethical shoping

[map_of_the_world]

there's a new community called dignified_dress which says on the user info This is a community for people who are serious about what they wear and who want to share a culture (and resources) in which clothing can be an ethical choice. A choice that considers the workers who produce our clothes, the environment that sustains our production of clothes and the women (and men) who wear it.



which is all good if you can afford to buy ethical clothes, lots of people, especially in this economy can't. If people can afford these clothes then good for them but its way too easy to move into a headspace that assumes moral superiority over someone because you have the financial wherewithal to make shopping choices that they don't. if you have four kids and no job you are going to buy your clothes from George/walmart



sometimes environmental/ethical shopping feels like another form of classism, a way of denigrating poor people because they don't make the "right" choices

Comments

[burningmarl.livejournal.com]

I think this often, especially when almost every term Amnesty or Christian Union or, even - UGH - Labour Students, suggest a protest outside Primark. We're all fucking uni kids for fuck's sake.

[burningmarl.livejournal.com]

&also, I hate it when people promote ~~making clothes yourself~~ out of stuff from charity shops, like working people have enough time!!

[burningmarl.livejournal.com]

*working class people

[lost-letters.livejournal.com]

god, yes, where do they suggest poor people buy their clothes from?

[fall-of-sophia.livejournal.com]

yes.

[oh-annalouise.livejournal.com]

also, if you're fat. Few businesses are as aggressively fatphobic as ones that market themselves as lefty sustainable.

[lost-letters.livejournal.com]

I did not know this, thanks

[trousersofdoom.livejournal.com]

yep. it also turns activism into buying the right stuff, which is fucked up too.

[animaltime.livejournal.com]

I agree with you, good point.

[lost-letters.livejournal.com]

to be honest i think thats what a lot of people, especialy younger people think activism is, which is worrying

[minxyminou.livejournal.com]

Agree.

We need to move away from thinking the answers come from "buying the right stuff"

[chibibluebird.livejournal.com]

poor people buy ethical clothes all the time - at second hand stores.

but I agree with your general point about ethical consumerism only being accessible to the middle and upper classes. it's true of food and most other consumer goods.

[lost-letters.livejournal.com]

the thing is though often poor people dont have time to go round second hand stores, and you often cant get shoes or underwear from them.

[jamjar-girl.livejournal.com]

Agreed.

[lavendersparkle.livejournal.com]

I think that concentrating upon ethical shopping can turn into classism. 'Ethical' items can just turn into another form of ethical consumption. At the same time, I think that people who are richer (like me) have a responsibility to consider the impact of their spending choices. The problem is when people start feeling superior to people can't make similar choices.

It's something I like about Carbon Conversations (http://cambridgecarbonfootprint.org/action/carbon-conversations/) and Cambridge Carbon Footprint more generally. It's a course to help you lower your carbon footprint but it explicitly addresses the issue that there are going to be limits on what some people can do and they shouldn't feel bad about that. It talks about how people on low incomes aren't going to be able to afford organic food, and emphasises that people on lower incomes tend to have lower carbon footprints anyway. It addresses issues like that renters are going to be limited in their ability to control their domestic energy efficiency, people with a lot of family abroad will find it difficult not to fly, people with physical impairments might be more reliant on cars for transport. They're running a running a workshop (http://cambridgecarbonfootprint.org/blog/breaking-barriers-equality-inclusion-and-climate-change/) to specifically address making climate change activities inclusive and aware of equality issues.

I think there's a problem if people think that ethical consumerism becomes the be all and end all of activism. At the same time I think that being a part of solution should involve being a bit less of the problem.

[lost-letters.livejournal.com]

I agree with you I think and I really like what you talk about in your second paragraph. I've just seen this sort of thing turn into rabid classism and that really bothers me.

[interfaceleader.livejournal.com]

I think there's a time issue as well. Loads of people say 'just go to a charity shop' then, and obviously buying second-hand clothes is good, but it takes a lot longer to find something you want, and you still can't get basic things like underwear.

Most people with limited incomes aren't going to be shopping for summer dresses or whatever, they are going to be looking for kids clothes, school uniforms, underwear, etc etc.

Though I think the worst of both worlds is the really expensive clothes that STILL don't operate on fair-trade/sustainable guidelines.


I also think there's been this massive shift of responsibility onto consumers as having all the power/choice, when actually it should be down to the business itself to have to operate within clear parameters and be regulated accordingly. Saying that consumers have power is essentially saying the free market works, which it doesn't. Half of the stuff is marketed as being ethical when it's not at all, and the other half is priced so high as to not make it a choice anymore.

[lost-letters.livejournal.com]

yep. It will not suprise you to know that i agree with all of this