Ask Annika - Ethical Fashion

I get a lot of emails from people around the world asking me for help or for my opinion on something. Like, a lot lot. And I often feel bad that I can't respond to every single one of them. However, this particular email is a question I'm asked frequently but often don't respond to just because of the amount of time it would take me to compose a decent response! So I thought that I would finally write that decent response and post it here, so that I can not only point future-emailers in this direction, but also so this can be a resource for people interested in ethical fashion (or really, anyone interested in fashion - #educateyourself!). The answer draws on my experiences and knowledge with ethical fashion that I've gathered over the past 2-and-a-bit years since I've been mostly wearing and only promoting ethical fashion. I hope that someone out there will find this useful! Anyway, on to the question! Don't I look like a legitimate advice-giver? Yes, obviously, is your answer. ...I don't actually wear glasses. Q: Hello Annika, how are you? Last week I had a heated conversation with my boyfriend (that kind of ended up in an argument...) about ethical clothing and shopping.  I told him that after watching documentaries and reading some articles I decided to avoid shopping for big brands and go to charity shops and learn to make my clothes instead. I didn't want to support the unfair treatment of the workers anymore. What he said angered me, but at the same time made me feel a bit hopeless. He said that nothing would change if I stopped shopping for big brands, that those workers would still be treated unfairly. He said that they're working there because a bad job is still better than no job at all in the first place, so I'm contributing to unemployment. And lastly, that if I tried to look for ethical companies, they could be easily lying about their practices. Being vegan I know that one person can make a difference, and no matter how small, a difference in a positive direction is better than no change at all. I know that by avoiding big brands the demand for ethical clothes will be up by one person. But I can't help feeling like this is all for nothing and living where there is literally ONE charity shop it'd be difficult for me to keep on trying... I'm also broke and ethical clothing companies are crazy expensive. So what I'm asking is... can I help change at all? Am I contributing to unemployment? How do I know if a company is actually ethical (h&m was praised for being the most ethical clothing company of 2014 but I don't think it actually is?)? And what can I do if I don't have a lot of money? Rita Serious question-answering-face time. A: Hi Rita, thank you for your email! Let's get straight into it. You. Can. Make. A. Difference. By choosing to not support dodgy companies, you ARE making a difference. When consumers vote with their dollars, and enough people begin to question the companies making their clothes, companies DO change. A big example is Nike. Around 2005, Nike was in the news a lot for their use of child and sweatshop labour to produce their very expensive sports shoes. Consumer pressure and outrage, along with boycotts and a significant drop in sales, forced Nike to increase wages, safety, workers rights and become much more transparent about the labour they were using. To this day, they continue to be transparent about their manufacturing processes and have continued targets to both improve conditions for their workers and sustainability in manufacturing, and face ongoing scrutiny from independent/charity organisations like Oxfam, who place ongoing pressure on Nike through their "Nikewatch". Now, Nike are still not particularly good, and I still wouldn't be comfortable buying from them, but it is an example of consumer pressure leading to rather large changes. Lately, many more companies have also been forced to become more transparent due to consumer demand. It's sad that a massive disaster - the Rana Plaza factory collapse - was the main catalyst for much of this change, when human rights abuses have been ongoing for decades, however the scale of the disaster, allowing it to become a major media story and prominent in the consciousness of consumers in rich countries, HAS led to positive changes all over the fashion world. Companies such as H&M, Cotton On and Kmart (those last two are Australian brands) - all brands that used to be extremely nontransparent and untraceable - have become much more upfront about where their clothes are made, and have started making some moves to improve the lives of workers at every stage of supply. One of the major reasons for those changes is because consumers began to question and boycott those companies. However, they absolutely still have a long way to go, and continuing to question them is the only way they'll continue caring about these issues. Again, you vote with your dollar. (And, since you were wondering, HERE is the lowdown on H&M). I've been trying to shop ethically for the past 2 years now, yet even in that short time I have seen a lot of change in many big companies. Companies are more transparent and the chain of supply is more traceable. But I also feel like there's a lot more smaller, ethical brands available than there were 2 years ago. Ethical fashion companies have lately been able to flourish, where they would have previously been totally excluded from the market, because more people are making more conscious decisions. Your boyfriend's statement, that you might as well support dodgy brands because otherwise "you'll be contributing to unemployment" is, in my opinion, a really crappy worldview to have. "Might as well buy clothes from sweatshops because getting $1 a day is better than nothing!" No. That particular excuse leaves a very bad taste in my mouth. After the Rana Plaza collapse, consumer demand along with protesting of workers forced standards in many Bangledesh clothing factories to be increased. Which, overall, was a positive thing for workers. However, as a result, 35 factories were also forced to close. A number of people would have lost their jobs. But - is that entirely a BAD thing? The closing of those incredibly unsafe factories potentially avoided yet another Rana Plaza disaster. It was bad that a lot of people lost their jobs, but preferable to yet another 1100 people losing their lives. Overall, pressure on companies on large scales has led to positive changes and improved the lives millions of workers, however small those improvements may have been in some places. It may seem to be happening at a frustratingly slow rate, and it's not going to change overnight. However, it is something