2011 August | Kelsey Timmerman

6 Clothing Companies That Every Engaged Consumer Should Support

By Kelsey

I’m excited to welcome a pair of entrepreneurs as today’s guest bloggers. I’ve been following Shannon Whitehead and Kristin Glenn for a while now. They are building their own ethical clothing line from scratch. They share their joys and struggles on their blog, www.allofusrevolution.com.

A couple of weeks ago, Kelsey left a comment on our blog asking if we had a list of our favorite ethical/fair trade clothing companies. I’ve put a lot of effort into being an engaged consumer myself, and I’ve learned that there is opportunity to buy new clothes designed and produced in a socially-conscious way. You just have to look a little harder.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but these are some of my favorites:

The Autonomie Project is a fashion and footwear company, offering stylish sweat-shop free and eco-friendly t-shirts and accessories. It works exclusively with independent cooperatives and sweat-free facilities located all over the developing world. The apparel is made out of organic cotton and other environmentally-conscious materials and is 100 percent vegan. Autonomie wholesales to stores all over the United States and the online store can be found here.

NAU is a sustainable urban and outdoor apparel company based out of Portland, Oregon. My favorite thing about this line is the company’s philosophy and mission. More than just apparel, the brand promotes a lifestyle and a certain type of person. Although not yet 100 percent organic, or even fully-sustainable for that matter, Nau strives to get as close to “good” fashion as possible — and continues to work towards it. The clothes are beautiful, with both men’s and women’s lines.

Raven + Lily is a non-profit studio dedicated to empowering impoverished women through design partnerships and micro-enterprise opportunities. Every item is handcrafted by a woman in the developing world, who works in safe conditions and has a say in the functioning of production and design. Raven + Lily specializes in home decor, jewelry, accessories, baby clothes, stationary, and bath products, and all can be browsed through here.

Maggie’s Organics offers a variety of basic apparel, from tank tops to t-shirts, but spices things up with a variety of fun socks, legwarmers, tights and scarves. All the materials that Maggie’s uses are chosen to restore, sustain and enhance the resources from which they are made. Online shoppers have the option to buy only cooperative-made garments, available upon request. The online store can be found here.

HOLSTEE is a men’s and women’s apparel and accessories line that is dedicated to designing with a conscience. The company takes into account the impact it has on all people, the planet and the product’s quality (many for-sale items are designed from recycled trash). Ten percent of all HOLSTEE revenue is used to fund entrepreneurs in the developing world through Kiva micro-lending. The HOLSTEE online store is here.

Patagonia is the best example of a large corporation trying to do good, as Kelsey has mentioned in a number of past posts. The company has implemented a great deal of Merino wool, Synchilla (fabric made from recycled soda bottles) and organic cotton into their apparel selection, which is a drastic improvement over the likes of synthetics and polyesters. Patagonia has also led the crusade in corporate responsibility and transparency, which you can read more about here.

I know it’s not always easy shopping with the world in mind. But as a general rule of thumb, when you can’t shop organic or fair trade, think local. It’s almost always better to shop at the boutique down the street that promotes the use of local fabrics than shopping at the corporate powerhouses. Consignment and thrift shopping is a great way to help reduce the landfill, too.

Fingers crossed, we’ll have {r}evolution apparel to add to this list next year. Yet another opportunity to buy sustainably and with the earth in mind. The more we start to become conscious about what we purchase — the closer we’ll get to making the world a better place for all of us.

Shannon Whitehead and Kristin Glenn are the founders and designers of {r}evolution apparel, coming 2012. They blog about sustainable fashion, consumption, minimalism and environmental awareness at www.allofusrevolution.com . You can also follow them on Twitter at @AllofUsRev.

