Because it makes you think of the whole supply chain. How did that jacket land on my back? Maybe Mum got it from the guy who owns that cools kid's store up the street. Or you got it from a cool online shop. But where did cool shop get it from? Maybe you are the Mum, finding yourself constantly buying clothes for growing kids, your own work gear, party dresses, gym gear, shoes, bags.
Was the fibre grown in the ground? Like cotton, hemp, bamboo, flax? Who grew it? Were there pesticides involved or was it grown organically by people paid and treated fairly?
Was the fabric here taken from an animal? Shorn from a sheep or a llama? Was it the skin of a cow, a cat, a rabbit or a fox? Where did the animal live? Was it death humane? Who took the skin or hair off? How did they do it?
OR MAYBE THE FABRIC WAS MADE FROM PETROLEUM PRODUCTS? LIKE SYNTHETICS? WAS IT A CLOSED LOOP PROCESS? WHO WAS INVOLVED IN PRODUCTION IN THE FACTORY?
WHAT ARE THEIR WORKING CONDITIONS? WERE THEY SAFE? WAS THE FABRIC RE-MADE FROM AN EXISTING ITEM? CLOTHING, PLASTIC OR METAL? WHO CUT AND STITCHED IT?
Who cut and stitched the clothes? What were the working conditions? The wages? Were the clothes coated in chemicals before they leave the factory on their way to the retailer? Who is selling the clothes?
It is truly amazing just how many people, machines and materials are involved in the making of a simple item of fashion. And that making is before it gets packed, transported (often across the world), put on shelves and sold. So many people touch garments and so many garments are cheap. It is simply impossible for a garment to cost less than a packet of chips unless all of the touch points are costly less than the chips. Someone is paying.
Every April, Fashion Revolution Week commemorates the anniversary of the Rama Plaza disaster in Bangladesh where a clothing factory collapsed causing the death and injury of thousands of workers.