Be Green Challenge
Week 4
Zoe Martin
I Bought a Dress
I had my last sorority formal this week and I had to buy a dress. I fell in love with this dress from For Love and Lemons and bought it almost instantly. I intend to wear it again at the two weddings I was invited to this summer. The sleeves are attached to the bodice by a button so it is a modular design that can be adapted and worn more than once! It can be worn with the sleeves or as a spaghetti strap dress so it can be worn and styled differently depending on the purpose. I try to purchase clothes like that. The floral applique on this dress reminded of the applique technique in the paj ntaub, and I am curious as to how this garment can provide inspiration for the traditional Hmong textile art form.
After purchasing it, I wanted to see if the brand had anything on their website related to sustainability or ethics. On their website, they are very transparent about their factory in Zhejiang, China. They claim to be approved by the Business Social Compliance Initiative (BSCI) by the Federal Trade Organization and are audited by an independent company, Accredium Global Compliance Services. I think these efforts to make sure that they are not running a sweatshop are very valuable and other smaller, fast-fashion companies should follow suit. This also reminded me of the article we read, “Santa’s Sweatshop” and how it is hard to tell what the conditions were like when your clothing and goods are made. I think this “Inside the Factory” page on their website works to be more realistic about production of goods abroad. Thus, even though I’ve struggled to maintain my anti-consumerism behavior I feel okay about the dress since it has a versatile design and is made ethically in China! Additionally, feeling good about the production of the dress and how I can wear it again made me feel good when I wore the dress to my event on Friday.
References:
“Speaking through Cloth: Teaching Hmong History and Culture Through Textile Art” by Ava McCall
“Santa’s Sweatshop: In a Global Economy, it’s Hard to Know Who Made Your Gift – and Under What Conditions” by Holstein, Palmer, Ur-Rehman & Ito
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