#whomademyclothes
As a culture, we’ve gotten pretty good about caring about where our food comes from. It’s even trendy now to know exactly…to visit farms, to eat at restaurants that are completely transparent about their supply chain. It both tastes better and feels better for our bodies and our conscience. Some have deemed this movement away from tv dinners and hamburger helper to Whole Foods and farmer’s markets as “slow food”. It’s a reaction to fast food. As a lady farmer blog, we’re going to be talking a lot about this, because a farm’s main purpose is to produce food. But guess what? A similar realization/reaction movement is happening in the fashion industry.
We’re already a few years into the slow fashion era, but there is still so much to learn and so much to teach – ourselves, each other, the planet. The way that the fashion industry is currently set up makes it so that we can’t figure out too much about who made our clothes, and in what conditions. The truth is that some of the biggest brands we buy from aren’t even sure, because when they order from their suppliers it is unclear what will happen beyond that point. It is unclear because it is unjust, many times these systems qualify as crimes against human rights and the environment. *In most instances, we have slave labor to thank for the clothes that we wear. So if we care so much about the food we put in our bodies, why haven’t we thought too much about the clothes we wear on them?
I think the answer up until this point has been a simple lack of information, and many people would like for it to stay that way. When we start educating ourselves, we’ll demand change, and change will mean LESS production in MORE time, probably. This means our obsessive consumption society won’t be spewing money into a system that makes a few companies really rich while ruining our planet anymore. I’m okay with that, and I’d be willing to guess that you are too.
A system where our clothing supply chains respect the rights of all human beings? A transparency that ensures we are doing everything we can to cut down on the amount of waste and pollution that is produced by one of the largest industries in the world? It doesn’t exist yet, but it can.
Lady Farmer grew out of a desire to produce a line of sustainable clothes for the conscientious woman who has all of these things in mind. As farmers, our work is food and nourishment. As consumers, our work is making sure we consume knowingly and not too often. A paradigm shift? Yeah – but as lady farmers we’re not afraid of it. We’re so excited to have you on our journey.
Resources:
Movement: Fashion Revolution #whomademyclothes
Documentary: True Cost Movie
Research: Fashion Transparency Index
On 24 April 2013, 1,134 people were killed and over 2,500 were injured when the Rana Plaza complex collapsed in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The building housed factories for apparel brands including Benetton, the Children’s Place, and Walmart.
Photo Credit: learning.blogs.nytimes.com
