Who made your clothes?

Do you ever think about who made the clothes you're wearing? Lots of people don't think about this when they're buying clothes, but a group of people in the fashion industry have started a #Fashion Revolution. Find out more by watching this video. 

Instructions

Do the preparation task first. Then watch the video and do the exercise. Remember you can read the transcript at any time.

Transcript

Lisa and Tida Finch: I think it’s time, isn’t it? Well, long overdue, for a fashion revolution.

Susie Lau: I’m very interested in, you know, kind of provenance of clothing, just caring about, you know, where your clothes are made is important and that's really the message behind fashion revolution.

Katie Jones: It’s become very normal with food to care about where it’s from and what we're eating and I think this should definitely translate to also what you're wearing.

Lisa and Tida Finch: We trust that brands and high-street retailers are making clothes and fashion ethically and they’re not always. There are things going on that shouldn’t be.

Susie Lau: We want to encourage change and maybe vote with our feet a little bit, and sort of say we wanna know where our clothes come from and if you’re not going to fix your supply chains or if you’re not going to ensure that your clothes are made under ethical standards, then, you know, we're not going to buy them.

Abi Chisman: We're here inviting people to come in and experience what ethical fashion really means and try to rebrand that concept as something that is fashionable, fun and easy to get involved with.

Susie Lau: I’m kinda joining in by encouraging people to do the inside-out thing which has been a huge success. I believe it’s already trending on Twitter and then I’m down here at Designer Jumble, kind of doing what I do best which is sort of playing around with clothes and they’ve got such an amazing selection of stuff here.

Hesta King: I think it’s great to have another choice, especially in this environment of everything being new. This is so great to have things that are old and individual.

Zoe Robinson: I just really want people to look after their clothes and think about them and care for them.

Hesta King: I think what you could do is get rid of your old clothes so somebody else could love them and they have a new life and be recycled.

Katie Jones: You can love a jumper or a top or a jacket and you can love it for, like, five, ten years, the rest of your life. It’s not kind of so trend-driven.

Hesta King: Don’t just buy something and see it as disposable but just think about the work that went into it.

Katie Jones: It doesn’t need to be so much kind of really, really, really quick pace which I think leads to the fact there are these awful conditions because the turn around and everything has just got to be pumped out. It’s not about kind of suddenly stop buying anything new, I think it’s about looking at fashion slightly differently.

Lisa and Tida Finch: I hope that people will just shop more consciously and kind of think before they buy something.

Katie Jones: If you see something and do you want that, do you need that in your life? Like are you going to wear it?

Lisa and Tida Finch: Is it worth it? Why is this so cheap? How did our clothes get so cheap? And start to question what’s really going on. People tend to complain that clothes are too expensive and they want it as cheap as they can get it but that comes at a price.

Abi Chisman: The Rana Plaza factory disaster that happened a year ago needs to stay in our memories.

Lisa and Tida Finch: We need to start realising what that price is.

Abi Chisman: The only way to do that really is by harnessing the vocal power of people who are shopping.

Susie Lau: If you're an existing customer of a high-street chain, you should start asking them questions, through Twitter, through Instagram, through Facebook or even in stores.

Abi Chisman: What we are saying is start sending that question to the retailers that they shop from now, ‘Who made my clothes?’

Susie Lau: Saying where is this made? Can you ensure that this was made under good working conditions?

Abi Chisman: Just ask that question, the more they ask the question, the more the retailers will understand that they need to have answers to that question.

Susie Lau: I think the consumer is, erm, is the powerful one here.

Abi Chisman: It’s in their power to do something to change the way that fashion is not only perceived but how fashion polices itself.  

Katie Jones: I think a lot of small steps could make a really, really huge change.

Lisa and Tida Finch: I feel like our trust has been exploited and we need a day like today to tell them that we realise what’s going on and that we’re not happy about it.

Susie Lau: Those stores will listen to customers. It’s bad business for them to ignore their consumer.

Lisa and Tida Finch: I think they take for granted that we don’t care, but we do.

