Why You Should Purchase Ethically Produced Clothes
Posted: Sunday, January 17, 2010
by Inger Fountain
http://www.educationalgamer.com
There are few essentials in life and clothes, along with food, water and shelter, is one of them.
While the majority of our daily food and water supplies are sourced locally and we have a fair idea of the source of our housing supplies, clothing is something we generally accept has come from overseas.
In today's multi-national marketplace clothes are typically made in countries that do not have equal opportunity guidelines set out and enforced by their governments. Clothing companies who then outsource their manufacturing to these countries do so because the labor is cheap.
Whichever way you look at it, cheaper clothes or more profits for the company also means that the people who make the clothes are underpaid. They are not paid enough to feed their families or to get ahead in any way to help themselves.
In countries with workers rights, people are paid more. This allows them to not only supply basic needs of their families but allows them choices in where they live and how they choose to prosper.
By choosing to purchase clothes made in countries where no rights exist for workers, consumers are implicit in this process. Finding clothing that is ethically produced is a challenge and it's companies like People Tree in the UK that are taking the range of free trade designer clothing to a new level.
Purchasing clothing is necessary but it needn't be at the expense of other people. Companies must give consumers options so we can make educated decisions about what we buy. As knowledge about the effects of unfair trade becomes widespread and more options become available for consumers, companies may find that there is a significant market for ethically produced clothing.
Inger loves to write and has been writing words on paper for quite some time. When the Internet came along she started writing online too. You can see her latest website which helps people to locate beautiful fair trade clothing at http://www.fairtradeclothing.org/.
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Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)It's easy to forget that the clothes we take for granted have often been made by others in substandard conditions. Stories like this one help us to remember that there is a human side to imported clothing.
Thanks for your comment.I'm glad you enjoyed the article-I was hoping to bring the concept down to really simple principles.Cheers
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