Homemade clothes

I was at Hobby Lobby today and while Annie was shopping I looked around. I stumbled into the “make your own clothes” section and started looking at fabric. It was all made overseas, from Japan, China, Pakistan, all over the place. Even if you tried to remove yourself from the garment industry by making your own clothes, the stuff you use to make your clothes will be made by people much less fortunate.

 
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Kyle Timmerman says:

That’s why I’m starting a free-range, organic alpaca farm.

Rachael says:

and the answer is????????
BTW, speaking of clothes – thanks for the tshirt! The kids all love it and are jealous it’s mine;-)

Rachael says:

a little box told me I might want to tell you my last comment got spammed. Seeing as I’ve got nothing else to do tonight (having made eight pairs of trousers today for my kids…talk about sweat shop, it was 30+ degrees and I was making stuff for Mongolia!)…..

Kelsey says:

Kyle, Alpaca tend to prefer mountainous hinterlands with cool climates. Not sure they’ll like an island in the Gulf of Mexico.

Rachel, Sorry about the whole SPAM thing. As for the answer…there was no question. This was an observation, merely. Kyle has an answer, but who wants to feed and water alpaca, scoop their alpaca poop, shave ’em, turn their hair/wool(?) into cloth, and fashionably sew the cloth together. Not me? Making your own clothes is great, but I guess I figured that doing so would remove one from the garment/textile chain.

Kent says:

Or, you could go uber hippy and make everything out of homegrown hemp.

Kelsey says:

Kyle is getting into Alpaca.

Kent is getting into hemp.

I think that I will start collecting my own hair and weaving them into “leisure suits of locks.”

Kent says:

Human hair… the other, other, natural fiber.

M B Foster says:

Like you, I’m bothered by images of sweat shops dancing in my head when I go shopping for clothes.
That’s one reason why most of my family’s clothes are purchased at Goodwill and other used-clothing outlets. At least when I shop there I’m not directly participating in exploitative labor practices. And it’s recycling.
Of course, underwear is another story. You really should buy new, in my opinion… But I haven’t made the leap to paying megabucks for organic / non-sweatshop ‘delicates.’
BTW, making your own clothes from fabric at a fabric store is no solution. Check the ends of the fabric bolts. Some is made in the USA. Lots more is made overseas. And the chemicals involved – yikes.
My dog had really soft fur. Kinda like alpaca, really. I wonder…

Kelsey says:

M B Foster, I’m glad to hear that you don’t buy your skivvies second hand. That would be gross.

An argument can be made that we should not pull ourselves out of the garment market because, no matter how poorly paid, the workers value these jobs, support their families with these jobs, and if we don’t buy the products they make, they might lose these jobs. It’s a complex issue.

I commend you and your family for thinking about this issue and making a lifestyle change to address it.

Let your voice be heard!

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