Look for the Sweat Shop Label

What do Mexico, Bangladesh, Honduras, Guatemala, China, Haiti, and Columbia have in common? They all have factories that produce our clothing - and the list of countries doesn't end with these.

Name a country where the labour and environmental laws are much more lax (or non-existant) than in North America ), and probably there are huge global interests, having garments produced for the North American and other markets

Why should we care?

Naomi Wolf, in her article "The High Price of Cheap Fashion," in Project Syndicate (Jun/10), discusses the conditions of the workers in garment factories around the world. (And, although they are mostly women, the abuse of men and children who work in the industry exists as well.)

We all know that cheap clothing is usually made in sweatshop conditions – and usually by women. And we know – or should know – that women in sweatshops around the world report being locked in and forbidden to use bathrooms for long periods, as well as sexual harassment, violent union-busting, and other forms of coercion.

Although Wolf's article is about cheap fashion, the problem is not limited to the inexpensive. Higher end clothing is sometimes made in terrible conditions too. It's actually unusual these days to find any clothing made in Europe or North America.

What can we do?

We first have to care more about other people's lives than we do about a cheap deal; then we can have an effect with how and where we spend our clothing dollars - "our money is the one tool powerful enough to force manufacturers to change their ways." And consumers have had an effect in recent years with college t-shirts, coffee, and produce, as Wolf points out.

To say something was a real steal is often true with clothing and in ways worth thinking about.

I "stole" the title of this post from the International Ladies Garment Workers' Union commercial from 1978 - "Look for the Union Label" - so will end with them and their spokesperson opening the ad with his prophetic remarks.

Weird, Wild, Wonderful 4 - January 24 - 30

A most interesting site if you love lemons, as I do, is lemonflower. This site has everything lemon, from recipes, to beauty tips, to laws about lemon cars, to a business plan for a lemonade stand! The recipes alone are worth the visit - lemon pie, lemonade, lemon chicken, lemon butter.


Also this week is Blogger's Cafe, a blog full to overflowing with information and reviews of other blogs. There are four "libraries" in this blog, each containing the blogs the owner has reviewed in categories - makes things easy to find. This is a great resource and is always good for spending as much time as one has free just poking around.


I love wine and am only just beginning to work my way around a site called Winedoctor (independent opinion on wine). The site is extensive with detailed information about wines from different countries and regions, about producers, vintages, and tasting notes. There is a glossary of terms and a section called Wine Advice with information on such things as choosing glasses and shapes of wine bottles. This is another one that could keep a person busy for a good while.



Finally this week is a blog that already has about 15,000 followers, so needs no introduction from me! But I do love it, so can't resist. The Sartorialist features photos from great cities like Paris, Milan, and New York (among others) of chic and stylish people on the street. What a simple, but wonderful idea. The men and women  Scott Schuman photographs all have a distinct personal style, are always cool, and mostly wear clothes that I couldn't wear in a million years. But they are totally wonderful.

Little Black Meme

On a whim, I searched for "little black dress" just to see where (and if) in our cultural life it is important. I shouldn't have been surprised, but it is everywhere and could probably be considered a meme.

"Little black dress" is attached to products, mostly for 20ish women, but the fashion item, itself, has been recently in the news. There is also currently a play running in Boston called - what else? - Little Black Dress.

Little Black Dress Wines, which I have not tried,  has an interesting idea on their site. They pair little black dress styles with wines. Their pinot grigio is described as "cutting edge," as is the stylized sketch of an LBD.

Little Black Dress Books, based in the UK, has dozens of titles for young women, plus a blog, competitions, lists of authors, and health and beauty links. Little Black Dress Shop in Toronto sells LBD, in person and online.

A piece in the fashion section of the Toronto Star "Little black dress remains a basic treasure" discusses some of the history and the importance of the LBD, especially in France.

And in Boston, the play Little Black Dress at the Boston Playwrights' Theatre runs until October 24.

In Australia this past August, there was the Diet Coca-Cola Little Black Dress Rosemount Sydney Fashion Festival 2009. The photos of this event are awesome; visit at Sydney Events Photography on Flickr.

So that LDB that Coco Chanel popularized in the 1920s is alive and very well.

Sartor Realistus

I love The Sartorialist and the pictures of real people wearing cool clothes. This blog began because of the disconnect between what the fashion industry offers and what people actually wear.

Fashion magazines are fun to look at, but many of the clothes shown don't offer much inspiration for real life. The ostrich-feather mini teamed with the cheeky flower-pot hat and faux gold-leaf satchel may be artistic, but the concept doesn't translate easily (at all) into anything I can or want to wear.

Hats (of any variety) off to The Sartorialist.

I would like to invite Scott Schuman to my soiree.