Sales! Sales! Discounted piles of clothes fill up shops like it’s a normal sight. Two months a year, the shopping streets turn into animalistic wrestling pits. Lovers of cheap throw themselves eagerly into the game of dirty consumerism. Like wolves smelling blood they get in full blown attack mode and bite whoever dares to do as much as look at their 70% off treasure.
It’s crazy, it’s ecstatic, it’s sad and a bit scary. Of course I, too, love the thrill of finding a cheap ass piece of clothing, two shoes for the price of one, colourful bundles of fabric five sizes too big, but cheap enough to get creative. Like ooh yeah this is perfect for Halloween 2025 when I've had twelve children and a million cakes. Or whenever someone throws a very specific dress up party, I will rock this outfit I will never be able to wear in real life, because I would get arrested. So most often it will find a new home in the back of my wardrobe where the outfit will stay for the rest of my life.
I’m all for supporting the makers and not making the billion dollar chains even richer. Made in Bangladesh or China or any place where children work in factories for next to nothing, is not my style. There are enough pre-loved clothes on this planet, or unique pieces made by locals with love and honest wages. We can all make a difference, by choosing what we spend our money on.
I usually take this checklist with me while out shopping:
Made in a place with fair working conditions?
By buying this, am I helping someone’s dream come true?
Can I be braless when wearing this?
Will I rock this outfit without getting arrested?
When the answer is NO every time, I turn my back and leave in search of a fairer, dreamier, bralesser, rockier outfit.
Adieu!