I’ve been on a quest to clothe myself ethically for about a year now. This has been a maddening, exhilarating, guilt-inducing, high-producing, damn frustrating yet ultimately rewarding experience. Kind of like a toned-down version of motherhood, minus the unconditional love and endless puke.
Having a baby has seriously weakened my consumer’s resolve as I struggle to locate ethically-sourced clothes for my little girl. When my sister-in-law texted me the other day to ask where I shop for kids’ clothes, a HOT KNIFE OF SEETHING GUILT RENT MY SOUL because I must confess, I haven’t been trying too hard in this area. Oh, I do the token walk-through down the baby section of the thrift store, but if nothing piques my interest, I’m back in the car, driving to H&M before you can say “greenwash!” In a pathetic attempt at preserving itself, my conscience has provided me with a series of cop-outs that I’ve been using to justify all my non-ethical purchases of children’s apparel since April:
But it’s not for me! As any idiot will be able to tell you, the fact that the clothes will be covering a smaller body than mine negates the fact that they were made in a sweatshop!
But they grow out of everything so fast! B is on the 98th percentile for weight, which makes these clothes 98 per cent ethical!
But it’s seasonal! Who can think about the environmental, social or economic ramifications of this garment when the clarion tones of Andy Williams are currently buttering up my little eardrums?
But it’s sooooo cute! This one brings me to the anecdote that inspired this blog in the first place. I was walking through Target to find something for B’s Halloween costume (see excuse no. 3) and revelling smugly in the glow of being a savvy consumer. Look at all these sheep, lining up at the till with their hands full of crap they’ll never– OOOOH!
My heart stopped along with my feet:
Behold the glorious combination of everything I love! Navy! Jersey! Ruffles! Bulldog! I had it in my hands before my brain had time to register the sight. Then I made like Macbeth and figured well, I’m knees-deep in it now, might as well buy it in 2T. Oh, and I also suddenly need this turquoise baby Christmas sweater.
I walked the three pieces of contraband to the checkout counter, produced my debit card and punched in my numbers while scanning the clerk’s face for evidence of judgment because you know, it’s not every day a Target employee sees someone buying something at Target. She broke her eye contact with the ceiling exactly long enough to give me my receipt and I ran out of there like the flames of hades were lapping at my heels.
The Forbidden Garments burned a hole in my living room floor for about 24 hours and then I returned them. And do you want to know what the clerk said when I passed the first shirt back to her?
“You’re returning this? But it’s soooo cute!”
Yep. Excuse number four, ripe for the picking. Every bodily fibre was straining to pluck that peplum right out of her hand and say, “April Fools!” But for the fact that a) my conscience was collapsing in on itself and b) it was not April, I probably would have. But something inside me said I’d feel better without these things, and as I left the store, I felt the iron fist of consumer psychology loosen its grip on me:
Anyway, with the apparent demise of Fashioning Change, it’s up to me to face my cognitive dissonance head-on and find viable alternatives to the clothes I covet. Here’s my first win:
As you can see, it is conspicuously bulldog-bereft, but this pleated empire tunic from Mini Mioche is made in Canada from organic cotton and therefore makes my heart happy. If you’d like me to find an ethical alternative to something you’re after, let me know in the comments section.