In terms of fashion and clothing, I only thought of it as a way of expressing oneself. Or at times, I would think of The Devil Wears Prada, knowing somewhere out there a person behaves just as Meryl Strep behaved in the movie. Of course, you always hear about sweatshops in other countries, but I never related it back to big name brand companies. I didn’t realize how prevalent sweatshops and child labor were for many US companies. Another shock from the Ted Talk, was about polyester. I see it on the label for most of my clothing, but I never thought of the negative impacts it might have environmentally.
On researching US stores that still source from sweatshops and/or child labor, I found the results quite alarming. Stores like Forever 21 and Walmart were no surprise to me but stores like Adidas, Victoria Secret, and Urban Outfitters were. I expected stores which marked their products at a higher price, to not only have better quality products but also sell items that were ethically sourced. Its a quite saddening realization that all of these stores have been exposed to be using sweatshops, but they are still operating without any consequences. It’s also a saddening realization that despite that, people still shop at these stores because they like the product and deep down they might not even care at all. People don’t start to care unless they are directly affected or unless they can see the abuse first hand. But just because it’s happening afar doesn’t mean it isn’t happening at all.
Patrick Woodyard describes polyester as a man-made compound, consisting of micro-plastics. The structural components of polyester make it increasingly hard to break down, leading to a growth of waste and pollution in our planet today. With all of our technology and advancements today, its very disheartening to see that there aren’t regular waste plants which might reuse polyester. Image the huge impact it might have if every US company was required to take their materials from reused polyester, instead of making more of it. I think there are a lot of things we could do to reduce our carbon footprint, but I think most people don’t see how their small contribution makes a difference. I don’t do much shopping, but when I do I want to try shopping at stores that only source their products ethically.
