Using money and resources
13. Buying clothes

Being trendy seems to be pretty important these days. But being fashionable is costly, and not just on your pocket! There are other hidden costs too - costs to people's health and wellbeing that we are often blind to when we go shopping. Many of the companies who make and sell the trendiest clothes and trainers manufacture their products in poor countries. They often employ people for very long hours in dangerous and uncomfortable factories and pay them tiny amounts for their work. Some well known companies have even been found employing children as young as 12 in their factories. Caring about the lives of the people who make your clothes will help to reduce your footprint. By refusing to buy clothes from companies that exploit their factory workers, you will be putting pressure on those companies to improve working conditions.
Some might argue that there are better things you can do with your money than spend it on the latest fashions. After all, the only reason we have fashions is because they come and go so quickly! Buying clothes from charity shops like Oxfam is not only cheaper, but also gives money to a good cause. Reusing clothes and helping charity at the same time is a sure way to reduce your footprint. You never know, if enough people bought their clothes from charity shops, second hand clothes might just become the latest fashion!

Do you agree? Add your voice to the debate on this issue

Did You Know?

• Some of the workers that make the clothes we wear earn just 11p an hour and work 11 hours a day. That's just £1. 21 for a full day's work!
• A designer jacket costing more than £100 in the UK would bring the Bangladeshi woman who made it just 51p.
  
• In the world's poorest countries about 250 million children between the age of 5 and 14 work, often in dangerous conditions

Take Action

• Ask the shops where you buy your clothes or trainers if they can guarantee that the workers who made the products on sale are treated fairly. If they cannot give you this guarantee, tell them that you will not be buying from the shop anymore.
  
• Make sure that all your old clothes are reused: pass them on to younger brothers or sisters or make sure they go to a charity shop