Sara Bairrada Tocha

For my last post im going to reflect on “the hidden injustice of the fashion industry” by Melanie Vieira-Vrolijk.  

When reading her post was like putting together the puzzle that were the thoughts running in my head. She was able to put into words not only what I was thinking but also what I was feeling. 

I truly felt and went through the same when attending the lecture. I had to re-evaluate my perception of the industry and stop seeing it only as flawed like any other.  I realized there was a bigger issue and that we are all as much part of the solution as we are of the problem. 

But what made my eyes pop to her blog was when she said “learning these disturbing facts made me want to pursue working within fashion even more, with the aim to challenge this and create a more equal and balanced industry.” because it got me thinking “do I want to work in an industry that closes their eyes to global problems like this?” and the only answer I could find was definitely yes. I want to make the world a better place that’s for sure. I also know that I can’t imagine my life without fashion. So, the problem is the industry. And as a worker I can spread awareness to the topic and hopefully be listened by society and together, stronger and more united than ever change what’s wrong in the fashion industry. 

When choosing a brand for messaging fashion in better lives I took into consideration it’s ethics and what the company stands for. 

My group and I could have chosen a bigger brand, but we wanted to have a small one and understand how they work and how honest they are about their principles. Once we saw HOSH really was all about uplifting and empower others and not stepping on them in order to succeed we knew it was the brand to go with. 

As for this essay… well, to be honest there were so many topics that I felt were so important, it got hard for me to choose a small amount. Also, they are all so connected it gave me a hard time thinking how to separate them. So, I tried to focus on the things that really opened eyes and changed the way of seeing the world and my actions. 

Now when looking for clothes and other products I have this voice in my head reminding me to be aware and choose wisely. 

I even started to have discussions and opened conversations with friends and family in order to bring them consciousness on the topic. 

My present work is already being adapted after realizing its impact and my future work will definitely keep following these steps and will encourage others to do the same. The base of my work will have updated research on ethical problems. It’s about time for society to acknowledge that we, together, have the power to make so many lives start being treated with dignity and the fundamental humans’ rights that should be accessible to all. 

As a makeup artist and hair stylist, I intend when looking for companies to buy makeup or even to shoot to make sure they are not taking advantage of anyone’s lives. I’ll do my research on each brand and try to open people’s eyes on the internet and through my work. Just like I used to be so ignorant, unaware of these problems and how common they are, I am sure, millions of people out there are as well and have no idea how much their purchases are affecting others or even that the brands they are buying are doing this. They might even think the government has rules for this but no clue that brands go to other countries for cheaper labour. 

 I want to bring with my work the message that we all are a part of this cycle, therefore we have a say in what and how it happens. 

When talking about sustainability, everything is connected. From social responsibility to business, empathy to money, politics to education, living to economics. 

As a part of an inseparable cycle we all have a duty within ourselves as humans. We need to understand we should and can have (if we work for it) the ability to maintain a rate of production that sustains people, places and things. We also need to have empathy for others, to understand each other’s feelings and perspectives so we can understand and recognize what’s wrong so we can act against it and guide our own actions. This way we are working together towards gaining more power. 

Even in fashion, society plays a huge role. Society dictates what the industry is allowed to do or not. Morally and ethically. “If one wants to change society, one needs to understand the logic of how it operates”. Knowledge is power, so as consumers we need to do our research before purchasing in order to know who makes our products and under what circumstances. If these workers are being payed fairly or being exploited. It’s our money when purchasing these items that will contribute for exploitation or for a positive change, where people are treated with dignity. “With each purchase we make, we are voting for or against humanity, for or against equality, and for or against our planet, and the only way to promote positive change is to vote with your dollar.” 

Having lectures about these issues really opened my naive eyes. Though I’ve always knew there’s still a lot of people being exploited, I had never realized or given the thought that I was contributing unconsciously for this existing inhuman problem just by buying clothes to companies that where trendy and I could afford.  Unconsciously, because I didn’t take the time to investigate into these companies. All I knew till these lectures was that everyone used to purchase in them and so they had to be (I thought naively) human’s rights friendly. Turns out, a lot of them aren’t. Exploitation happens closer to me than I thought and through me. Through my friends, family, people I know. 

All of us who choose to go the easier and cheaper way or because its trendy and forget or ignore to research brands and their positions towards these issues are allowing inhuman problems like in this case exploitation to keep happening and being normalized. We, society, definitely need to understand how powerful our actions are and how they can either make a difference or not.