Where is Bernie Wearing?

Where is Bernie wearing?

Bernie’s coat is from Burton, a snowboard apparel company in Vermont. Of course, it wasn’t made in Vermont. As someone who has traveled around the world to ask where my clothing came from, I took a few minutes to look at Bernie’s jacket. Some thoughts:

1) It’s sold out because Bernie is a fashion icon.

2) The Burton site simply states that the coat was Imported. Sometimes that’s because an item is made in several countries. Nothing necessarily nefarious, but I like to see companies acknowledge where their products actually come from.

3) The Burton CEO visited 5 of the factories from which they source in 2017. That’s good to see.

4) The company has the addresses…

Good People: Kohl Crecelius on Good Business & Importance of Job

Kohl Crecelius believes that jobs matter almost more than anything. He has helped lead the modern movement integrating social good and business, as he founded Krochet Kids and KNOWN SUPPLY. Kohl joins Kelsey and Jay to discuss Fair Trade, B-Corps, and how his journey started with crocheting.

Show Notes:

Kohl’s B-crop business – KNOWN SUPPLY
Nonprofit Kohl started with high school buddies – Krochet Kids

What we discussed:
His path to social entrepreneurship
Importance of travel
Aid and cycle of dependency
Rana Plaza factory collapse
Cause washing
Decision to create a nonprofit vs. a cause-oriented for profit
B Corps
Benefit Corporations
Fair Trade
Article: Prepare for the Ultimate Gaslighting…

Good People aren’t White Saviors

Kelsey Nielsen first traveled to Uganda to “love on babies” at an orphanage as a self-described “White Savior.” Then she started to ask questions about privilege and power and how best to help people. She is one of the founders of “No White Saviors” an Instagram account that has turned into a movement.

Our conversation on the Good People podcast went so long that I broke it into two parts. I could’ve asked her more questions. You can listen below or on Apple Podcasts or probably other places too. (I like doing the interviews, but not so much the administrivia a podcast or life requires.)

Part 1

Part 2

Show notes:

No…

Building on the work of other journalists

Yesterday I chatted with a documentarian in Scotland who is working on a film on where food comes from. We chatted for an hour about chocolate, bananas, and coffee.

I think journalism is like science in that community members build on each other’s work. I always take the time to help out a fellow journalist. I think it’s part of the responsibility of this work.

I had a chat with Elizabeth Cline very early on in her process of writing Overdressed. I even introduced her to my friend Dalton, who appeared in WHERE AM I WEARING. I also chatted with Marcus Stern who did a really great piece on child labor in coffee for The Weather Channel and Telemundo.

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Good People Episode #5: Fashion Revolution Day

On the 6th anniversary of the Rana Plaza factory disaster that killed 1,134 Bangladeshi garment works and injured thousands more, Kelsey shares his experiences in Bangladesh. This episode also features Christopher Cox of the Human Thread Campaign who, along with Kelsey, was a featured speaker at DePaul University’s Fair Trade fashion show.

Please subscribe, rate, and review on iTunes or on Stitcher.

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10 Years: Reconnecting with Nari & Ai

I was 28.  I got engaged and bought a home and left the country to meet the people who made my clothes. I had a few small assignments that would pay me hundreds of dollars for three-months of reporting that would cost me thousands.

Nari was 25. She was living with 7 other young women in a room that was maybe 100 square feet. She worked in a garment factory making Levi’s. She paid a $50 bribe to get her job, which paid her $50 per month. She sent half of her money home to support her family in her village. She wasn’t shy.

Ai was 24 and shy. She was one of Nari’s 7 roommates. She missed working in the fields at…

Participating in Chicago’s Fashion Revolution

4 years ago 1,134 Bangladeshis died making our clothes

One moment Reshma Begum was sewing. The next, she was falling from her station on the second floor into the basement of the Rana Plaza garment factory in Savar, Bangladesh.

She lost consciousness. She awoke to cries of help that gradually silenced. Her clothes were shredded, everything was dark, and her hair was stuck in the rubble. She ripped her hair free and scavenged the dark crevices on her hands and knees finding four crackers, a small bottle of water, and the occasional puddle to quench her thirst. She probed her surroundings with a pipe for pockets of air.

This was her life. This was her living for seventeen days.

Was Reshma’s situation an unfortunate end to an individual pursuing real opportunity…

Should we be for child labor in Bangladesh?

The worst thing isn’t that we live in a world where child labor exists, it’s that we live in a world where mothers and fathers who love their children send their kids off to work for the day because they have to. They have to rely on their income.

At least that’s how I feel about child labor. It’s not as clear cut of an issue as some make it out to be. In fact, a group of academics came out against the UN’s stricter child labor rules calling them a damaging mistake:

“Banning children from work doesn’t bring them back into school; in fact, it might do the opposite if they were working to pay their school fees.

“For some children it’s a matter…

6th grader writes editorial in support of garment workers in Bangladesh

We all need to be a bit more like 6th grader Kayne McConnell of Shelbyville, Illinois. Kayne wrote an editorial to the Shelbyville Daily Union titled, “Upset over Bangladesh working conditions.”

He writes:

Hi, my name is Kayne. I am telling you about the garment workers in Bangladesh. They make some of the most popular clothing in America, but people are dying there.

I am only a 6th grader, but I care about these people. Like in Bangladesh, the Rana Plaza factory collapsed and killed thousands of innocent people!

Also in another factory in Bangladesh, a fire happened and destroyed the building, only two months after!

Please consider spreading awareness. These people need better work conditions.

People get killed by…