Why Pay More?
08 May 2008 by anniep
‘Why pay more?’ ASDA enquires of us, as though we’d be stark raving bonkers to ever shop anywhere else. Despite the rising cost of fuel and food, and the phrase ‘credit crunch’ becoming as familiar as the sound of our own breathing, large retailers are still determined to fill their shelves, and our homes, with cheap ‘stuff’.
‘Why pay more?’ we generous-minded shoppers reply. ‘Maybe because the people who grew or made this item need a fair wage in order to survive and raise their families. Because we don’t want to pollute the planet with ‘nasties’ and if it costs a bit more to buy organic or eco-friendly or fairly traded, well, we’ll do our best.’
That said, ‘ethical shopping’ has never been that clear cut. Many major retailers have cottoned on to the demand for ‘ethical’ goods. Take Primark. Back in 2005, Ethical Consumer Magazine voted them the least ethical clothing chain. The following year Primark became a member of the Ethical Trading Initiative. They now have an organic cotton range. Priced from £4, they’re a classic Primark bargain, but this time with an ‘eco-friendly’ tag. We can even carry our bargain home in an eco-friendly carrier bag!
Browsing through our favourite ‘generous’ style catalogue or website, we’re unlikely to be able to purchase a similar organic item so cheaply. A dilemma presents itself: To buy that organic T-shirt from Primark, and then be ‘generous’ with the money we save. Or to buy it from our small independent ‘ethical’ supplier (Traidcraft, for example) at a higher price, but be more confident about the ethics of the company we’re buying from.
Maybe the ‘generous’ way to shop is to buy less. Taking clothing for example:
- Make the clothes we have last longer (buy good quality)
- Swap with friends
- Buy second hand from eBay, jumble sales, charity shops
- Don’t be a slave to the latest fashions
After all, Every Little Helps!
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08 May 2008
Interesting article by Giles Bolton here http://www.developments.org.uk/articles/trade-secrets on how ethically-minded consumers sometimes don’t realise the virtues of buying ‘cheap’ clothes.
‘Why has there been a boom in cheap clothing in recent years? Mainly because the EU reduced its unfair barriers for textiles against a number of poor countries including Bangladesh, giving them a fairer chance to compete. And that’s exactly what they’ve done – bringing us more affordable clothes as a result. ‘Many people instinctively feel that if our clothes are getting cheaper, workers must be getting more exploited. Yet there’s no logic to assuming that something we buy in an expensive store must be produced in better conditions than its cheaper copy in say, Primark. Unless the shop concerned has a clearly stated policy on their ethical sourcing standards, the likelihood is that conditions are similar for both products and the difference is only in the mark-up. The fact is that there are now more chances for employment in textile factories in Bangladesh and other countries, and people want those jobs.’
Dundee, GB , 08 May 2008
The latest Crafts magazine has a review of and an excerpt from Kate Fletcher’s new book “Sustainable Fashion and Textiles”. I haven’t read the book yet but it is on my birthday wish list. She connects the increase in throw-away fashion with a decline in basic craft skills (like using a needle and thread) and looks at some interesting programmes which try and re-connect people with the clothes they wear. I see Kate Fletcher has a website at http://www.katefletcher.com/ so I am off to see what’s there…
Sheffield, GB , 25 May 2008
My friend has organised two ‘clothes swap’ events – one for ladies clothes and the other for children’s clothes. The idea was that everyone brought along clothes in good condition which they no longer wore or which no longer fitted, we put them on tables round the room according to size, and then went round and took home what we liked. No money was to change hands and things which weren’t claimed either got taken home by their original owner, or sent to charity.
Godalming, GB , 23 Jun 2008
On the subject of Primark, which Annie has raised again in relation to a programme on BBC tv tonight, I think we must realise that cheap clothes are unlikely to be produced in a particularly ethical way.
However, I think there is a dilemma, as people employed in sweatshops need work, and even the families of young children working in ways we might deem inappropriate could be desperate for the few pence they bring home.
There is also my personal problem that I cannot always find fairtrade, organic etc goods that meet my requirements and I’m not sure it is healthy psychologically to be too much of a martyr for any cause.
It seems to me we need to find a balance between buying what we think we need (perhaps reassessing what we really need from time to time) and encouraging fair practises that neither exploit people or the environment in order to produce the goods we need. We have the power to influence this by what we choose to buy, but more has to be done by more people for any significant change to occur.
The Panorama programme tonight is an important step in making more people aware of the damage, which the production of cheap clothing can do to other people.
Godalming, GB , 26 Jun 2008
To qualify the above, I do not think the ends ever justifies dishonesty or irresponsible behaviour. I have been told that the reporters for the Panorama programme, or some of them, may not have behaved very well in order to make the programme.
To my mind, making people aware of the damage caused by poor working conditions, low wages and other bad employment practices must be done in a way that is moral and with the best interests of employees in mind.