Green is the New Black

The fact is that that most of the large clothes retailers, such as H&M, Gap, Primark, Zara and others manufacture their products thousands of miles away, in sweat shops where hundreds of people work twelve hour shifts for a little as 70 pence an hour. Although Primark in particular has had a lot of bad press about it, other chain stores as just as guilty of such unfair work ethics. Whenever it says on the label of your newly purchased garment ‘Made in Bangladesh’ or ‘Made in Taiwan’, you can be certain that another human being thousands of miles away sitting in a badly ventilated room hunched over a sewing machine made your garment.

Someone in my home town felt so strongly about it that they scrawled on the side of the GAP shop that child labour was used to make their clothes. Needless to say it was removed very quickly. But the sad fact is there is very little we can do about it. If we need a pair of trainers, they are likely to have been made in a developing country with very few rights for workers (Adidas and Puma are very much culprits). So the least we can do is spare a thought for the person who made them.

That’s not to say that there haven’t been positive movements towards changing this. Topshop now has a Fairtrade section of clothing in some stores, and Primark have had to prove that their work ethics aren’t as bad as previously thought. But what we can do is not to buy into the cheap, shortlived nature of fashion at the moment, something which is what in part has caused the sweat shop phenomenon as chain stores capitalise on the lack of a minimum wage in developing countries.

Last year M&S ran a scheme where anyone who bought back clothes from the previous season would receive a £10 gift voucher, while the clothes would be donated to Oxfam. Buying second hand clothes is also a sustainable way of shopping. And by spending a little extra on new clothes, you are investing in a garment that will last longer that one season. There are also companies such as Traidcraft, which is part of the people tree foundation - helping people in developing countries set up and run their own businesses and develop trading links. Their catalogues are full of practical contemporary clothes and beautiful handmade gifts which you can buy without that added guilt factor. As people become more and more ethically aware companies such as these are becoming more well-known and popular.

So as students, buying second hand clothing and going to clothes swaps (such as the one organised by the womens’ committee on Monday in James Dining Hall) is not only kind to your purse but a more sustainable way of shopping. And if you do feel strongly about the way that most products on the high street are manufactured, then make your voice heard. It’s something that shops would rather you not know, so spread the word and use your consumer power to take your money elsewhere. If enough people do it, then the possibility of change becomes very real.

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