Comment by martapiotrowska

August 25, 2007 @ 10:03 am

I read an article recently about eco bags, most of the fashion designers start including them in their new collections.

Comment by forzana

August 25, 2007 @ 1:45 pm

Hmm! Be skeptical! This, which I can only describe as a fad, is ’so over’ in the UK. They’ve had A LOT of criticism over here, particularly because they’ve been flown in from LEDCs (south-east asia, I believe) which clocks up air miles & is therefore not very eco-friendly at all. Also, one of the other main criticisms was that they’re made in sweatshops. Therefore, those bags are not friendly AT ALL.

Comment by martapiotrowska

August 25, 2007 @ 4:29 pm

Forzana, if we cared about sweatshops and ecology we would have to stop wearing clothes, stop buying plane tickets and start living on a farm producing our own food. Sweatshops obviously are bad but what is the alternative? Are you willing to pay more for everything or perhaps would you like Asia to turn into another Africa where people die of starvation?

Comment by forzana

August 25, 2007 @ 5:00 pm

It’s not just in Asia where producers and workers aren’t getting fair wages. To give them a decent wage (to enable them to have a decent standard of living in their country) would not susbtantially cut profits of the bigger multinationals/corporations. We’re in a priviledged position to have minimum wages and a government that ultimately looks out for us, regardless of any yells we might make about such governments becoming nanny states.

Your own view is naive — the only alternative you have provided to buying such unethical products is to boycott, which is an ignorant way to be looking at such a matter and shows exactly why the retail industry thinks it’s consumers are idiots, which is partly why they can do anything without any consequences. A better thing to do would be to support the workers who are slaving away, doing 40-hour weeks just to ensure that they can get by until the next wage packet, who lack the basic rights that we take for granted (pregnant women getting sacked or having NO maternity leave, sick days & compassionate leave!). How? Buy the products, but equally, actively demand more from the companies whose products and services you are buying and using. Regardless, my point was that in the UK the companies who produced this product have been marketing it as unethical. That is precisely why the media went down on them for being utter hypocrites, otherwise the media may have just voiced their concerns with regards to sweatshops and the environment in general without relating it to the marketing of this specific product as ‘ethical’ & ‘eco-friendly’. At least Topshop doesn’t pretend to be what it’s not and cannot be criticised for it.

Comment by forzana

August 25, 2007 @ 5:03 pm

Argh, sorry, corrections:
1)shows exactly why the retail industry thinks treats it’s consumers like idiots

2) Regardless, my point was that in the UK the companies who produced this product have been marketing it as unethical, as well as eco-friendly.

Comment by martapiotrowska

August 25, 2007 @ 5:35 pm

“A better thing to do would be to support the workers who are slaving away” that’s BS. Where do you live? on Mars?

I mean it’s a great suggestion but an impossible thing to do. There are people who earn far too much money to give up on that.

Comment by Exhilim

August 25, 2007 @ 6:08 pm

“doing 40-hour weeks just to ensure that they can get by until the next wage packet”

I do just wanna say - without interrupting this interesting debate - I live in Western Europe, I work 40 hour weeks - and I’m struggling to get by until my new wage packet. It’s not just the preserve of those living in developing countries.

Comment by forzana

September 5, 2007 @ 12:18 pm

Exhilim: don’t know how but I typed that all wrong. I intended on doing a comparison for a busy ‘Western’ working week (40 hrs max), except I seem to have never made it. We have a minimum wage in place, as well as extra money for working overtime. We can ask for a raise without consequences, we can question the health and safety of our workplace (even sue!) without consequence and we can question our authority to a degree that sweatshop workers can only dream of. They work on average 15-20 hours per day, 5 days a week. If we use 15 hrs, that makes 75 hrs (5 days)… That’s often from 5am until late in the evening and it applies to children as young as 9. Average wages seem to be $0.06- 0.08 cents an hour.
[ http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2127247,00.html ]