Engaged Consumer

The Last Garment Factory

By Kelsey

So there’s this argument that I hear all of the time:

The garment industry comes to a region or country and, yes, it has loads of problems. The workers aren’t paid well and they’re overworked. The working conditions are dreadful and no place for an adult to work let alone children, which also work there. BUT there aren’t a lot of opportunities in this country and the industry allows the workers and the country to grab hold of the first rung of the global economic ladder. The countries main resource is cheap labor. Over time wages and workers rights go up along with the cost of the goods being produced. Other, better paying, jobs move in behind the garment industry as the nation reaches for the next rung on the ladder. Eventually the price of labor is too much for the garment industry and it has to leave for cheaper shores. No matter, because these new jobs are better. Peace and democracy be upon you.

Folks point to Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, and the United States as examples of this path from garment industry to better industries.

But what about Mexico?

From Fibre2Fashion

China replaced Mexico as the top supplier of textiles and apparel to the US, and continues to grow while Mexico’s market share falls.
In 2007, China’s clothing and textile exports to the US grew by 36%, while Mexico’s fell by 7%, according to Canaintex (Cámara Nacional de la Industria Textil).

By 2008 China’s share of the US import market for textiles and clothing was at 35.1% in value terms, while Mexico had dropped to the fourth largest supplier.

Mexico has also been badly affected by the economic crisis. In a press conference in the end of 2008, the president of Canaintex, David Garcia said: “The textile industry is one of the sectors most hard-hit by the crisis. It’s gone badly for us. A lot of companies have closed and a lot of employment has ended. We must act quickly in order to save our sector.”

Did I miss the news about all of the great jobs flowing into Mexico on the heels of the garment industry?

What about Nepal, which recently witnessed the closing of its last garment factory?

(from MyRepublica)

It is bold of former Finance Secretary Mr Rameshwor Khanal to speak out on the fall of the last standing garment factory in Nepal – an industry which once generated a third of Nepal’s exports and employed arguably just under a 100,000 Nepali men and women. The closure of Surya Nepal Garments is indeed an end of an era

Sometimes the closure of the last garment factory isn’t a thing to celebrate. It doesn’t always mean that an economy has moved to bigger and better things.

For every Taiwan there is a Nepal.

Engaged Consumer

“Poor” living like they just won a showcase showdown

By Kelsey

There’s this argument out there that poor people in the United State have stuff and that if you have stuff and are poor you aren’t living frugal enough. A recent segment on FOX News reported that 99.6% of those living in poverty have a fridge, 81.4% have a microwave, 78.3% have air conditioning, 63.7% have cable, 54.5% have cell phones, 48.6% have a coffee maker, 32.3% have two or more TVs, 25% have a dish washer.

The same folks making this argument would tell the poor to pull themselves up by the bootstraps. I’d like to make a couple of points.

If you don’t have a fridge, you have to eat out, which is more expensive.
If you don’t have a microwave, how do you cook a warm meal when the gas company shuts off your gas?
Just because your housing or public housing comes with air conditioning doesn’t mean you can afford to run it.
If you don’t have cable or Internet, how do you find jobs, apply for jobs, stay informed about the world?
If you don’t have a cell phone, how does a possible employer reach you. Even middle class folks have dropped their land lines. (Note: I’ve seen garment workers who earn $24/month chatting on cell phones. This aren’t the day of bag phones and $1/minute phone calls. Cell phones are a necessity.
When you’re raising three kids by yourself, you need some coffee.

I guess what I’m saying is that it’s hard to pull yourself up by your bootstraps when you ain’t got no bootstraps!

The Daily Show did a great piece on class warfare, but you can only watch it if you can afford a computer, electricity, and an Internet connection.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

World of Class Warfare - The Poor’s Free Ride Is Over

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show Full Episodes

Political Humor & Satire Blog

The Daily Show on Facebook

Mad World

Jordanian “Rape Factory” is one of many

By Kelsey

The labor rights community is laser-focused on a factory in Jordan in which multiple rapes of female workers by male management have occurred. Headlines shout, “Tell WalMart, Target, Macy’s, Lands’ End, and Kohl’s to stop Profiting from Rape.”

Profiting from rape? Yep, that sounds a bit extreme. No matter what you think of these companies I doubt you think that they’re sitting around a boardroom discussing that if only they could get a few more rapes this quarter they’d hit their target profit. In these instances I always wonder if public shaming was the first or the last resort.

