Hello loves,
I have another topic I'd like to chew over with you today - Is there a place for morals in fashion?
You might know at some time or another I've sworn off Primark (for refusing to cough up for a compensation fund for the Rana Plaza textile factory disaster, they coughed up, I resumed shopping there), Matalan (same), New Look Inspire (for getting rid of loads of their Inspire plus size sections) and Simply Be (for seeming to prioritise thin women over fat women with their sizing of late.)
Do these companies give a shit if someone like me boycotts them? Of course not. I'm just one woman. I'm a dewdrop less in a raging sea of money floating into their gaping maws. But how many consumers actually care about the conditions and pay of the workers who make our clothes? How many people genuinely care if there are enough clothes available for people larger than them? Is there any point at all in giving a shit about things like this?
For the record, I don't think I went about my boycott of Simply Be in the right way. I still have absolutely no intention of shopping with them, and with a £600 bill to pay off (the interest rate of which has me paying over a third of each bill in interest alone) that's probably going to take the next couple of years. That ought to harden my resolve. ;) I think an open letter would've been a better way to have dealt with my feelings. Why? Because swearing off publicly is a done deal, end of the conversation and saying 'You disappoint me' is (hopefully) the start of a conversation. I'm not saying if I had written Simply Be an open letter they'd have deigned to give me a reply because I'm under no illusions about my status in the blogging world, but it would've been a start. You can change something from the inside a lot more easily than you can by shouting over the wall.
Perhaps a question I might ask myself is why do I care if companies shit on their workers and/or their loyal customers? I just do. I'm a bleeding heart who just happens to love fashion, but if I carry on caring so much I'll soon have nowhere left to shop. ;)
I'm still disgruntled with New Look too but since I'm a tight bitch and my options are limited I've sinned! I bought something from them (via ASOS, because free next day delivery with Premier, yeah boi!) and it makes me feel dirty, dirty, dirty. But well clothed, of course. ;)
With the recent body shaming social media posts from Taking Shape and Pink Clove, is it time we start holding companies to account or is it all just about the fashion?
Where do you draw the line? Have you ever boycotted a company? What would it take for you to stop shopping at your favourite store? Do you ever think about what goes on behind the sewing machine? (Or the PR machine?)
Thanks for reading.
Leah xoxo
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