Blog Action Day: Outfit Post

It's Blog Action Day 2013 and this year we, as a collective, are focusing on human rights. As an ethical fashion blogger I've looked at the Rana Plaza factory collapse in my previous post and now I'm doing an outfit post to show you how you can use fashion to promote the proper enforcement of human rights.

In this picture, I'm wearing a top and a pair of boots both bought from Oxfam. Buying from Oxfam not only promotes the reduction of consumption and waste in the fashion industry but also gives to an incredibly good cause. Oxfam is committed to reducing poverty around the globe and promoting human rights. This top is actually originally from Edun- an ethical fashion brand which uses Fair Trade in its supply chain and promotes use of the African fashion industry. Fair Trade strictly promotes human rights in its labour policies. 

The skirt is from People Tree- pioneer of ethical and Fair Trade fashion and the first fashion brand to be accredited by the WFTO. People Tree is committed to providing long term jobs to those who need them most and creating beautiful items of clothing in the most human and environmentally friendly way possible.

By choosing to shop from ethical, Fair Trade, second hand and charity fashion brands; we can make a positive difference to peoples lives around the world and throughout the supply chain. Our purchasing power should not be over looked. As consumers we hold immense power over fashion brands; their supply meets our demand- if we demand better, they will have to provide.

Join the debate on twitter : )

@onegreendress  |  @MrsWandas  |  @BlogActionDay12  |  #BAD2013  |  #HumanRights

Blog Action Day: Rana Plaza

The Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh opened up the worlds eyes to a problem that has been ignored for too long. The garment industry has been employing labourers around the world without being fully aware of how human rights are being enforced or simply disregarded. This is mainly due to fashion brands out-sourcing labour and refusing to own the factories that produce their garments. In the past, this has relinquished them from any responsibility for factory safety upkeep and working conditions but now people are starting to question this chain of accountability. 

The fashion industry's supply chain is notoriously long and complicated; spanning many countries and cultures, travelling thousands of miles, passing through countless pairs of hands. This is where the problem of accountability and responsibility arises. Who do we look to, to enforce human rights throughout the supply chain? 

Fashion brands? Consumers? Governments?

Well I think that we all need to chip in. When a person's human rights are denied, we have a collective responsibility to speak up. Governments around the world should all be moving towards introducing not only minimum wages but living wages. There are some fashion brands that are already providing this for their employees around the world and I hope to see others follow in this vain. As consumers, what can we do? Well, we can demand more. We can call out the retailers that are disregarding human rights, we can promote the ones that are enforcing them and we can cast our vote with our money by letting our purchasing power do the talking.

After the Rana Plaza disaster, the 'Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh' was drafted by Uni Global Union, IndustriALL and NGWF. It was put forward to all the fashion companies producing garments in the city. Under the accord, garment workers can refuse to work in unsafe conditions and must continue to be paid under these circumstances until the issues are resolved. The fashion brands were not eager to sign, with some major hesitations from; Matalan, Edinburgh Woolen Mill, J D Sports and River Island. We are still waiting for Peacocks and Sports Direct to sign.

The fashion companies complicit in the Rana Plaza disaster were invited to Geneva to discuss setting up a fund for the victims. Of the 29 companies involved, only 9 turned up and only Primark contributed to the fund. It's time for us to call upon these fashion brands to become accountable to their workers. You can call on Peacocks and Sports Direct to sign the Accord via the See Through Fashion campaign here. You can also chose to cast your consumer vote wisely by shopping for clothes using ethical fashion brands that enforce living wages and by buying second hand from charity and vintage shops.

Learn more about human rights and ethical fashion by following the debate today on twitter

#humanrights | #BAD2013 | #ethicalfashion | @blogactionday12 | @MsWandas | @onegreendress

Picture from: Business of Fashion

Reading into Ethical Fashion

Want to find out more about ethical fashion? Enjoy a good book? Then look no further! I have written a blog post for the Oxfam Fashion Blog about my favourite ethical fashion reads. Click here to check them out : )

JAMMIN N' TING

This post is entirely un-fashion related but retains all the ethics that I hold true to this blog. Please do have a read: My very good friend and fellow ethical fashion supporter, Sigga Rafns, helps to manage the 'Jammin N' Ting' Annual Music and Arts Festival in Naledi Village, South Africa. The festival provides a platform to promote African music and art whilst proving an opportunity for the local community to develop skills and incomes to improve their standard of living.

"With the amazing location of the village in a valley surrounded by the sandstone mountains and spectacular reputation of Rustlers festivals the first steps have been taken towards creating an event that can focus on African heritage, while giving the people of Naledi the opportunity to use and develop their skills to improve their standards of living."

"Having been involved with the Rustlers music scene since 1993 Manello Funkikora has been developing a vision, for artist in Africa to have a place, a haven, where they can meet on mutual grounds to talk opportunities, connect and enjoy each other’s art and vision while supporting development in the rural villages of South Africa."

The festival has had more and more people interested in it and it now needs your help to take it to the next level. The festival has not been supported by big corporations so that local people can provide food and drinks stalls to earn themselves money as well helping to set up the infrastructure and they want to keep it that way. To go to the next level they need to market the festival to a wider urban audience. At the moment the festival relies on social media sites for publicity. They need a kick start to advertise more widely, to sell more tickets and then be financially self sustainable in the future. The other major cost is transport. The festival wants to sell transport packages to the festival from Johannesburg but they need to pay start up costs to reserve drivers and mini buses.

This is where you come in. To cover these costs, Jammin N' Ting need to raise £1,300. They have joined the  kickstarter website where you can pledge money to help to get them to their target. There are only 3 days left and so far they are up to £763 but they need your help to make it to the target! If you would like to donate to this fantastic project that promotes community development, self sufficiency, the learning of skills and the promotion of African music and art, then please donate here : ) Thank you