I’m the kind of guy that people think to email or to tweet when news of a Jordanian “Rape Factory” breaks. Uh, thanks everybody. I received countless emails encouraging me to sign the Change.org petition that asked the CEOs of the American companies that source from the factory to immediately end the abuse at these factories. I signed it and went on with my day, not exactly feeling swell about the call to action I had just answered. What difference can a little online petition do?

Well, apparently some. On Day 55 of the campaign the petition had 7,000 signatures. On Day 58, after stories in the Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, and on blogs across the blogosphere, the campaign had 100,000 signatures. A few days later reports were coming in that conditions at the factory had moderately improved:

Previously, workers were having the cost of their meals taken out of their meager wages, despite contracts which stated meals would be provided. Now, workers are provided meals in accordance with their contract and are able to keep their whole wages. Similarly, many workers who were supposed to be working 12 hour shifts were actually working 15 or 18 hour shifts, with no overtime pay. Now, 12 hours shifts are standard. And finally, many workers were forced to work on Fridays, the local holy day, and during Ramadan. Now they have Fridays off and are allowed to observe Ramadan freely. But perhaps most significantly, there have been no reports of new rapes since the campaign began.

I’ve talked with garment workers about similar conditions. I hate to say the above violations are par for the course, but I think they are (the level of sexual violence at this factory may be an extreme example) . That doesn’t make them any less wrong.

The workers who have leveled the complaints are from Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. The Bangladeshi workers left their home and jobs in Bangladesh where they earned 21-cents/hour to earn 61-cents/hour in Jordan.

I hope you’ll join me in signing the petition, but know that this factory is just one of many, and that wherever people are desperate and impoverished, business practices and human rights violations like the above flourish. WalMart and Target are complicit in the wrongdoings, but so are you and me.

Where the roots of poverty grow, injustice blooms.

Petitions by Change.org|Start a Petition »

Engaged Consumer

Glocal World Champion: Peru Paper

By Kelsey

What do Anne Heche, Kyra Sedgwick, and Jimmy Fallon have in common other than Kevin Bacon? They all received (along with Kevin Bacon) greeting cards designed and made out of recycled materials by Peruvian women in their 2010 Emmy swag bags. Grace Bateman Greene, the founder of Peru Paper, and I recently connected and she agreed to share her thoughts on travel, education, and the importance of a job.

I prompted her with this question:

I’m interested in how your travels and your education have impacted the course of your life. How has travel influenced your education? How has your education influenced your travels?

Without further ado, Grace…

I’ve loved reading what Kelsey has said about TOMS shoes recently. I gave an “amen” while reading that “the problem isn’t that people don’t have shoes. It’s that they don’t have the means to buy shoes,” because after degrees in Social Work and International Community Economic Development, combined with years living in Peru, I have concluded the same thing. I’ve dedicated my life, my savings, my education, (and sometimes my sanity) to building Peru Paper Company, a business that employs impoverished women with the goal to change their lives and the communities in which they live by providing them meaningful employment, and I’m encouraged when I see I’m not alone.

People often ask how I got here and where I got the idea to do this. It started in high school on a trip to Peru with my church. I had never been out of the country before, much less a developing country. I loved it so much that I spent the entire next summer there then started college shortly after returning home. I ended up doing a double major in Social Work and Spanish, because you couldn’t major in “Helping Poor Spanish-Speaking Countries Get Out of Poverty.” Traveling to Peru made me realize that the world was bigger than my zip code and that the world had some very real and urgent needs. Social Work and Spanish were the areas that I wanted to dedicate my time to, and I probably never would have been compelled to study those subjects had I not traveled and seen some of what was going on in the world.

Fast forward to college graduation when I decided to move to Peru for a year. The organization I’d worked with before wanted me to teach English. I taught English, and I enjoyed it and made Peruvian friends, but I really loved working in the local churches and seeing what was going on in the community. Through a friend, I came across the idea of making handmade, recycled paper and greeting cards. The Peruvian ladies I knew were artistic and were always making things and selling them, so made a few dozen and promptly sold every one to a visiting group from the States. And they weren’t pity purchases- these were beautiful products that people clearly wanted to buy. The ladies were beyond excited. “Can we make more?” “Can you take them back to the States to sell them?” “This has such potential….can we start a business?” I was 23 with limited business experience and they were ready to start a paper and greeting card factory.

