Our clothes tell stories
Photo by Billie
If you spent five minutes looking through your wardrobe, would you be able to tell the origin story of any garment?
It’s easy to forget that the origin is not the place we bought it. From the production of the fibre to the shopping floor, garments travel hundreds of miles and “meet” hundreds of people on the way.
We rarely think about who is behind our clothes, the people who worked long hours to make them, their working conditions, the abuse they often suffer, or the inadequate payment they have to accept. Not to mention their health conditions – the production of fibres is always linked to high quantities of chemicals and pesticides, and rarely are the procedures for the health and safety of workers respected, causing irreversible damage. Synthetic materials are difficult to recycle and dispose of, and they can compromise our health.
Something may not last long in our wardrobe, but it will remain in our planet's heart for the next hundred years. By simply looking through our wardrobe, it’s possible to understand the human and natural sacrifice to which we are contributing. Realising this can be overwhelming and frustrating. So what? The damage is already done, what can I do about it?
“Something may not last long in our wardrobe, but it will remain in our planet’s heart for the next hundred years.”
Fortunately, several associations help shed light on the complex hidden world of fashion, and Remake is one of them. Remake is a global advocacy organization fighting for fair pay in the clothing industry. Founded by Ayesha Barenblat, it leads collective action to disrupt the trillion-dollar clothing industry by building a global network of citizens, press, legislators and labour leaders, to connect the industry's biggest problem with effective solutions.
Remake's theory of change is that by paying garment workers a living wage, both the social arm and the environmental damages caused by the fashion industry are reduced. Higher salaries would change the business model in fashion, leading companies to slow down and make less.
Whether it is by following their Instagram profile or being an active ambassador within the community, you can make a difference. Through the platform, it's easy to learn more about the industry and increase awareness of our consumption but also participate in events, workshops and book clubs, and support important campaigns like the #PayUp campaign that recovered twenty-two billion dollars in stolen wages and contracts from twenty-five major fashion brands. In short: education, entertainment and advocacy to change the fate of the industry.
The community today has more than fifteen hundred ambassadors from all over the world and eighteen Community Organizers. Becoming an ambassador is very easy. Everyone can apply through the website. Ambassadors have access to community platforms where events, workshops and educational programs are shared to grow their skills as fashion activists, and to fight for climate and gender justice.
Thanks to the community, everything seems possible. A single action multiplied by a thousand creates energy similar to a ‘positive earthquake’.
And that's precisely what we need: an ‘earthquake’. A strong shock to the system forces it to change, evolve and slow down. Thanks to the association, the feeling of frustration, helplessness and bewilderment in a complex world like fashion, is transformed into power.
“A single action multiplied by a thousand creates energy similar to a ‘positive earthquake’. And that’s precisely what we need: an ‘earthquake’. A strong shock to the system forces it to change, evolve and slow down. ”
In an ideal world, if we spend five minutes in front of our wardrobe, we will no longer find dozens and dozens of garments that seem to be without a past or future, but we will find a few garments all carefully chosen and strongly desired, of which we know the story, the origin, and the working conditions of those involved in their production.
Preferably, most of the garments in our ideal wardrobe will be garments that have already been lived in (what today is often called pre-loved), with a lot to tell, evergreen garments, versatile and fearless of the constant changing of trends. Timeless.
And probably in an ideal world, we won’t need associations that have to fight for human rights because those would be naturally respected. But until then we still need to make our voice heard by spreading the word through our media, becoming activists, or taking part in associations like Remake because we are stronger together.
What if we stop and finally take control of who we are, what we do and where we are going? And especially, let’s know WHY.