Category Archives: Consumer Education

What not to wear – child labour and cotton

NOTE: This event has been re-scheduled from June when it was cancelled due to the tube strike

Title: What not to wear – child labour and cotton
Location: London
Link out: Click here
Description: Uzbekistan is the third biggest exporter of cotton in the world. Its booming cotton industry generates over US$1billion annually, but the industry, which largely supplies the European market, is underpinned by a system of state-sponsored forced labour, particularly of children.

This event will focus on what can be done to end the use of forced labour in the cotton industry. Considering the action taken by some retailers to ban Uzbek cotton from their products, why do other retailers continue to use it? How can we as consumers ensure that the products we buy are free from slave labour and that we are not inadvertently contributing to the problem?

Film Screening of White Gold: the true cost of cotton by the Environmental Justice Foundation followed by a panel discussion featuring Lucy Siegle, journalist, author and presenter (chair), Joanna Ewart-James (Anti-Slavery International), Juliette Williams (The Environmental Justice Foundation) and Steve Grinter (International Textile, Garment & Leather Workers’ Federation).

This event will be hosted by EJF, Amnesty International and Anti-Slavery International on October 8th at the Human Rights Action Centre in London.

Source: FEI
Start Time: 7pm
Date: 2009-10-08

Makower talks Greenwash

TerraChoice: Sin of the Hidden Trade-off

Back in April, TerraChoice released their second report on greenwashing, titled “The Seven Sins of Greenwashing.” The first report, “The Six Sins of Greenwashing,” came out in 2007. The recent report offers new stats and, of course, the added seventh sin. Unfortunately, fashion, textile and apparel products were not included in the TerraChoice research. Don’t let this fool you; greenwashing is rampant in the fashion, textile and apparel industry.

Joel Makower from Greenbiz offers a great commentary on the report, outlining where, and how, it may have fallen short:

“Late last year, TerraChoice repeated the process, though extended its reach: Its researchers were sent into retailers in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and Australia. The track record was slightly better: 25 products found in North American stores were deemed “sin-free,” says TerraChoice. The trends were similar in the other countries.

At first glance, those findings seem dire and depressing. But much like some of the eco-claims themselves, TerraChoice’s report doesn’t hold up to scrutiny. What’s really going on here? Are manufacturers truly that overwhelmingly misleading? Is just about everyone out there pulling the green wool over our collective eyes? Or has TerraChoice set a bar so unreasonably high that even the most well-intentioned companies can’t clear it, and lumped the imperfect claims together with the truly bad ones in order to make its point? In other words, who’s greenwashing who?

Truth is, there’s a little of each going on.

First, honor is due. TerraChoice has performed a public service here, calling attention to the fact that so many companies are making claims that are anything from fuzzy to fraudulent. The groundwork they’ve done here is invaluable, even if the conclusions they’ve drawn from it are, in my opinion, a bit misleading.”

Read the rest of his article here. Make sure you check out the full TerraChoice report.

For more information, listen in on this Greenbiz.com Podcast, “Lies, Damn Lies, and the Seventh Sin of Greenwashing,” where Makower interviews Scot Case, Vice President of TerraChoice on the issue of greenwashing and the 2009 report.

Stay informed!

Source: TerraChoice, Joel Makower, and Greenbiz.com

Women Exploiting Women

The National Labor Committee released a report last week citing sweatshop conditions in a Guatemalan factory manufacturing clothing for Briggs New York (80%) and Lane Bryant (remaining 20%) clothing.

If you don’t want to read the full article, here is the abstract:

“Young Mayan women sew Briggs New York and Lane Bryant clothing under abusive and illegal sweatshop conditions at the Nicotex factory outside Guatemala City. Women in the U.S. are unknowingly purchasing clothing made by other women who are being exploited.

All overtime at the Nicotex factory is mandatory, and 14 2/3-hour shifts, from 7:00 a.m. to 9:40 p.m. including six hours of overtime, are uncommon. The women are routinely at the factory up to 72 hours, forced to toil 20 to 25 hours of overtime. Women unable to remain for overtime work, even if they have family emergencies, are fired. The workers are allowed just 10.2 minutes to sew each Briggs New York blouse for which they are paid 19 ½ cents. The women and their families are trapped in extreme poverty, earning just 76 cents to $1.15 an hour, which comes nowhere close to meeting even their most basic subsistence level needs.