you can help by both simply being more aware of the issues and choosing where to spend your money. But won't boycotting/refusing to buy clothes from a particularly company actually trickle down and hurt the workers, who will be out of a job because they're no longer making your clothes? Maybe this is where your boyfriend was coming from, and it is a complex issue, but the simple answer is - no. Skeptical face - this is another common justification that I hear for buying from unethical companies. If consumers choose to boycott a company, the company generally then thinks "oh, crap. We need to pay our workers more and be more transparent about our supply. " Just like in the Nike example above. And even if a worker's wages were doubled this isn't going to really hurt either the company OR the consumer, even if all the costs were passed on to consumers. The problem arises when COMPANIES boycott particular factories. So, putting pressure on companies to pull out of particular factories or countries, like China, Bangledesh or Cambodia, is not the right way to go about fixing things because this will indeed cause massive unemployment and hurt those economies. The right way to go about this is putting pressure on companies to improve the conditions at the factories they already use or own. And yes, that can be done by letting them know why you're not shopping there. Vote with your dollars. How do I know if a company is actually ethical? It's true that a lot of companies have "ethical statements" on their websites or in stores, but you're totally right - these are just words. How much of them can you trust? Well, there's actually a number of independent companies and charity organizations that look into these things, especially for bigger brands. There are quite a few resources that can help you to decide where to shop. Shop Ethical and Behind the Barcode are two Australian organisations that I use (they also have some big international brands listed. Internationally, I'm not so sure of good resources so if anybody would like to help out, that's what the comments section is for!). Also, Good On You App is a new app that you can get on your phone, to help you out while you're shopping! These organisations investigate companies and create a "grading system" based on transparency, payment of living wages, traceable suppliers and efforts to avoid or reduce slave/child labor. Where a company's items are made also gives you some indication of the ethics behind them, however just because something says "Made in Australia" or "Made in America" this doesn't immediately qualify a company as ethical. Sweatshops still exist in richer countries. There are still underpaid, overworked home-workers. Many are migrants or illegal immigrants who can't find stable and legal work, and so abuses and underpayment go unreported. Look for things which are certified organic or fair trade, or find out if clothes are being made in a factory, and where that factory is (this will give you some indication if minimum-wage standards are being enforced). Email companies. Tag them on social media posts. Make a fuss. Google the shit out of them. Do your research. This article is full of useful tips on investigating a company if you can't find out much about them online! Oh boy, Annika's getting drunk off her advice-wine - this article has gone on for a very long time. But don't worry - we're almost at the end! What if I don't have a lot of money? As you mentioned, charity shops are a good place to buy clothes from! Besides from not supporting bad manufacturing processes, you're usually supporting charities who pump the money back into the community! However, if you don't have very good charity shops in your area, don't stress - there's still plenty of other options available to you. I've actually created an Ethical Fashion Directory for affordable-but-cute online clothing stores! Go and check those stores out! Perusing market stalls and second-hand-sellers on places like Depop, Etsy and Ebay are also good ways to get cute clothes without giving your money to companies that you'd rather not support. And there's a LOT of people out there trying to sell their old clothes, especially in the age of online shopping! Not all big brands are bad. Do your research. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that an Australian company I quite like, Sportsgirl, is actually pretty damn decent and so I recently bought myself a new pair of overalls and some denim shorts (both things I find difficult to make for myself). While they're slightly more expensive than similar "fast fashion" chains, the items are much better made and will last a lot longer. So really, I'm saving myself money in the long term. This leads me to my next point, which is learning to appreciate quality over quantity. Buying a $5 shirt which will fall apart at the seams in a matter of months might save you money in the short term, but won't save you in the long term. You're much better off purchasing quality items that will last, instead of having to buy new clothes every couple of months and throw out your old ones, because they're not even good enough to donate to charity stores. It's both better for your wallet and better for the planet. You can, of course, make your own clothes and learn how to repair clothes to extend their lives. And, of course, my youtube channel exists (along with thousands of other tutorials on the internet) to help you to learn how to do that! ;) And remember, moral absolutism in any form is not really achievable. Most people cannot ensure that everything they wear is 100% percent ethical, and that's okay. Don't beat yourself up about it. Not everybody is going to be ABLE to purchase ALL of their clothing from ethical brands, either due to costs, limited accessibility or time constraints. You don't HAVE to cut yourself off from cheap fashion entirely - some things are really hard to find secondhand, cheap & ethical, or to make for yourself such as handbags, backpacks, shoes, socks and bras. And as you said, a small change in a positive direction is better than no change at all! You'll probably also even inspire the people around you to make more conscious decisions as well, which will have a knock-on effect of causing more companies to care about these issues - so the effect will be larger than you think! Lastly, just in case you didn't notice all my linking to it before, Clean Clothes Campaign is a super useful resource for understanding the issues behind "going ethical" with fashion. All the best - keep questioning the world around you and keep being awesome! Cheers! Bloglovin' | Youtube | Facebook | Twitter |  Instagram | Chictopia | Lookbook | Tumblr

