The full length show airs Sundays at 11PM on HBO, but each Monday morning you can find 15-25 minute John Oliver rants on the YouTube Channel.
Typically Oliver highlights something that's wrong with America, wraps it up in sarcasm and humour, and drives home a call to action for viewers to be responsible citizens and consumers.
Every week I watch, and I'm shocked at the state of the world and the USA (pronounced 'Murica), and am left gratefully that generally Canada has it's sh!t more together than that. But this week John struck close to home.
This week John drew attentions to the real cost of discount fashion, shining the light on some of my favourite brands including H&M (and their $4.95 dress). (video's 17minutes but totally worth it!)
I have to admit, I happen to love finding a cute top or dress or jeans for less than $20. And have certainly bought things just to wear once, leave them in my closet for a year and then get rid of them. (at least I donate or consign everything). And if you piled up my entire wardrobe, not only would you find I have more than enough clothing to wear something different every day for months at a time, but I would probably still complain the next morning that I have nothing nice to wear.
And that's before you go anywhere near my lululemon collection.
So while John calls out the executives of many of the brands making irresponsible supply chain management choices to support their low costs while still turning massive profits, I felt a second call out to me, as the consumer.
Because let's be honest, every time we buy a $10 disposable dress, we are sending a collective message that this is OK.
I can't make any promises that I will radically change my shopping habits all at once. But I think I need to spend some time seriously thinking about them. And maybe set some goals regarding how I shop.
So that's what's on my mind this Tuesday. What do you have to say about the disposable fashion industry? Leave your thoughts in the comments.
The point he made best was that the various companies will continue to break their own policies and whatever laws or regulations happen to get in the way, as long as they can make a profit. This is what a race to the bottom line means. The only way they will stop, the only way at all, is to stop buying their products. Do a little more research, find products that are not made by near slave labour, and be prepared to pay a little more. There is a book called The Price of a Bargain by Gordon Laird. Great reading.
ReplyDeleteI'll have to look into that book (I pinned it to my to read list). Thanks for the insightful comments Keith!
DeleteIt is definitely something to think of. I love to shop in local boutiques rather than big name stores when I can, but it comes at a price tag that sometimes isn't as appealing.
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