I am not a particularly fashionable person… most of the time. I certainly can make an effort, and I do enjoy looking at other people’s fashion blogs, I pretty much get on a base level what goes into making an outfit cute versus thrown together. I usually spend more of my time making clothes than putting together nice outfits. But I have a lot of admiration for women who do a good job of dressing themselves. It is an art, and a creative pursuit worthwhile in and of itself.
A big reason why I don’t spend too much time collecting clothes, curating a wardrobe, and then wearing (and photographing!) nice outfits is that I have a hard time getting on board with and supporting the fashion and garment industry in general. The recent factory collapse in Bangladesh has brought these issues, once again, into the spotlight. I know it’s complicated. Ysolda Teague wrote a very insightful post about the ethics of clothing, and how making ethical choices when it comes to buying hand made, second hand, or factory made clothing is never black and white. It is all a balancing act in figuring out what best lines up with one’s own personal moral stance, their ability to afford any given article of clothing, the time they have available to make or mend (not to mention learn how to make or mend) their clothes, their professional position, and a plethora of other factors.
What it really comes down to for me is that whether or not purchasing clothes manufactured in third world countries benefits the people working in those factories by providing them with jobs, there are so many middle men in that whole scheme that I can’t help being weary. When I buy something handmade, I know exactly who it is who is profiting the most from the labor put into the handmade item—the person (or small company) I am buying it from.
That is certainly not to say that when one chooses to make their own clothes or buying handmade items they are exempt from exploitation of labor in distant countries. In knitting, for example, you may have a ball of yarn made in Italy. And this doesn’t necessarily mean that the wool was from a sheep living in Italy, sheared by an Italian employee, processed, spun, dyed and labeled at an Italian Factory. In fact, the chances are pretty good that the only things that actually happened in Italy were the last two or three. The wool may have been imported to Italy from China, processed, then sent to America. Think about that carbon footprint! Meanwhile, every step of the way that ball of yarn takes from the time the farmer births the sheep to the time you pick it up off the shelf, there is a price. And every step the next person buys it off the last, that price gets marked up, until it finally reaches it’s retail price (which is usually double the wholesale, which is about 30-40% up from the milling cost, etc etc all the way down.) So much money is spread out over so many people. All for a ball of wool that may end up costing about 1/3 of what one that was grown, processed, and shipped from within the US. Everyone is profiting along the way, including that original farmer, but how much are they profiting? Is it really worth it in the end? It’s head spinning all the things you could think about, and that’s not even getting into fabric and sewing.
Like I said, even making things by hand is far from a perfect system. There are just as many decisions that can come into play when buying materials as there can be buying a fully finished garment. However, you still have a lot of control in the situation, and you can still make choices to buy, for example, domestic yarn for your next sweater, or organic cotton for your next dress. It will be more expensive, but often times still a more affordable, not to mention customized, option than buying a finished garment made from those same materials in an ethical way.
I very rarely buy new clothes any more, because it just doesn’t feel right to me. I can’t (currently) afford most of the higher end, arguably more ethical clothing options, and I just really don’t believe I could justify buying cheaper clothes that don’t line up with my personal morals, no matter how cute I find them to be. I don’t fault other people for buying their clothes, just like I don’t fault other people for not being vegetarians. Everything really comes down to what works for you personally, and what works for one person is bound to make another person miserable or outright indignant and angry. I’m also not perfect when it comes to making my clothes. I don’t think perfect exists. Particularly with sewing especially, I doubt the fabric I use is much better ecologically or sociologically than the clothes one can buy from inexpensive retailers. With knitting I mostly only buy natural and domestically processed fibers these days, but I have certainly indulged in inexpensive plastic or plastic coated yarns in the past, and will probably occasionally do so in the future. Also, the reason I can spend so much time making my clothes is because I have chosen to live a lifestyle that doesn’t require me to work at a regular job more than a few hours a week. I couldn’t expect most people to be happy living in the way that I do, and therefore I wouldn’t expect most people to have the extra time to spend on crafting a handmade wardrobe to the extent I might be able to.
What this all comes down to, for me, is this:
I prefer handmade clothes because overall their production is the most in line with my personal moral beliefs. I enjoy the process of making things, and I want to support others who are making a living doing something they enjoy. I believe in strengthening local economies, and the more local I can get with my purchases, even in materials, the better. And I love love love encouraging and empowering others to be able to make their own things and buy as local as possible, if they have an interest in doing so.