Floral Fifties | Sewing Room Update!

Hello blog! So although I moved in to my new place more than a month ago, I've still only got about half of the studio organised. However, it's starting to look pretty cute, so I thought it was time for some progress photos. One wall still has a couple of unpacked boxes and piles of fabric sitting up against it, so we'll just ignore that wall for this little tour. Let's begin over on this wall - my workspace! I managed to fit two desks here - the one on the left is for sewing, and the one of the right is for blogging/video-editing/doing uni work! There's also a smattering of art from some of my favourite artists on the wall - Lauren Carney, Mel Stringer, Hungry Designs, Ahcahcum Muchacha and Miss Nikki all make an appearance. I still have a lot more art to put up, although I think I might leave this wall as it is! My two babies ;__; But this is probably my favourite part of the sewing room for its sheer colourfulness. Now that I finally have a space of my own, I can display all my kitschy knickknacks, handmade bits and pieces, and my growing collection of Adventure Time memorabilia and fan art, without having to worry that I'm oppressing my housemates with my obnoxious choice of home decor. Like these chattering teeth, that were a moving-in gift to myself. Perusing Ebay late at night can sometimes be very dangerous. But I have no regrets with this one! Finally, somewhere to store my vast collection of Japanese magazines! These are Zipper & Cutie magazines from 2014-2015, plus a print by Mel Stringer. A Wishcandy canvas bag is featured at the back of this cube, and there's a print by Tori Rose Wright in the foreground. The ice cream and the bunny are both kid's nightlamps (and yes, they light up), and the three foxes at the front are pencil sharpeners. But this thing actually does serve a more important function: it also stores all of my crafting stuff, and half of my fabric! Organising all my craft stuff was a big goal of this studio space. In my previous house, things were just thrown into random drawers, buttons chucked underneath desks, fabric stuffed into bookcases - and it was all impossible to use. So to organise all my craft stuff neatly, I was inspired to make these dividers for the drawers of this storage cube. To make these, I simply measured each drawer, then cut strips of cardboard from the millions of boxes I accumulated while moving house, wrapped it in polka-dot wrapping paper, stuck them in with some tape, and there you have it! DIY drawer dividers! Now I can separate out my buttons and threads from my elastics and glues! It makes crafting SO much easier when I can actually find the things I need. If you have a craft space that's all over the place - get it organised, because it's so worth it. Even if you only have a corner of a room for crafting, invest in some good storage shelves or lots of adhesive hooks (if you're in a rental like me), and stick all your stuff to the wall. I'm still trying to figure out a better way to store my fabrics (rather than just throwing them in the bottom of the cubes). If you have any ideas, where I can both store my fabric neatly AND still be able to see it, please share them with me! Now, if you'll allow me, I need to spend a minute talking about this gorgeous dress!  When I buy clothes, there's a couple important things I look out for: 1. Is it ethically made? 2. Do the models on the website/in the shop represent a diversity of both body types and ethnicities? 3. And, will this piece of clothing require me to iron it every time I wear it? I'm happy to report that Karina Dresses pass all three criteria. They're made in Brooklyn and Massachusetts, the workers being paid a living wage and the fabric ethically-sourced from LA; they're one of the most impressive companies for representing diversity that I've ever seen; and lastly, you never ever have to iron these dresses - they're totally crease-proof. Which makes me happy, because ironing is way too much effort and I basically end up abandoning skirts and dresses that have to be ironed every time they're worn. This dress is also perfect for taking traveling, because it won't get crushed in a suitcase. In addition to all that good stuff, they're made with these pretty vintage-style silhouettes and fabrics. The style that I'm wearing, the "Kate" dress, has a late 50s/early 60s silhouette and fit - which is one of my absolute favourite styles for dresses! And I can never go past a good floral print. Outfit details Dress c/o Karina Dresses ("Kate" style) (also see here) Petticoat is thrifted Brooch from Bok Bok B'Gerk Shoes c/o the side of the road ;) - don't worry, I cleaned them first Lots and lots of love! Bloglovin' | Youtube | Facebook | Twitter |  Instagram | Chictopia | Lookbook | Tumblr

