Written by Kim Kokernot
In order to challenge students to see past the fabric of their clothing and recognize the sacrifice of sweatshop workers who produce it, HUmanity hosted a fashion show on the front lawn Thursday, March 26.
Workers in sweatshops, 90 percent of whom are women, earn sub-minimum wages, receive no benefits, are forced to work overtime, suffer sexual harassment and verbal abuse and are often illegally fired.
HUmanity, an organization that focuses on spreading social justice awareness, felt the need to share this information with the student body. Thinking artistically, the group came up with the idea of a fashion show to educate students about companies that use sweatshops to produce clothing.
“These companies work hard to mask what they’re doing. That’s what [drove] us to do the fashion show,” sophomore and co-director of the fashion show Emily Gilbert said. “We want to get the truth out so people can make their future [purchasing] decisions out of knowledge instead of the ignorance we’re all held under by the fashion industry.”
With a backdrop of music reflecting the group’s humanitarian mission, social club beaux and queens walked the U-shaped runway as the truth behind each stitch of their outfits was unraveled. Brands popular with students, including Abercrombie & Fitch, Hanes, Adidas, Nike and many others were worn by models on one side of the runway, representing “bad” clothing companies.
The “bad” clothing was made unsustainably, while the opposite side of the runway was used for modeling “good,” sustainable clothing.
“A good company benefits the earth and its people. Benefiting the earth means not using synthetic chemicals, not ripping and pillaging the earth for resources and using recycled resources,” Seagle said. “They are grown in farms that have workers that are paid well. Bad companies do the opposite.”
The sustainable clothes used in the fashion show were donated by about 35 companies, while unsustainable clothes came from the models’ personal wardrobes.
Hostesses Abby Howard and Heather Mitchell announced which company each article of clothing came from, why it was good or bad, and how to purchase it if it was good.
“We’ve got to start looking beyond the price tag to see the real cost of the things we’re buying,” Gilbert said.
After realizing the indignities that sweatshop workers endure, shopping for clothing now comes with moral decisions for some.
“Following Christ, and even as citizens of this world, we should regard other people that are making our clothes and care about the life that is being taken away from them,” junior John Snyder said. “The fact is that in the U.S., we are exploiting people that we don’t even know about. It’s important to see that just by spreading awareness, by changing the way that we buy or even by going out and talking to companies and forcing them to change, we can change the lives of millions of people for the better.”
Gilbert said by comparing the concerns of life in the U.S. with those of children being exploited, she found herself compelled to fight for justice.
“I worry about having enough time to study for my test if I play in my club softball game tonight; kids in India working in these sweatshops are wondering if they’ll have enough time to finish all the work they need to do to make enough money to have food tomorrow,” Gilbert said. “They don’t have the time or resources to tell people about the unjust world they live in and ask for help, but I do. I think that makes the responsibility fall on me, on all of us here at Harding.”
Although the students of HUmanity are now educating others about the use of sweatshops, they once had to face the reality of their own wardrobes.
“I had no idea how many of my clothes were made in sweatshops and, more importantly, how many peoples lives are affected by my fashion choices,” Gilbert said. “Now it’s hard to open the closet without picturing the unjust conditions in which we know they were produced.”
Though the fashion show has changed the way that students think about clothing, it was not intended to make anyone feel guilty about their past purchases.
“It’s not about guilt. It’s about reforming,” Seagle said. “Now that we know these things, that these clothes are stitched with slavery, we can choose to wear sustainable clothes instead.”
Students were encouraged to shop for sweatshop-free clothing online, purchase items from Goodwill and consignment stores and to fill out comment cards in the store or online to ask stores to carry clothes from socially responsible suppliers.
For more information about sweatshops and where to purchase sustainable clothing, go towww.coopamerica.org.