Workers and their children are cheated of health and maternity care, including paid maternity leave, which they paid for and is supposed to be guaranteed under Guatemalan law. Workers are also robbed of their vacation and severance pay and are shortchanged of their legal bonuses.

The Nicotex garment workers have no rights. U.S. company audits are a sham, and the workers have never even heard of a “corporate code of conduct.”

At least some officials of the government-run Social Security Institute appear to be involved in a widespread corruption scam, along with factories such as Nicotex, to defraud the workers and their children of the healthcare they pay for. This scam is an open secret in Guatemala, and it has devastating consequences for the workers.

The Nicotex sweatshop is just another example of how the U.S.-Central America Free Trade Agreement has badly failed to enforce even Guatemala’s most minimal labor laws. US-CAFTA has certainly not empowered workers through respect for their legal rights, nor has it helped raise them out of extreme poverty.”

Source: NLC

For those of you who don’t know who Charles Kernaghan is, he is “The Man Who Made Kathy Lee Cry”. He also heads the National Labor Committee. He discusses what he calls ‘the science of exploitation’ and his work with the NLC from the film The Corporation. You can view the trailler for the documentary in the videos section of this site (on the left hand side).

slogan t-shirts: what do you think?

Katharine Hamnett, Slogan T-Shirt "No More Fashion Victims"

I have been obsessed with U.K. designer Katharine Hamnett for a long time. In fact, it was her slogan t-shirts that first showed me that there was opportunity to transform this industry; she is the quintessential example of a pissed off designer who refuses to stand for the high human cost of fashion. She is dedicated to the promotion of organic cotton, and runs a strong campaign against the conventional ‘white gold’:

“Conventional cotton represents 10% of world agriculture and uses 25% of the world’s pesticides.

100 million conventional cotton farmers, from Russia to South Africa, are living in conditions of abject poverty and near starvation.

Conventional cotton subsidies funded by American taxpayers are causing poverty in the developing world as they lower the world price for cotton. (Americans are the only ones that can change this by writing to their Congress people and telling them they insist on organic cotton clothing.)

20,000 people die every year from accidental pesticide poisoning in conventional cotton agriculture (World Health Organisation). Death by starvation is alarmingly prevalent and 200,000 cotton farmers commit suicide annually due to spiralling debts incurred from buying pesticides. A further 1,000,000 people a year suffer from long-term pesticide poisoning (Pesticide Action Network).

However, if farmers grow cotton organically and can sell it as such, this dire situation is reversed.

By growing organically, farmers get a 50% increase in their income – due to a 40% reduction in costs – and the 20% premium they receive for producing organic cotton allows them to feed, clothe, educate and provide healthcare for their children.

Organic cotton helps farmers trade their way out of poverty. It’s the only formula for survival in the cotton sector in the developing world.”

(Katharine Hamnett, Campaigns: Organic Cotton)

Another company that offers slogan t-shirts is American Apparel. I have been familiar with their ‘Legalize L.A.’ campaign shirt, but only recently came across their ‘Legalize Gay’ slogan t-shirt. The American Apparel slogan t-shirt wants you to promote and support the repeal of prop 8.

It got me thinking. For me, these slogan shirts represent the convergence of fashion and politics in a clear and positive way; they offer the consumer a sense of empowerment, and send a clear message of support. But what do you think?

Two very different questions….

Compostmodern09 tweet along

Below is my tweet along for Compostmodern09, which took place on Sat. Feb 21^st 09. This event was greatly inspiring, and I will be writing a post soon on the over all themes of the conference and where the convergence into sustainable fashion design comes into play. Stay tuned for that post (and some images as well).