Being an Ethical Shopper & Peng Chau Pier / Ten Percent of the Brain

dress is Liz Lisa | cardigan is from Hong Kong (id:c) | socks are from market stalls | shoes are Naot | necklace is handmade from Hong Kong (HKID gallery) I'm actually amazed that I ended up with enough decent photos to make this blog post, because it was SO cold and windy while we were taking these photos on Peng Chau pier that 90% of the photos ended up like this: Good look there, Annika. I had such angst about purchasing this dress. There were many pros: it's the cutest damn dress I've ever laid my eyes upon, from one of my favourite Japanese brands who own a store in Hong Kong AND it was half price!  But the angst was caused by a number of cons, which included the following: one, it's made out of really thick material and is NOT suitable for Sydney summer. Two, I'm pretty sure it's actually a top because it's hella short - although I can always wear it with cute shorts underneath, and pretend that it's a dress anyway. However the most troubling thing about this dress, and the thing that stopped me from buying it immediately, was that I had no idea where it was made - which could have meant that it was made in a sweatshop. Cue 4 long hours of research to find out where the dress originated (that entire saga is documented on my instagram feed). Basically, though, I'm 99% positive that this dress was made in a decent factory, and 100% sure that it was NOT made in a sweatshop. Same goes for the piano cardigan. And I am so happy. Because this dress is now the cutest thing that I own and I can't wait to wear it all winter long in Sydney! Also - location shot! These photos were all taken on the gorgeous Peng Chau island, just south of the busy city. Peng Chau has the most adorable villages with kitsch buildings and gardens galore, and many small, secluded beaches! If it hadn't been so cold, it would have been paradise - but it was still a fun place to explore, nonetheless. So I'm both very excited and nervous to share this all with you - myself and my partner Luci (who has appeared on my blog exactly once previously) have started a podcast! The podcast, called Ten Percent of the Brain, is all about examining popular misconceptions in science, biology and the body. We really enjoyed making this and want to do more in the future! Have a little listen to our first episode (or subscribe in iTunes!) and please let us know what you think of it - as this is a new thing we're just trying out, your feedback would mean the world to us! And if you have any pieces of received wisdom that you're a bit suspicious about, then please feel free to suggest them as a topic for a future episode. Much love, and I hope that you're all having a gorgeous day, Bloglovin' | Youtube | Facebook | Twitter |  Instagram | Chictopia | Lookbook | Tumblr