I knew we had something on our hands, but I was headed back to the States soon, having already accepted a job back home. However, the story of one lady in particular made me realize the immediate impact a business could have. Azucena had been selling candy on the side of a busy street corner for just pennies a day. The worst part is that her three young children were with her. She couldn’t afford childcare, and no one else in the family could help, so they sat out there with her all day long. She did whatever other odd jobs she could come across to make ends meet, but it wasn’t working well, and she and her family were barely surviving. She made cards with us that first round and did a wonderful job and made more money in a few days than she made from weeks of work selling candy on the side of the street. I knew I couldn’t turn my back on her because I’m compelled by my Christian faith to follow Jesus by caring for the poor. As John 3:17 says “if anyone has the world’s good and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?” I knew it was impossible to close my heart to her, but I also knew I was returning to the States soon and that I’d need more training to proceed.

While teaching in the States, I started taking online classes in International Economic Development through the Chalmers Center for Economic Development. I was fascinated by the things I learned about the poor and their communities and how they worked and handled money. I was even more fascinated by possible solutions to poverty. I eventually quit my job to study International Community Economic Development in a graduate program that let you do research and a thesis project in a developing country. My choice was Peru, where I was able to look at the benefits of microsavings while continuing to work with Peru Paper. After another year in Peru and a graduate degree under my belt, I saw over and over that people want jobs. Microfinance is good, charity (done the right way) can be good, but ultimately, people don’t want a hand out, they don’t want free shoes, they want a job to take care of their families and their lives on their own. And I firmly believe that is what God created us to do: be productive and creative stewards of all creation and provide for our families and be generous to others and do everything in our power so others can live the same way.

Live that way and it will not only change other lives but change yours as well. Now go support businesses that change lives! (I’m sure Kelsey can tell you a few!) And, check out our website to see how meaningful and transformational a job can be.

Engaged Consumer, Glocal, Glocal Interview

Etsy asks New Yorkers, “Where are you wearing?”

By Kelsey

This video by Etsy is proof that my work isn’t done, not even close.

And here’s my much shakier, less produced, too long, hookah version of this…

Engaged Consumer, Glocal

Radioactive Balls (yes, those kind of balls)

By Kelsey

Hey baby, I'm radioactive-free Down There. My place or yours?

Do you carry your cell phone in your pocket? Do you Facebook with your laptop on your lap?

If you answered “Yeppers” to these questions, you could be suffering from radioactive balls. Radioactive balls can lead to impotence, infertility, and the the production of offspring with genetic mutations that give them superpowers for which society simultaneously loves and shuns them.

And it’s never easy being the parents of a superhero.

Batman’s parents = Dead
Superman’s biological parents = Dead
Superman’s earth parents = targets of evil geniuses
Spider-Man’s parents = Never heard from
Spider-Man’s Uncle = Shot

If impotence, infertility, and superhero parenting aren’t your thing, I’ve got just the pair of underwear for you. These special boxers are made with silver threads and deflect 99% of the radiation emitted by cell phones and laptops.

Introducing (drum roll)…..

SAFETY SHORTS!!!

Wait, they protect your balls from radiation and the best name they could come up with was Safety Shorts? One of the things I love most about my beat as an underwear journalist are the names of the underwear (i.e. Gas Eaters, OneDerWear). The name Safety Shorts seem like they should protect you from a nail gun not radiation.

I suggest a rename. How about…

Protect Your Balls from Radiation Boxers
Atomic Boxers
Enola Gay Underwear
No Glowing Balls Boxers
Anti-Godzilla Underwear
Silent But Not Deadly Boxers
Because Your Balls Shouldn’t Register on a Geiger Counter Boxers
There’s Nothing Hotter Than NOT Having a Radioactive Crotch Underwear
Well I’m not uptight, I’m not unattracted, Turn me on tonight because I’m radioactive (but my balls aren’t) Boxers

Okay, so some of these are more slogans than names, but I think you get my point.

