It's a long fall from the top of my soapbox

I started to post a "Would You Wear That Wednesday" entry today, but something is weighing heavily on me again. Thanks to my Facebook news feed, I discovered the rabbit hole that is Upworthy and all of the videos posted on it. As I was skimming through them and deciding which ones to watch, I started seeing a lot about the fashion industry, particularly about the Bangladeshi tragedy and the use of child labor, and quite honestly, it made me so mad-  at the industry,at consumers, and at myself. I made two commitments in May and July to only shop thrift stores and then to stop shopping from August until the end of this year. I haven't kept either of those commitments, and I've completely buried the anger that I felt that this "hobby" of mine is killing people. It's not just garment factory collapses, fires, etc, but it's also the pollution from the chemicals used to dye garments and the ruin of land/water in places like China. Also, people in these countries don't have hope. I can't imagine having a child who only has the option of working in a garment factory for the rest of her life and earning something crazy like $45 a month for working 6 days a week, 12 hours a day. This injustice has just been weighing on me.

I am blessed. I was blessed enough to have been born into a loving family, marry a wonderful man, and have fantastic in-laws. My husband and I aren't rich by any means, but even our worst day is probably better than some of these people's best day. (I know I'm making a huge overgeneralization here, and I can't even begin to know about their happiness levels, but this is just my perspective). I'm a Christian, and I'm trying to live my life according to biblical principles, and yet I support this industry that literally kills people. What Would Jesus Do, indeed?

I didn't mean to get on a soapbox here or go off on a complete rant, but I think that it's past time that I fully commit and dedicate myself to this cause. I want to do so many things to help balance the scale of injustice, and this is a great place to start since this is my hobby and passion (to a certain extent). I don't quite know what my next step is, but I know I need to do some restructuring and go back and see what else I said I was going to do so I can recommit myself to it. Also, I don't want to completely give up the fun aspects of this blog or quit enjoying reading other people's blogs or become a comment troll who quotes horrifying fashion industry statistics on people's blogs (the Internet equivalent of throwing paint on a fur coat...ha ha). I just want to be a more socially responsible consumer and help make a difference in these people's lives however I can.

Does anyone have any suggestions of where I can start? As a librarian, I've already done some research and have ideas about where to look for more information, but any information that people have already gathered would be really helpful!

Also, if I haven't lost you yet, thank you for reading. I may have gone a little overboard here, but I just wanted to get everything out. I'll be back Friday with more awkward pictures and references to the weekend. =)

Heavy Heart

I kind of live under a rock. My husband and I don't really watch, read, partake in the news. I'm an ignorant citizen, and I'm more okay with that than I should be. However, the news of the recent garment factory collapse in Bangladesh made its way into my blog feed, and it's hit me...hard. To know that over 1,100 people have died because people like me insist on having cheap clothes is just too much for me.

I've read Overdressed, and to be honest, I completely disregarded what she had said just days after finishing it. I love clothes. I love to shop. I love a bargain. I've never even purchased anything from some of the popular blogger stores like J Crew or Madewell because I have never wanted to pay too much for my clothes. As a result, my closets are stuffed with cheap and low quality goods that were probably made by people similar to those who were killed. This is weighing on me really heavily.

So, what should I do?

I've been doing some research (because that's what librarians do, yo), and a lot of the companies that offer ethically made clothing (i.e., clothes produced in humane conditions where the producers are paid more than minimum wages), but to be frank, it's expensive. If I have to choose between buying groceries or a skirt, groceries are going to win every single time. Plus, I've never been a big fan of buying online without being able to try things on, and a lot of these places are only online or don't have stores in my area.

I also looked at companies that produce items in the United States. I did find one company that has a store relatively close to me. Unfortunately, once I looked on their website (the clearance section of course since the regularly priced merchandise was still to expensive for me), I found a couple of shirts that expressed messages that I, a conservative Christian from the South, didn't agree with, so I decided that I didn't want to give that company my money.

So, again, what should I do?

For now, I'm turning to thrifting. I've always loved Goodwill and other thrift stores in my area, and I think this is a great opportunity for me to really go out and explore what my region has to offer. I'm also going to work on cutting down the blogs I read, particularly those who seem to embrace fast fashion and really looking at how others have tackled this issue. Three blogs that I can think of off the top of my head that are great examples of this are October Rebel, Thrifted Shift (who is unfortunately on a blogging break), and Thrift Eye (who just wrote a great post about this topic). I think you can still find great, trendy pieces from thrifting. I also think this will be a great chance for me to refine my style since I won't be able to just pick up anything from whatever store I want to. Oh, and there's the whole money saving aspect, which will definitely help my little family!

This is just the start for me, and there are still a lot of other things I need to change, but I'd like to think that this is putting me on the right path to help making a difference. Anyone have any tips or similar experiences? I'd love to hear them!