Fashion Revolution

Everything is thrifted, except for socks (though you can DIY your own) Who made your clothes? It might seem like a simple question, but have you ever really thought about it? It can feel like clothes begin their lives on hangers in shiny shopping malls, and from there they make a quick trip to our wardrobes (or in the case of online shopping, they magically appear on our doorsteps). It's a fact of our lives, how we were raised, to not give a thought about the life of our clothes before they end up in our stores. Depending on the brand, your clothes may have come from any number of countries all over the world. However it's a sad fact that most labels who source their clothes from relatively poor countries don't provide a living wage to their workers (i.e. enough for that worker to be able to buy food, basic entertainment and live in decent housing). Many companies don't even know exactly who makes their clothes, because the chain of work becomes buried in subcontract after subcontract - and sadly, many are linked with forced and child labour. Image by Fashion Revolution To mark the 1 year since the Rana Plaza factory collapse, when an unsafe clothing factory in Bangladesh caved in killing 1133 garment makers, tomorrow (April 24th) is Fashion Revolution Day. Fashion Revolution Day believes that fashion has the potential to be a force for good in the world (something I wholeheartedly agree with!) And as both lovers and consumers of fashion we have the power to change how it's done. By asking "who made my clothes?" and refusing to buy from retailers who cannot or will not answer that question, we can make a difference - we can start making brands be accountable for the rights of their workers, and start providing safe working conditions and living wages. How you can contribute to the fashion revolution Choose thrifting over fast fashion Find your nearest charity stores and go nuts. Yes, at some point, some of these clothes could have been made using forced or unethical labour. But these clothes have already been bought by someone else, and so your money never goes to the retailers who originally sold the item and does not in any way support their practices, good or bad. In fact, secondhand stores prevent these clothes from going into landfill! Plus, the money you spend on these clothes usually goes into charities that help disadvantaged people. I pretty much exclusively buy my clothes from thrift shops. Not only is it hella cheap, it satisfies that fast-fashion-urge and allows you stay on-trend, as you can basically find anything you need if you know where and how to look! (If you guys are interested in a thrifting-tips video, then I may be able to provide! Let me know in the comments.) Who made my clothes?? I made my clothes! You guys have seen all my DIY tutorials, right?? In that case, you probably already know that I'm a big advocate of making your own clothes. I'm trying to figure out how to make my own entire wardrobe, and this blog has documented much of that process! p.s. Get your fabrics from thrift stores, or make sure that it's certified fair trade. One of the most unaccountable processes of the fashion supply chain is in the production of raw materials. Buy ethically. Sometimes you might have to shell out a bit of extra cash to buy ethically. But it turns out that you don't even have to do that. Last year I did a bunch of research and compiled an Ethical Fashion Directory of super cute, cheap and ethically-sourced clothing and accessories. Do your research Educate yourself! Not all brands are evil, but it's good to know which ones to be wary of. Free2Work is a fantastic site listing many large retailers (such as Zara, H&M, Forever 21 and Target) and how they compare to each other on matters like accountability, transparency and worker's rights. Spread the word. April 24th is Fashion Revolution day! You can show your support by wearing your clothes #insideout (okay, so I might not personally do this one because a) I have a psychologist's appointment tomorrow and I think that would probably worry them and b) I am also going to a waterpark and wearing a swimsuit inside-out is not ever a good idea) but the idea is to share your #insideout photo on twitter or instagram, with the name of the brand, i.e. I want to know who made my [@brandname] dress etc #insideout You can also take the opportunity to post something to your facebook page, talk to your friends, or even send messages to clothing companies asking them "who makes your clothes?" Companies will change if enough of its consumers demand it - otherwise they'll go out of business! I hope that you're all having an amazing day, Bloglovin' | Youtube | Facebook | Twitter |  Instagram | Chictopia | Lookbook | Tumblr

Emulation

Sometimes I find an outfit that I really like, and become obsessed with recreating it with as much accuracy as possible. Sure, this can be a fairly easy task with the availability of wholesale sites that spew out fast-fashion as quickly as the trends change, but if you've been reading my blog for a while you'll know that I am very much opposed to this form of cheap-and-nasty consumerism. So, in order to recreate this outfit, I had to get out there and do some work! The sweater was a super lucky op-shop find, spotted after an hour of searching through bins of second-hand clothing (in fact, Katie actually spotted this one - she knows my style so well). Then I found these boots second-hand for $4 - the two shoes were at entirely different ends of the store so I felt pretty damn accomplished by actually finding both of them. The soles of both shoes were also falling off (hence the $4 price tag) but I fixed this with some super-glue - now they're good as new! However, my outfit was still incomplete without a full gingham skirt, and I wasn't able to find one anywhere, so I made one with leftover fabric from my smock dress! Anyway, it was a mash-up of these two sporty-schoolgirl-from-the-50s outfits, from the March 2014 issue of Zipper magazine, that I was determined to emulate: How do you think I did? Sweater and boots are thrifted | skirt is handmade by me | headband is from Japan Seeing as we're talking about emulation (which means to "duplicate or copy"), I thought that I would talk about this incredible work being done in synthetic biology (which is essentially the science of emulating nature)! Synthetic biology is really exciting because it means that creatures that have gone extinct might not be extinct forever! Now if you're not really sure about what DNA or chromosomes are, go here to read my post explaining them, then come back. Yeast cells under a microscope (image source) A team of international researchers have successfully created the first synthetic eukaryotic chromosome! This means that they built a long piece of DNA, with a very similar code to an organism (yeast) entirely from scratch. This is a world-first for eukaryotic chromosomes (yeast, plants and animals are all eukaryotes). The entire piece of DNA is 272,871 "letters" long and had to be "stitched together" from much smaller fragments to create the finished product. The researchers were then able to put the chromosome back into the yeast cell - and the yeast cells worked perfectly normally! But one of the really awesome things is that this work was largely done by science students who are around my age! Anyone who says that "generation Y is dumb, lazy and apathetic" really doesn't know young people at all. You can read the entire news story at Nature here (and a summary here). Bloglovin' | Facebook | Twitter |  Instagram | Chictopia | Lookbook | Tumblr