I don’t deny that it’s not just as a preserve of developing countries, but I’m betting that your situation isn’t nearly as bad. To you, struggling for a next paypacket means you’ve got to pay for electricity, gas, a tv license, a computer/laptop, rent for a place of your choice, the luxury clothing you have made by them… you can still affort it somewhat, even on credit. Many garment workers live in accomodation owned (often in slums or in slum-like conditions) by the factory owners, normally with many other people in a small room, or in a tiny house of their own without all the mod-cons that we enjoy. It’s not difficult to see who’s living a harder life & for what? Material possessions that we so willingly chuck away when we realise what a huge fashion mistake they are or when they’re no longer in trend.

This can relate back to the environment — chucking things away without giving a thought to what happens. What’s happening is that our landfills are being filled up at too high a rate. Not only that, but textile workers often work with toxic, synthetic and non-biodegradable materials (dyes, etc). Green credentials? Not for that product, that’s for certain. Not only that, but retailers and supermarkets aren’t only shafting the workers, but consumers as well. Guess who’s laughing all the way to the bank?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/supermarkets/story/0,,2127241,00.html

http://www.waronwant.org/fashionvictims

Comment by forzana

September 5, 2007 @ 1:32 pm

\’“A better thing to do would be to support the workers who are slaving away” that’s BS. Where do you live? on Mars?

I mean it’s a great suggestion but an impossible thing to do. There are people who earn far too much money to give up on that.\’

Err, that\’s utter shite spewing from your fingers there. Is it my use of the word slaving away? Oh, I forget, they earn a wage & weren\’t tied up and transported overseas, so it doesn\’t constitute as slaving away, but hell it\’s equivalent to it. I\’m sorry, I didn\’t realise doing 75 hr weeks for $o.o8 cents an hour was considered to be \’normal\’ and \’luxurious\’.

Err, far too much money? I don\’t know what rosy image you have of factory workers, because they\’re definately not lucky anough to sit down during a non-existent break on non-existent Ikea sofas like we can. The only reason they work there at all is because it\’s a better option than watching your family go hungry because you can\’t afford to buy food to eat every day, or watching them become ill through illnesses that are deemed \

Comment by Keisha

September 5, 2007 @ 1:33 pm

Forzana your comment was well stated, and brings an interesting reality check. I do believe my Jimmy Choo fund will be better served going to the homeless in my community rather than on my feet.

Comment by forzana

September 5, 2007 @ 2:02 pm

This blog is so difficult to comment on, silly backward slashes :(

Anyway, i’ve pasted my comment on my LJ

The thing is - go and buy your JC shoes, if you want to! If they’re going to be worn regularly & will therefore be worthwhile, then buy it. It’s sometimes better to than to buy three cheap pairs that will end up in the tip in less than a month. Weigh the value of things out. It’s sad, but all of this is just because we want to look good for a fickle fashion-inspired society. We might say “urgh, what was she wearing?” if we someone wearing hideous clothing, but who cares?! We get over it every day!

Just be aware of where it’s made, how it’s made and the business practises of that retailer. Read up about these topics — the products we buy affect economies, environments and the lives of people from other countries, in MEDCs and LEDCs. Waste less: stop buying and throwing things away just because you can. Be a smarter consumer, check labels, join campaigning groups or show support for them. Donate £10/15 EU/ $20 every so often - it’s the price of a necklace from Topshop, but it can help a lot be it to people in need in your own city/country or workers in LEDCs. That’s the underlying point I’m trying to make to Marta, which she seems to have missed.

Comment by Keisha

September 5, 2007 @ 2:24 pm

I read your comment in lj. I hope you don\’t mind if I add you. I’m favorite_child :-D

Comment by martapiotrowska

September 5, 2007 @ 5:58 pm

Thank for Quoting me on your LJ Forzana …

*roll eyes*

Comment by martapiotrowska

September 5, 2007 @ 6:00 pm

oh and maybe instead of posting comments you should go and save the world… or plant some trees , alternatively adopt some children from Africa