· excited to be at #cm09 8:19 AM Feb 21st

· #cm09 only 5000 days left. take it as fact. 9:55 AM Feb 21st

· #cm09 Allan Chochinov ten rules applicable to fashion design. 10:23 AM Feb 21st

· Michel Gelobler: design through the lens of soul and policy coming up, #cm09 10:26 AM Feb 21st

· wonderment being made plain/plain being made wonderment cm#09 10:28 AM Feb 21st

· Michel Gelobler certainty/worry/sorrow/hope #cm09 10:30 AM Feb 21st

· need to bend the Al Gore curve #cm09 10:32 AM Feb 21st

· Michel Gelobter: what we have, what we are using, need to establish equilibrium looking to connect product to solution. #cm09 10:40 AM Feb 21st

· #cm09 we own the solution not the problem, Michel Gelobter 10:43 AM Feb 21st

· Michel Gelobter #cm09 further mention of the design acccord http://tinyurl.com/b5yzl4 10:47 AM Feb 21st

· Saul Griffith howtoons http://www.howtoons.com/ #cm09 10:52 AM Feb 21st

· Saul Griffith: 2008, the year of ‘peak waste’ #cm09 11:03 AM Feb 21st

· Saul Griffith: need to re-design everything. make it small, fish shaped,slow. need a new soundtrack, font, aesthetic. need a bob dylan.#cm09 11:14 AM Feb 21st

· Saul Griffith: we need an heirloom culture #cm09 11:17 AM Feb 21st

· Saul Griffith: I’m an earth fucker and so are you, #cm09 11:19 AM Feb 21st

· Saul Griffith: http://www.wattzon.com/ #cm09 11:20 AM Feb 21st

· Saul Griffith: soon to be born child going to kick ninja ass #cm09 11:23 AM Feb 21st

· Saul Griffith: the planet is the new design client. #cm09 11:25 AM Feb 21st

· HR + PR does not equal CSR 11:55 AM Feb 21st

· Emily Pilloton #cm09 1. what>how (sustainability=human+environment) 1:59 PM Feb 21st

· Emily Pilloton #cm09 2. the other 90% is next door (local+global) 2:00 PM Feb 21st

· Emily Pilloton #cm09 3. always bring pom-poms (and a picket signs) 2:00 PM Feb 21st

· Emily Pilloton #cm09 4. scalable systems, not stuff (take the product out of product design) 2:01 PM Feb 21st

· Emily Pilloton #cm09 5. 2 (thousand) heads are better than one (the more the merrier) 2:02 PM Feb 21st

· Emily Pilloton #cm09 6. more cattle, less hat (stop talking and just do it) 2:03 PM Feb 21st

· whats the opportunity for graphic design, asks Makower..needs to play a bigger role. 2:05 PM Feb 21st

· Emily Pilloton #cm09 started project H with 400$ in her bank 2:08 PM Feb 21st

· take the poll http://tinyurl.com/coebq5 2:10 PM Feb 21st

· Watching Pam Dorr short film “Housing Hope” 2:15 PM Feb 21st

· John Bielenberg and Pam Dorr #cm09 spoke on Project M, and some amazing housing projects. 2:17 PM Feb 21st

· John Bielenberg wants you to think “wrong” so you can find solutions. Inspired by Sambo rural studios and a beautiful mind. 2:19 PM Feb 21st

· John Bielenberg #cm09, breakthroughs happen in your late 20’s-he is inspired by grad/students. 2:22 PM Feb 21st

· #cm09 project M: think wrong http://www.projectmlab.com/ 2:23 PM Feb 21st

· #cm09 project H http://www.projecthdesign.com/ 2:25 PM Feb 21st

· all speakers at #cm09 stress the importance of serendipity in the process 2:30 PM Feb 21st

· Dawn Danby #cm09 takes an interdisciplinary perspective on responsible design 2:38 PM Feb 21st

· Dawn Danby #cm09 concerned with the small size of sustainable design social network 2:41 PM Feb 21st

· Dawn Danby #cm09 asks “are we not educating our designers correctly?” this is my research question (fashion designers) 2:45 PM Feb 21st

· Dawn Danby #cm09 “1. be cool w/ paradox 2. learn the local language 3. reconsider work worth doing 4. YOUR CLIENT IS THE PLANET” 2:46 PM Feb 21st

· Dawn Danby #cm09 talking: sustainability is not a communist plot…semantics are crucial here. **YES!** 2:54 PM Feb 21st

· Dawn Danby #cm09 designers are looking for direction-but they still need to understand the numbers in product lifecycle analysis 3:01 PM Feb 21st

· Dawn Danby-if your client is the planet…then it’s on you to figure out how to solve the problems that weve got and how to pay for it 3:03 PM Feb 21st

· Dawn Danby #cm09 “we need to get rid of our specialness” and open it up to others, interdisciplinary partnerships 3:04 PM Feb 21st

