Why it’s important to know who made the clothes you wear

In 2013, an 8-story building called Rana Plaza collapsed in Bangladesh, a poor country in Asia. In it, a fashion brand manufacturing company operated. The building was in poor condition, but the owner risked the lives of his workers to make production as cheap as possible. That catastrophe claimed the lives of thousands of people and caused many more to begin to reflect on the question of how (and under what conditions) their clothing was manufactured.

The international organization Fashion Revolution was founded a year after the tragedy. The organization’s mission is to rethink the fashion and apparel industry. Fashion Revolution launched a challenge, which encouraged fashion brands to answer the question: #WhoMadeMyClothes (“Who made my clothes?”).

O awesome.club believes that the topic of conscious fashion is very important for a better and fairer world.

Starting at the beginning: before reaching our wardrobes, clothes pass through farmers, spinners, weavers, dyers and many other people. More than 75 million people work in this industry, and 80% of these people are women between the ages of 18 and 35. The problem is that fashion brands, looking to save money, move their factories to poor countries and pay their workers a few dollars a day.

To try to improve this situation, the aforementioned #WhoMadeMyClothes challenge was created. People were invited to post pictures of their clothes on social media in such a way that the brand’s logo was visible, and they began to ask these brands whether, in fact, they were concerned about the working conditions of their suppliers and whether they used environmentally friendly raw materials.

The brands then began to show the people who sewed the clothes.

But many companies decided not to respond to the challenge. For example, brands such as Chanel, Versace, Marc Jacobs, Dior, Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci and other giants of the fashion industry simply did not show their factories.

On the other hand, Stella McCartney, H&M, Marks & Spencer, Puma, Adidas and Reebok brands had no problem showing images of their factories.

The ranking of brands’ transparency in this regard can be seen in the Fashion Revolution report.

In addition to the issue of working conditions, another challenge for the fashion industry is related to the environment. This sector is considered the second most polluting among all economic sectors. Each of us can, however, change the situation for the better.

It’s enough to start with these small steps:

watch the documentary The True Cost to understand the subject in more depth. Support ecological and transparent brands that do not hide the conditions in which their clothes are manufactured. this is a greener way to refresh your wardrobe. Buy clothing made from recycled materials or Fair Trade certified textiles. Don’t throw away your old clothes; it is better to hand them in at specialized collection points. And most importantly, don’t over-buy.

If we all thought about unnecessary sale purchases, the entire fashion industry would change.

It would be a message that society seeks products that are less harmful to the environment and produced in fairer working conditions.

The choice of each one is important because only together can we change the world.