FUR – animal rights are something I feel strongly about. Although I eat meat, I feel that this is justified (rightly or wrongly) from notions such as the food chain and with the introduction of organic meat I can live with myself. However, the two most popular animals used in fashion (fox and mink) are purely bred just to produce garments made of fur which I don’t agree with.

SWEATSHOPS – the idea that people are made to work in such poor and unfit conditions, in my opinion, is completely wrong. Exploitation is something that really bothers me, it makes me sad to think others are capable of witnessing people in this state and ignore it.

WASTE – I have grown up in a world where it is rare to see people valuing items they purchase, our first response to something broken or old is to bin it and buy a new one. We don’t think to mend things or to recycle something and give it a new lease of life, we waste it. Whilst traveling to South East Asia I had the pleasure of meeting and talking to locals about their daily lives. Something that stuck with me was a story about a German man who had hired a local to install a toilet seat. The local Cambodian had never installed the toilet seat he’d been given before so his initial reaction in order to understand what it was he was dealing with, was to take it apart to see how it worked. However, despite his efforts, once he’d taken it apart he had no idea as to how to put it back together again. But rather than bin it (or in effect start again) he sat there and piece by piece, figured out how to fix it, avoiding any waste.

 

Ref:

http://yourbusiness.azcentral.com/top-ten-ethical-issues-fashion-business-28150.html

ACTIVISM – The policy or action of using vigorous campaigning to bring about political or social change.

Forms of activism:

• writing letters to newspapers or to politicians,
• political campaigning

Economic activism:

• boycotts
• patronizing businesses,
• rallies
• street marches
• strikes
• sit-ins
• hunger strikes.

 

What is important to me? 

 

Businesses are clever, they promote themselves through their generosity.

• Starbucks stated they’d hire 10,000 refugees – this promotes them as a business but in turn, generates a LOT of business.
• Unilever own both Dove and Axe (Lnyx) – Dove promote differences in women and fight body shamming whereas Lynx promotes a clean-shaven, toned body for men. Slightly opposite ideals, proving that Unilever doesn’t believe in one view but instead uses each brand and its audiences to create the most revenue as possible.

Body confidence? Race? Acceptance?

‘Same, same but different’ – a quote I’d seen all over Asia whilst traveling during the summer. This really resonated with me. Although most of the time this was used in relation to buying something like a bag or fan and they were trying to be persuasive, it meant something different to me. Being out there, seeing how they live, the sense of community, poverty etc, it made me think. We are all fundamentally the same, we are people, we have feelings, wants, needs but we are also, rightly so, different.

 

refs:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Activism
• https://medium.com/@christinaling/activism-the-hottest-trend-of-2017-d8d94750d53
• https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2017/mar/25/activism-mainstream-protests-create-change
• https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/feb/03/activism-sells-brands-social-conscience-advertising
• https://www.lonelyplanet.com/thailand/ko-lanta/nightlife/same-same-but-different/a/poi-dri/1381810/357598