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Sarashmi Sarker

Fashion Revolution : A remedy for today’s Fashion’s Social Disconnect

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THE WORLD IS MY PLAYGROUND.

There are games, and there are rules. THERE ARE WINNERS, AND THERE ARE LOSERS.

THERE ARE THE RULERS, AND THE UNEQUIVOCALLY RULED.

FOR YEARS, WE’VE WORSHIPPED OUR GOD OF ART AND COLOUR. OUR EXPRESSION, OUR DIVINE, OUR BEAUTY,AND OUR POWER. BUT AT WHAT COST?

WE’VE BUILT THIS GOD, A MONSTER WITHOUT MERCY, FEEDING THE MIGHTY ON THE BENT BACKS OF THE MEEK. THIS IS OUR MONEY MONSTER, THIS IS FASHION OF THE HIGH STREETS. THIS IS THE KILLER IN THE SHADOWS OF MY WORLD.

THE WORLD IS MY PLAYGROUND, AND I INTEND TO BUILD IT ANEW.

HERE’S TO a change in the conversations on fashion. HERE’S TO a REVOLUTION.

The Hands That Spin The Dream

It’s about re-evaluating our priorities regarding fashion, bit by painful bit…

Like every person you will ever meet, every garment has a story. More often than not, the story is a brutal one. Maybe, the next time you walk into a luxury brand clothing store you could look beyond the label, the glitter and gold and make an effort to delve into the history of the fabric.

Your love for fashion is NOT defined by your collection of high-end fur jackets, or obscenely priced limited edition glass slippers. It’s neither the number of fashion magazines you subscribe to, nor your extensive knowledge of runway politics. This love should be personal, elemental, reaching right down to the fabric of your new dress.

An average shopper will ask: How expensive is this garment? Is this brand suited to the status I aspire to achieve? Do I have the money? Does this impress? Does it look good on me?

A noble, yet highly limited line of questioning.

The average shopper is usually an uninformed consumer, bred on a steady, heady diet of glossy advertisements proclaiming an instant shot at something bigger, greater. But what is this illusion founded on?

A host of eco-unfriendly ingredients, production ethics and economics built on false fair trade principles, at least a hundred human rights/labour laws violations , less than minimum wage for unnamed multitudes in third-world sweatshops, lack of healthy terms of service and so on.

All this is true even if they sound shocking and offensive. We need to change the questions we ask ourselves while buying fashion. We need to open up to the truth.

…. Beyond The Limelight

Transparency Provides Consumers Information To Make A Socially Conscious Purchasing Decision…

Transparency means providing consumers a spectrum of information needed to make a purchasing decision : where was (a garment) made, who made it and what were the conditions like for those across the supply chain?

We live in a time where social media can be a cheap and simple tool for communicating these messages. Logically, it is quite impossible to list the required information regarding production practices and labour treatment policies on a small strip of cloth stitched onto the back of a product. Besides, without the necessary universal investigative infrastructure in place, such information can be forged easily. Companies should thus dedicate a substantial portion of their advertisement budget on promoting the social footprint of their products on a large and publicly accessible platform. They should make their stances clear and answer the questions of right and wrong. Governments should, in tandem, focus on evaluating and testing the business practices of fashion brands under strict rules, and immediately fine/suspend licences of those companies which engage in malpractices. Records of the same should be frequently updated and made available to consumers.

As responsible consumers it should be our duty to strive to make a difference by demanding transparency in the fashion business which has been absent for quite sometime now and it is time we realised it.

Indigenous Industries

It is these indigenous industries in India and in other parts of the world which deserve our attention, promotion and care. Therefore the following things should be aimed at achieving :

• Giving due credit to native/local workers who are at the centre of a culture• To stem the cultural appropriation practises of big fashion houses that aim at exporting a historically valued and culturally important item and using it as the next fashion statement. By promoting indigenous industries you are giving credit where it is due and supporting the financial growth of workers in the lowest level of the fashion food chain. MAL PRACTICE OF CULTURAL APPROPRIATION : Exploitation. Erasure. Discrimination.• Exploitation of the workers.• Erasure of another’s culture.• Discrimination of numerically fewer cultural industries for one’s own monetary benefit.

Sustainable Fashion

• Fashion must learn to sustain its progress without damaging the earth. The profit motive of commercial fashion units must be accompanied by a dedication to minimising wastage.• Clothes should be recycled as often as possible. This not only reduces unnecessary and harmful accumulation but also awakens a creative impulse in you somewhere.• The increasingly popular culture of Fast Fashion and its correlation with social status must be discouraged. Recycling, reusing and rebuilding are the three key methods to tackle this.• Special attention must be dedicated to promoting business practices in Fashion which do not harm animals, as this will help preserve the ecosystem and protect the environment.

Possibilities : Dream towards the flights of fancy

You and I are responsible for all the harmful trends that exist in the fashion world behind the projected glitz. Our ignorance, privilege, and our blatant blindness to the truths of the numerous fallacies in the fashion world puts the onus on us. We’re as guilty as the multi-billion dollar industry we’re devoted to.But now, it’s time we accepted our responsibilities and worked towards the benefit of the hands labouring for that single, flawless line of thread holding together that expensive fabric in our next designer gowns. It’s a fleeting fashion statement for us, it’s life or starvation for most of them.I’m guilty, I’ll bleed my hands for a remedy. The question is, will you?

Every thought of every individual is unique. Even if it stems from known facts and figures. My uniqueness is in my thought process. I, as an aspiring stylist would like to promote sustainable fashion through my work.

I feel that each submission is unique in its own way. I’ve tried to tread the lesser explored path of the reality of the economics behind the business of fashion. And I intend to address the areas I’ve highlighted through this project. As an aspiring stylist, I would like to educate my clients about the history behind every creation of fashion, encourage them to use recycled fashion products, practice transparency in business and maintain eco friendly standards through all my work.

I have tried to promote indigenous industries, fair wages for workers and healthy working conditions for them through this submission of mine, which I have felt is the least talked about aspect of the fashion industry, and needed to be addressed with a fair and neutral point of view.

Uniqueness of my submission

My Inspiration

A visit to a factory, a couple of years back, of a local retailer-cum-exporter with a big brand name and presence, was the first big jolt that hit my colourful dreamy sassy fashion world. The world I had loved with passion and complete loyalty. I woke up with a start. What I saw there had shaken me. What I saw there had impressed me equally. The beautiful intricate workings of the artisans, their expertise at what they were doing awed me. The time labour patience and concentration it took an artisan to finish one single perfect motif was intimidating to say the least. But the conditions under which they were working were appalling. There was no proper ventilation, in the tiny, dingy rooms which they called their factory. A place which needed maximum light as a bare necessity given the kind of strain such work puts on the eyes of the workers, the rooms were gloomy and dark. Moreover, there were children working in that factory as helpers, who did not have any defined set of work. ‘Helpers’ were supposed to help. Nobody bothered to what extent that help could go, and if the child was capable of such ‘help’ or not. This was exploitation of their poverty to its core.The ground reality, behind the smoked screens of glamour, had hit. And hit me hard it did. And I did a lot of research. Here are only a couple of the links of the many facts I found :

http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/transparency-fashion-industry-reality

http://www.ethicalconsumer.org/ethicalreports/fashionindustry/livingwage.aspx

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THANK YOU

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