Times are changing

My new blazer is my favorite piece of clothing right now. I love that it's spring and that I can wear my summer shoes and a blazer instead of my winter jacket. Lately I've been happy to see change in our society as well, and not just in the weather. I've noticed that some clothing brands have started making more and more of their clothes in countries with laws that require fair trade.

JCrew sells my favorite summer shoes, the Cece ballet flats, they are Made in Italy. I bought my new blazer from Zara this spring, it's Made in Spain. I'm hoping to see more clothing brands take responsibility in the future and start supporting fair trade rather than continue to make their clothing in factories that have child workers and other types of unethical labor. I'm proud to see many Canadian brands focus on making a lot of their products in Canada. Le Chateau is one brand that has a whole collection of clothes that are Made in Canada. I was also happy to read about the new Swedish clothing brand Miss Clarity that make all their clothing in European countries to ensure that the clothes are Fairtrade.

We like to shake our heads at our ancestors who supported slavery and we think that we are so much better people than them. Are we really? I don't know about you but I have a lot of clothes in my closet that are made in countries that I know use child workers and pay their workers very little money. I'm not okay with that. I'm not okay with supporting child labor and modern day slavery.

My goal is to buy more and more of my clothes from countries that accept only fair trade labor. The clothing brands that care about fair trade will be the brands that I choose. I don't care if my clothes have a designer label or are made by H&M, the only label I care about is the one that reveals where the piece of clothing was made. It's not a coincidence that our world lacks justice for all today, us in the West can buy cheap clothing because other countries continue to sell us products that were made under unethical labor standards. What we shop and how we shop will determine how the clothing industry continues to do business in the future.

Made in Canada

We are all aware of the fact that slavery still exists and that a lot of what we buy in a year has been made by child labor and other forms of unethical labor. We can buy Fairtrade coffee and foods but I find it really hard to buy clothing without indirectly supporting child labor and slavery. There are some good Fairtrade clothing brands out there like People Tree for example, but it's hard to put together a whole wardrobe of clothes from these small brands with very few pieces of clothing to choose from.

I like to take a look at the tags of the clothes I wear to become more aware of how they were made. I'm happy to see that some of the big brands are starting to sell more and more clothes that have been made in countries where slavery and child labor is illegal. Many Canadian brands make their winter coats in Canada which is great.

I was happy to buy my black winter coat which is "Made in Canada" at Le Chateau last fall. Le Chateau also has a whole collection of clothes that are Made in Canada for sale in their online store. J Crew is another brand I like because they sell some things made in countries that require all labor to be Fairtrade. I like to buy my flats from J Crew that are Made in Italy. I hope to see more brands offer clothing for sale that was made under ethical labor standards in the near future. I want to be able to shop clothes, shoes and jewelry that help people get a better life, not stuff that keep people in slavery.