Do It Yourself: Too High A Cost

In my ongoing quest to try to live more ethically, there are a lot of things that I end up spending time on that most people avoid by paying a few extra dollars, creating a little more waste, or taking part in other harmful (albeit psychologically removed) systems that connect us to the rest of the world. One area where I consistently have trouble finding a good alternative to the status quo is clothing. In most cases the clothes we see in stores are made in far-off countries and we have little to no way of knowing the wages and working conditions of the people making them, save the occasional exposé. A few companies make an attempt to document their factory conditions so they can declare their wares socially conscious, while others try to avoid the issue by doing all of their production in America where we have stricter rules and regulations.

These few companies tend to have other problems: their products tend to be extremely expensive (a byproduct of paying for fair wages and safe factories), and there are frequently few or no choices of style. If I need a new pair of pants, for example, I can pay $130 for a pair of organic-cotton fair-wage nearly-unbearably-styleless blue jeans, or pay $30 for a pair of thin hemp tie-dyed hippy pants. Finding something that I would actually like to wear without paying an arm and a leg is strikingly difficult.

The other option, which I usually take, is to find things second-hand. Thrift and consignment are a way to become a little more removed from the harms of production such as sweatshops. Sure, thrift and consignment are only options because the structures around the rest of the clothing industry exist, but at least I’m not directly supporting any particular company’s decisions to always go with the cheapest factories available. It’s not a perfect solution, but it seems to be a step in the right direction.

Of course (and now I’m finally getting to the do-it-yourself topic that got me started on this post), shopping second hand means I’m limited to what other people get rid of. It’s tough to find things that I like and that fit me, so again it can feel pretty constraining. My solution lately has been to take a DIY approach to more of my clothing. So far my attempts have been fairly limited (making shorts out of old pants I never wear, sewing a new watchband when my old one wears out, making a new bag out of an old cargo pants pocket) but I’ve been thinking about branching out a little as well. Instead of searching and searching through thrift shops for a few items that I like, maybe I can buy a few things with potential, and make some alterations from there. Simple sewing is definitely something I enjoy, so as a solution to a problem in addition to a hobby, I certainly plan to keep up.

The broader question that it makes me wonder about is whether spending hours hemming a new pair of shorts—and thus avoiding taking part in a system that harms the people impoverished nations—is the most ethical option available. If I’m faced with the task of finding something to wear and my options are to pay hundreds of dollars, spend hours, or just go to my nearest Target, what’s the right thing to do? If I spend the money, I’ll be using resources that could go to organizations that are saving lives, but I’ll be avoiding contributing to sweatshop labor. If I buy second-hand and sew, I’ll still have the money, but I’ll be using up chunks of my own time, which it seems could likely be spent having a better impact on the world. If I just buy any clothes that I like and that are cheap regardless of any socially-irresponsible conditions they may come from, I can at least still have money and time to contribute to fighting other issues in the world.

It’s an interesting problem in part because it has an answer—but it’s an answer that’s beyond my ability to calculate or know. Some combination of spending money, time, and participating in existing social structures will yield the most good and cause the least harm. If I could know exactly how much good I could bring about by volunteering that time or donating that money, or how much harm my support for sweatshop labor would cause, I could at least have a significant guide in terms of what the ideal combination of those pieces would be. Certainly, other factors would come into play: for someone excellent at sewing but lacking other significant skills, taking the DIY route is probably ideal. For someone with a keen business sense and knowledge of how to invest in ways that will best fight poverty and curable disease, maximizing savings may be the best option. For most of us though, I wonder about the relative value of avoiding harmful systems to spending money and time on sustainable and socially responsible products.

(There’s also the option of just wearing whatever ugly, cheap, second-hand clothes I can find. This seems to be the most ethical option hands-down by avoiding the pitfalls of all the others. But personally I’m not there yet. I think it’s an important possibility: that the right thing to do is to totally ignore our appearances and wear whatever fits from the Salvation Army. However, given that most of us have to interact with others who are constantly judging us based on our appearance, I think we have to explore other less-than-perfect-but-still-better-than-the-status-quo options as well.)

One final thought—there still remains a broader solution, brought to us by economics: it’s inefficient for me as an individual to make my own clothes, but as more and more people want easy, affordable, and socially responsible solutions to their consumer needs, market forces will (at least in theory) begin to bring those sorts of options into existence. Right now it seems that the market for sweatshop-free fair-trade clothes is too limited to sustain the kinds of options that I’d like to see when I go to a store, but more people put their money where their values are we might see a shift in a better direction.

PS. This has been a long post. If anyone is still actually reading this, thanks for sticking with me.