Actually, I’m quite disappointed with the list of names. Can you do better?

What would you name a pair of boxers that protect a dude’s crotch from harmful radiation?

Here’s a little music to get your wheels turning.

Engaged Consumer, Mad World

Volunteer 2hrs/week & offset budget cuts from debt ceiling debate

By Kelsey

We live in tough times. Budgets are being slashed in households, cities, states, and our nation. Show me someone who hasn’t been impacted or had someone close to them impacted and I’ll show you a hermit with a billion bucks stuffed under his mattress.

With congress coming to terms at the last moment, the debt ceiling has been raised, but another $2.4 trillion of cuts are to be made over the next 10 years. $2.4 trillion seems like a lot, but it’s nothing that a nation of volunteers can’t make up for.

Let’s do the math:

$2,400,000,000,000 of cuts / 300 million Americans = $8,000 of cuts / person

1 hour of volunteering = $20

$8,000 of debt per person / $20 per volunteer hour = 400 hours per person

The cuts are two be carried out over a period of ten years, but if we divide our volunteering over four years…

400 hours volunteered per person / 2 years / 52 weeks = 1.92 volunteer hours per week.

Two hours! If every American volunteered only two hours each week for the next four years, the value of our service to one another would equal $2.4 trillion.

I know that the logic isn’t exactly that simple. Volunteers aren’t going to take on major infrastructure projects or maintain peace in a foreign land. But there are so many other ways we can contribute.

We could give back to our schools who are already struggling under shrinking budgets. My literary agent Caren is part of the Room to Write program, which encourages kids to read and write. Or we could become a mentor, which is a heck of a lot of fun and a proven way to keep youth out of prison. We could volunteer as EMTs or firefighters. Or we could find some other way to donate because volunteers are the new city employees.

Regardless of your politics, regardless if you think the cuts were too little or two much, a country of engaged citizens donating two or more hours per week would arguably have a larger economic impact than the loss of $2.4 trillion in government funds. Caren is getting kids excited about reading, which will yield better students able to solve tomorrow’s problems. The Leadership Board here in Muncie is championing mentoring, which ultimately leads to less crowded prisons and more productive citizens. What are you doing?

Will you pledge to volunteer two or more hours of your week for the next four years? Check out my Glocal Volunteer Resource to get started today.

Glocal, Mad World

It’s. ALL. About. Empathy.

By Kelsey

Sam Richards
Sam Richards is a sociologist and teacher of the largest race relations course in the US. He argues that empathy is the core of sociology. Full bio here.

Mad World

Fire Eaters Wanted

By Kelsey

What do you like to do?

Do you enjoy planning events, taking photos, editing videos, designing posters, playing guitar, playing video games, fire eating, sword swallowing, or working with spreadsheets?

I don’t mean to knock volunteering in a soup kitchen or swinging a hammer to frame a house, but that’s not the best way for me to use my time. Like BJ I don’t have a ton of time. I’ve got a two-month-old baby boy and a two-year-old daughter. (That’s a lot of diapers!) And I have to be very selfish with my time. Volunteering is an important part of my life, but I only have so much time, so I need to find ways to use my limited time the most effectively.

Each hour we volunteer in the United States equals about $20 in value to the organization. But what if we do that thing that we’re really good at?

I’m a writer. I’m a speaker. The best way I can make a difference is to write and speak. If I can find a way to put these skills to work, my value to an organization should be much more than $20 per hour.

If you’re looking for a way to give back and to make a difference, ask yourself what you love to do and do that.

As we build the Leadership Board, we’re tapping into the abilities of our members. What does that mean? I’m proposing a new slogan…

Leadership Board: Fire Eaters Wanted

Challenge us, challenge yourself to find ways to serve others with your passion. What do you love to do? We really want to know. Join the Leadership Board and tell us.

### Photos by kh1234567890 via flickr

Giving Back, Glocal