· Nathan Shedroff #cm09 is about to tell us what we can do Monday morning, when we wake up at work with all of this. 3:08 PM Feb 21st

· Nathan Shedroff #cm09 conservative = conservation start the ‘conservative’ movement with the actual definition 3:15 PM Feb 21st

· Nathan Shedroff #cm09 don’t use green… use blue… it comes off more effective in business (without being too ‘environmental’) 3:17 PM Feb 21st

· Nathan Shedroff #cm09 OH… and use the work capital *this business advice is awesome* 3:18 PM Feb 21st

· Nathan Shedroff #cm09 use some sustainable frameworks: 1. lifecycle analysis 3:19 PM Feb 21st

· 2. natural capitalism (eco- efficiency).. 3:20 PM Feb 21st

· 3. cradle to cradle 3:20 PM Feb 21st

· 4. “natural step” (trademarked) 3:21 PM Feb 21st

· 5. biomimicry 3:21 PM Feb 21st

· (the point here is that these frameworks are all incomplete…they do not cover social, financial and environmental) 3:22 PM Feb 21st

· 6. Datschefski’s “Total Beauty” 3:23 PM Feb 21st

· 7. social return on investment (SROI)*very difficult to quantify* 3:24 PM Feb 21st

· 8. (last one) sustainability helix 3:24 PM Feb 21st

· Nathan Shedroff #cm09 wants you to bring the frameworks together for a good place to start..overlap them to cover all ground 3:25 PM Feb 21st

· Nathan Shedroff #cm09 wants you to design for use be the ‘apple’ and lead the way the challenge is on your compeditor will do it if you dont 3:27 PM Feb 21st

· Nathan Shedroff #cm09 wants you to design for dematerialization (all the way back) the whole lifecycle 3:29 PM Feb 21st

· Nathan Shedroff #cm09 wants you to think about material substitution. **in the context of fibre (textiles) diversify and substitute** 3:31 PM Feb 21st

· Nathan Shedroff #cm09 wants you to think local, to decrease transport. not always a good idea though. 3:32 PM Feb 21st

· transmaterialization, Nathan Shedroff #cm09, and informationalization, are more sustainable (still have impact) 3:33 PM Feb 21st

· Nathan Shedroff #cm09: next, design for durability (did i miss one? oops) 3:35 PM Feb 21st

· design with multifuction in mind, design for reuse: Nathan Shedroff #cm09 3:36 PM Feb 21st

· design for disassembly (Rickshaw zero bag example) http://www.rickshawbags.com/# 3:38 PM Feb 21st

· Nathan Shedroff #cm09: redesign the system (Curitiba, Brazil, example) 3:39 PM Feb 21st

· Nathan Shedroff #cm09 wants us to find new models, economic models suck (ex. GDP and GPI measurements) 3:41 PM Feb 21st

· Nathan Shedroff #cm09 said DONT USE PVC!!!!!! YES!!!! http://tinyurl.com/bftk4d *thank you!!* 3:42 PM Feb 21st

· How is this a debate, again? why are these shoes being sold as “sustainable” http://tinyurl.com/b4tnaf I wish i new more about PVC 3:46 PM Feb 21st

· Joel Makower asks about green marketing #cm09 3:47 PM Feb 21st

· #cm09 Joel Makower wants gree to equal better. work around the dogma. remember the business case, here. 3:51 PM Feb 21st

· #cm09 question asked “the planet is your client” is an internal conversation? Ans. sometimes. sometimes we have to talk around the subject. 3:55 PM Feb 21st

· Joel Makower #cm09 stories through design can/should/will integrate head and heart in the discussion 4:02 PM Feb 21st

· AIGA #cm09 http://sustainability.aiga…. 4:04 PM Feb 21st

Here comes the ethical bride…

Vera Wang, Ball Gown; Zea-Ivory

The current issue of Ethical Style has dedicated itself to brides to be: “Big day, big decisions — how to turn your white wedding green”

It offers simple suggestions toward some ethical options on your big day.

The greatest thing about the guide however is the wide range of resources it provides; including the 3D’s: diamonds, dresses and destinations.

A perfect illustration that an ethical choice doesn’t have to be

a) ugly

b) expensive (actually, in some circles the jury may still be out…)

You brides probably have enough on your mind, but you may be surprised at what you find inside this issue….so follow the link.

