The Global Fashion Industry’s Legacy? Slavery.
So, a white UK abolitionist, William Cowper, wrote a little rhyme in the late 1700’s. Apparently, it was published in a pamphlet that was intended to make the thought of purchasing goods produced by slave labour distasteful to the middle class British housewife. Since housewives had sway over the goods coming into the house, hopefully by influencing this group, abolitionists might make the purchase of such goods to be in poor taste, and thereby create economic pressure for producers and governments to change tactics. The poem goes like this:
Pity for Poor Africans
I own I am shock’d at the purchase of slaves.
And fear those who buy them and sell them are knaves;
What I hear of their hardships, their tortures, and groans,
Is almost enough to draw pity from stones.
I pity them greatly, but I must be mum,
For how could we do without sugar and rum?
The singsong rhyme scheme and cavalier tone contrast the middle rhyming couplet. It indicates that the reader who doesn’t care about slavery is a cold stone. The commentary of the final couplet is intended to draw outrage from those who have a heart and don’t want to be stones, because the narrator implies so helplessly that the luxury items sugar and rum are clearly more important than human lives.
When I first read this poem I was horrified that this was the attitude abolitionists faced. Then I thought for about 10 seconds about fast fashion. About food. About the environmental crisis.
William Cowper would be dismayed to know that little has changed. Today his rhyme might end…
I pity them greatly, but I must be mum,
For how could we do without jeans on our bums?
Or maybe…
I pity them, but of their trials I won’t sing,
For how could we do without diamonds and bling?
Or even…
I pity them but I won’t join in their voices
Because I like all of my grocery choices.
The Problem of Othering
Now of course - the central problem creating this apathy is the human propensity for “othering”. When we hold someone elses’ humanity lower than our own because we see their difference rather than their sameness, it allows us to ignore, or worse condone, their suffering. Othering, theming, whatever invisible cloak you want to throw on a group outside of one’s own, allows people to hang on to their own wants - with a “yeah, but” of internal rationalization.
“Yeah. I know Nike hasn’t paid a bunch of its overseas workers lately, but I need a new workout shoes really bad,” or, “
Yeah, I know H&M is greenwashing with its organic basics line, but I’ll loose status if I don’t follow trends,” or,
“Yeah, I heard something about forced labor in China’s cotton fields, but that’s probably not in my jeans, right?”
Looking Away is Easy, but…
It’s easy to look away if you are an average citizen in the Global North. It’s easy to feel helpless, swept up in the lifestyle demands of our culture and era. Cognitive dissonance, putting heads in the sand, is so easy and so tempting. And it’s exactly what the ultra-rich who profit from the status quo want us to do. We’re just higher-up cogs in their system…
The Uncomfortable Truth of Climate Change
There’s also a global crisis going on, of which fashion is a huge part. If those of us who are less affected continue to turn away and maintain business as usual attitudes with our heads in the sand, we WILL end up breathing underwater.
As average citizens, we are NOT helpless. There are a myriad of things we can do which collectively can make a shift happen.
So join me here. I’m going to be sharing what I learn about
why we should act,
what we can do, and,
how to do some of those things.