Up@dawn 2.0

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

You Are What You.....Wear? (#8 / Morgan Massey / Installment 1/3)

Growing up I always loved clothes. I can remember as a small child walking through department stores and feeling as though I was in a wonderland. My closet was always full of clothes, and I was always wanting things I didn't have. I loved flipping through fashion magazines and getting new ideas of what to wear and what to buy next. My mother always claimed I had a "champagne taste on a beer budget" as  I would pine after designers and name brands. As a teenager one of my favorite ways to spend my time was at the mall with friends spending hours upon hours trying things on and buying new clothes. I also discovered a whole world of fashion blogs (before the days of Instagram), where women would document their outfits and list where they purchased every article of clothing, making it easy to purchase exactly what they were wearing.

I never once considered that something I saw as so beautiful, an artistic expression even, would have such a hideous dark side. 



"The only good is knowledge, and the only evil is ignorance." 
- Herodotus

Every time I bought something from one of my favorite stores, I was contributing to the deplorable treatment of garment workers overseas. Every shirt dress, pair of jeans I purchased was stitched together by a woman who was being imprisoned in a cruel and vicious cycle of poverty, all because of these purchases. I always heard the term "sweatshops" growing up, but I never really knew what it was exactly or where and when it occurred. I was ignorant enough to believe they were a thing of the past or that they only existed in third world countries and America had absolutely no part in sustaining them.  Through the mindless consumption of Americans, innocent women are paying a heavy price every single day. If we do not wake up and open our eyes, these women will continue to suffer as we simultaneously destroy the planet, and destroy the health of otherwise healthy individuals. 


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