What you wear matters: Ethical Fashion

As I have been writing my blog, I have tried to be more and more focused on my personal relationship with Jesus and how I can continually work on following my favorite verse of Colossians 3:23.  Again, as a reminder, that verse says, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.”  This following of God can even apply to what we wear on a regular basis. As I have gotten older and I have grown more and more passionate about fighting against human trafficking/modern day slavery, I have fallen more and more in love with ethical fashion.  Sadly, there are many items that are being sold in our world where items are not necessarily made ethically and where the ones who are making the clothing, jewelry, many food items, etc. do not have the adequate working conditions/payment they should be receiving. I have realized that as I am growing closer and closer to God and have a desire to follow him in all ways, I have to care about the miniscule things, and this includes fashion that I am purchasing.

There are many people who don’t think a lot about what they are wearing.  Then there are others that love to take the time of what they wear and really enjoy putting outfits together.  I have always fallen into the second category.  I have always loved to put outfits together, even if some have been crazy.  (Some of my middle school outfits-it’s hard to look back on!)  Therefore taking this time to really think about the clothes that I am wearing and how that can actually impact others has now become a big passion of mine.  Because of this, I am going to take this time in this blog to make sure I talk about ethical fashion and how anyone reading this can also learn more.  The more everyone is aware, the more ethical fashion decisions that are made to create hopefully a world filled with more and more ethical fashion and better working conditions for everybody.    

Some places that I have chosen to shop in regards to Ethical fashion are Dressember’s collection.  Dressember is an organization that I do love with my whole heart and is also a fundraiser that I do yearly.  This is where I wear a dress all throughout the month of December to raise money to end human trafficking.  Not only is this organization a style challenge, but it does have it’s own collection of dresses and a few other items that is made ethically and even has the designer/creator sign their name as they made the dress.  The other great part about Dressember is that they have helped create the Ethical Fashion Directory that lists brands that are made ethically.  With that, they provide encouragement that people will take the time to contact a brand they care about and inquire if or not they have considered making their clothes more ethically or where they get their clothes from and how they are made. 

Another important thing to know about me is that I am a jewelry girl.  I have always loved and adored jewelry.  The best part is that I know about a lot of ethically made jewelry companies.  I, therefore, own a great deal of jewelry that has been made ethically.  These jewelry companies not only are made ethically, but many are also helping to combat modern day slavery.  Some of the things that I have used in the past that I absolutely love are the Starfish project, Bracha, Purpose Jewelry, Threads of Hope, and Anthem.  The cool thing about the last one, Anthem, is that they often write down the name of a woman who has been rescued from human trafficking on the back of either their necklaces or their bracelets.  These pieces of jewelry help raise awareness about the issue of human trafficking as well as raise funds to help end it.  

I do believe that it is very important that we as people of this planet take the time to learn about the issues that are plaguing our world, and one of those issues is then Modern Day slavery. Some of the places that I first went to in order to learn more about modern day slavery and sustainable fashion was a documentary called, “The true Cost.”  This discussed the true cost of fashion, specifically fast fashion, (also known as non-sustainable fashion) that plagues the world of different issues.  These things include chemicals that are plaguing the river and the area of where the clothes are made, the workers not having great working conditions that even created a major fire that people could not get out of, and that the workers would not get paid the money that they had earned.  The fast-fashion industry was at the time of making that documentary, growing and therefore creating a higher demand and even worse working conditions.  As consumers, it is very important to know that our decisions on what we buy has grave impacts on others in the world.  

The other book that I read in order to learn more about ethical fashion was “The Conscious Closet,” by Elizabeth L. Cline.  This book talked about how a person can create both a fashionable and unique closet that makes more conscious decisions and be more sustainable with their fashion that will not necessarily cost a million dollars.  It is very hard to think about spending money on nothing but ethical clothes.  Many of the times, they are not the cheapest finds, so this book helps give techniques to spending less money, and to just having an overall more sustainable and ethically based closet.  

I am so happy that I have taken the time to learn more about ethical fashion and have started the journey to make smarter, sustainable decisions, starting in my closet and then for the rest of the areas in my life.  I know that there are many things that I still need to learn, but I am excited for that opportunity.  My hope is to make a difference in the world and bring about change, especially in ending modern day slavery, even starting with my wardrobe.