© Fashion Revolution

 

Discussion

Do you ever think about who made your clothes? Do you think customers should start to ask more questions about the working conditions of the people who made the clothes they buy? 
If you're interested in this topic have a look at the Fashion Revolution website. 

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Comments

Submitted by b_m_d on Mon, 12/12/2022 - 17:56

Sometimes I think about who made my clothes. Especially when they're expensive. I think customers should start to ask more question about the working conditions of the people who made the clothes they buy, because if they were sure in this brand, it would bring meaningful changes. I think that good conditions of people who work at factories is an important cause.

Submitted by Valerka on Tue, 12/06/2022 - 11:47

To be honest I don’t think about who made my clothes. Brands and fashion are really important for me, so I can’t refuse to buy new clothes. But I think that we should start to ask questions about working conditions of the people who made clothes because they get a low salary and working conditions are very bad. They are ordinary people. They deserve better!

Submitted by Ksenia01 on Mon, 05/09/2022 - 18:46

To be honest, I don't really think about who made my clothes. I'm more interested in buying second-hand clothes because I care about the environment. I suppose they should but I believe that only persistent questions can change something. Companies can easily lie and get away with it, but if they are met with perseverance, they'll have to provide answers.

Submitted by Purple on Fri, 05/22/2020 - 14:46

To be honest I don't really think about clothes or their makers or their brands at all. To me clothes are tools of money, however they can cause joy to some people as well as myself to a certain extent. I believe people buy clothes so that they can feel good about themselves, pretend to be someone they are not or simply need something to cover their bodies with. Fashion, trends and brands are all potential sources of snobbery and descent, which leads to people disliking one another. I can tell from personal experience that people can be quite sinister once they realize that you possess a far cheaper shoe than they do, and immediately start poking you with rude declarations. Of course clothes can also be roots of joyfulness, I admit that i like to wear something nice as well, such as a nice black leather dress shoe or a fine cotton shirt that is exactly my size. Wearing clothes can feel great and even I can appreciate a good outfit, and yes we should know about how, when, where and most importantly by whom they are made, but we won't. Multi-national companies with their brands will always find a way to get away with not too ethical workforce employment. As I have said, fashion is a tool of money, money causes greed and greed causes people to forget their ethics.

Submitted by SMM2001 on Mon, 10/14/2019 - 13:56

As far as I´m concerned, i think brands should tell the buyers from where their materials are acquired and if they are made under standard situations. So I´m for this movement and i agreed with everything they said

Submitted by student2bach on Mon, 10/14/2019 - 13:56

I definitley think about who made my clothes, most of the the time, sometimes i don't but thats just occasionally when the object in question is really really pretty, but anyways, I normally don't buy fast fashion, I'm not exactly the type of person who values quality over everything else I still want to be fashionable, but I know big industries like Inditex have really bad working standards so i avoid buying from them. Shops like Primark or Kiabi have very low prices and those come from the exceedingley low wages workers in some third world country charge, i try to keep that in mind when shopping. I honestly think that, if people wanted to know where their clothes come from they would've asked long ago, but you don't really "ingest" your clothes you just wear them until you get something new so who cares where they come from, right? xx lisa

Submitted by Anezka3004 on Mon, 10/14/2019 - 13:56

I'm agree with Susie when she says that she thinks it's important to think about where our clothes and that who ever makes them works in good conditions.

Submitted by Melted on Mon, 10/14/2019 - 13:51

I think that is important to know where your clothes come from because there are clothes' brands that has children working for them in countries like India or Indonesia.

Submitted by chinosLOUISelpapu on Mon, 10/14/2019 - 13:46

Great video, loved it. Ive never thought about where my clothes came from. I feel like I'm going to start asking about the origins of my clothes from now on. I will also take better care of may used clothes, and wont throw them to the trash if I get tired of them. Over all, very well made vid, eye opening and fun to watch.

Submitted by Diego_sc02 on Mon, 10/14/2019 - 13:41

This movement needs more cooperation from the people
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