Blog Post 1 – Julia Crew
Blog Post – One
Lecture One – Julia Crew
Every now and again I read something and it sticks in my mind for what feels like eternity. Bobbing in and out of focus, the words “It takes just four days for a CEO from one of the top five global fashion brands to earn what a Bangladeshi garment worker will earn in her lifetime” seem to be tattooed on my conscience. This excerpt is from Julia Crews lecture on power in the fashion industry. This lecture really brought to light the injustices that go on behind the scenes in this industry and revealed the ongoing turmoil that is everyday life in the poorest corners of the fashion industry. I felt deeply uneducated at the fact I have made an informed choice in that I want to work within the fashion industry and yet I was so deeply unaware of the injustices that go on behind the scenes. Naturally I was aware of the unfavourable conditions within sweatshops and the abhorrent behaviour of those that let this continue to be common practise, however, it really struck home when I compared the salaries of these workers compared to the CEO’s of these companies. From this lecture, I realised the importance of social responsibility. As the sociological theorist Emile Durkheim (1937) said “Social responsibility is an ethical theory, in which individuals are accountable for fulfilling their civic duty; the actions of an individual must benefit the whole of society.”
We as the consumers have a great amount of power, however, I don’t think many of us realise this. As consumers we have many day to day decisions to make, every day on the tube when we have adds throw in our faces, or when we walk down Regent Street and every single window has a bright bold add drawing us in time after time. We as a consumer need to understand and think of our social responsibility before we shop. Should we maybe stop putting money in the hands of billionaires who don’t even pay taxes to this country and focus on indepedendant brands who are sustainable and don’t exploit their workers? This will always be a difficult choice for this country as these multimillion pound companies usually have much cheaper and accessible products compared to the sustainable independent brands and at the end of the day, if you don’t have the means to be more of conscious of where you shop, how can you be expected to not buy the most affordable items?