Source: Ethical Style

Photo: Vera Wang at Pre Owned Wedding Dresses

How does “Poison Plastic” translate to “Sustainable Plastic”? Anyone?

And so, as promised, I had sent an email requesting more information on PVC to Melissa (via Arbec Group), Vivienne Westwood and Grendene.

I received an email response from the Arbec Group immediately asking me which environmental and safety concerns I was referring to. A simple Google search might have given them an idea, but none the less, here was my response:

According to this 2005 Greenbiz article, “[h]azardous chemicals are used and released in this commonly used material, the second highest selling plastic in the world. Studies show links between chemicals created and used during the PVC lifecycle and cancer, reproductive and immune system damage, and asthma”. The article claims that many companies have taken action in eliminating PVC from their products due to health, safety and environmental concerns such as Microsoft, Crabtree and Evelyn, Wal-Mart, HP, Adidas, Aveda, Bath and Body Works, the Body Shop, Gerber, Honda, Ikea, Lego Systems, Nike, Samsung, SC Johnson, Shaw Carpet, Toyota, Victoria’s Secret, Volkswagen, and Volvo. And of course, MEC as mentioned in the earlier post. The Centre for Health, Environment and Justice even maintains a “PVC: The Poison Plastic” campaign.

I have yet to hear back, but when I do I will post an update.

So what do we have?

-These shoes are being marketed and sold as sustainable.

-We know that in 2005 companies such as adidas, Nike and Wal-Mart took steps to remove PVC from their products, as a result of the hazardous nature of the material.

-Melissa claims that Grendene is the “holder of exclusive injected thermoplastic”

-According to their website, Melissa has trademarked ‘MELFLEX’ which is “hypoallergenic and 100% safe for your health. It is odourless, neutral and natural”

-The companies involved have yet to comment on the hazardous reputation of PVC in the textile and apparel industry.

Let’s talk briefly on the importance of understanding the lifecycle of a garment. It may be true that the factory producing the PVC for this shoe company maintains “practically zero waste” and that the shoes are easily recyclable in house. The company boasts the sale of 176 million pairs of shoes per year. Surely all of these shoes are not sent back to the original factory in Brazil for proper breakdown.

There are quite a few shocking factors at play here: that a fashion/apparel company could so blatantly market itself as sustainable without feeling the need to support its claim; that the entire lifecycle (particularly post consumer) of the PVC is not taken into consideration when stressing the company’s take on its plastic “ecological manifesto”; and the lack of response for comment on the ‘sustainable nature of PVC’

Greenbiz article is available here

“PVC: The Poison Plastic” campaign is available here

Sweated Labour, Dell, Transparency and this Blog

The issue of transparency is an important one. So, here’s a little blogging transparency … I write Social Alterations on my ‘Made in China’ Espresso Brown Dell Inspiron 1525.

The National Labour Committee released a report today titled “High Tech Misery in China: The Dehumanization of Young Workers Producing Our Computer Keyboards” Sure enough, Dell is one of the companies manufacturing products in the Meitai Plastics & Electronics factory highlighted in the report in Dongguan City, Guangdong China.

According to the report, the base salary at the factory is 64 cents/hour. Minus room and board, workers take home 41cents/hour. Tax all in, my ‘made to order’ laptop set me back $620.48.

Other companies producing in the factory include Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Microsoft and IBM.

You can view the NLC report here

The nature of your garment is to fall apart?

Another interesting article taken from The Independent today, discussed some frustrations in dealing with products that not only fall apart, but are designed to fall apart.

Thought it might be time for another poll.

Fast fashion to blame for female consumer complaints in the UK

Consumer complaints in the UK surrounding poorly made clothing increased by 22% in 2008, according to this article by The Independent. The article cites a report by Consumer Direct released today. It claims that the biggest consumer complaint amongst females came from ‘defective goods’, at 34%.

According to the article, “[i]n the past five years, with the rise of “value” retailers, the price of clothing has fallen by as much as 25 per cent, while shoppers have bought almost 40 per cent more garments. This suggests fast fashion may be behind the increase in problem items.”

The article also cites statistics from another report, released by Global Cool, stating that female shoppers spent £11 billion on clothes that were never worn last year.

Fast fashion has created systems that cycle through clothing at a speed impossible for consumers to keep up with, and impossible to produce proper value items.

What an incredible waste.