Who and what has been exploited to make this possible? And why? How many towels or pairs of jeans does one person need?
We continue to buy more and more, of less quality at cheaper and cheaper prices. But why? Buy Nothing New asks us to stop and think about the real price of endless shopping by pledging to Buy Nothing New for the month of October.
An ad I caught recently (for K-Mart) had a woman saying something like “$10 jeans! I could have a pair for every day of the week!” Really? Who on earth wants that many pairs of jeans? Another one had a woman saying “With prices like these I had a full trolley in no time – and I just want to come back and keep shopping!” If this was an ad for food, and there was someone stuffing themselves with cheap junk food to the point of bursting, there would be outrage. But in the world of clothing and household items, this mindless consumption now seems the norm. Why not buy more if you can?
Chances are we will barely use what we buy, if at all. According to the Buy Nothing New website, Australians have admitted to spending over $10 billion every year on goods they do not use.* Think about the last council Clean Up on your street.
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| Council Clean Up (Photo by Jo Smith, My Project Daphne) |
Buying more and more for less and less impacts more than just the environment. Someone actually has to make these items. Someone sits at a machine and adds the finishes to the towels, someone sews the jeans. If we are buying a pair of jeans for $10, how much does the person sewing them get? Considering that this price must include purchase of the material used, transport to get it to us, the overheads of the retailer… you can do the maths.
It just doesn’t add up. Despite all of the above, destroying the planet, exploiting people poorer than ourselves, the saddest thing about mindless buying is what it has done to us. When did shopping become entertainment? As Bill Bryson famously said, “We used to build civilizations. Now we build shopping malls.”
We build shopping malls, where we buy poor quality items, mostly clothes. Clothes which we wear - to the shopping mall. We probably only wear our purchase once, because while we are there, we buy more clothes for the next time we go ‘out’ – to the shopping mall.
If you are worried that scaling back your purchases will cramp your style, this is what Vivienne Westwood, one of the most stylish people on the planet, has to say on the subject: “If you ask me what I think people should be getting next season. I’ll tell you what I’d like them to buy – nothing. I’d like people to stop buying and buying and buying…”
And if you must buy, I say buy quality. I understand that not everyone is so keen on the idea of second hand clothes. But maybe think about buying one pair of ethically made jeans, a pair that will last and continue to look stylish.
And then leave the mall.
*Based on 2005 paper from the Australia Institute by Clive Hamilton Richard Denniss and David Baker
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4 comments:
Hi Nim
We got to the 'buy nothing', let alone 'nothing new', when we were planning our UK-NZ emigration. The cost of shipping meant we needed to get rid of stuff, which then sold at a car boot sale just got rather depressing for all the cash we'd spent on stuff now sold for very little.
Still, it was at least recycling our unwanted stuff onto a new home.
Plus it was money saving, not buying stuff = bigger mortgage repayments.
So now, it's a decision of want vs. need. When shoe's have a hole and give you wet feet in the rain, a repair or new shoes are needed.
A t-shirt is always a want, never a need.
A
I know what you mean! Moving, especially countries, is always a wake up call to how much 'stuff' we accumulate. I went to the UK with nothing more than a backpack and 3 years later I had a flat full of 'stuff'.
I'm with you on the shoe repairs - I just had a couple of pair re-soled, good for another few years - and good quality so still looking good :)
This is such a wonderful post Nimmity. I think you raise excellent points about the ads. The TV commercial here in the USA drive me made lately. They act like there isn't even a recession on - people making fun of their friends for still having a flip phone and what not.
I don't buy a whole lot new anymore. All of mine and my son's outwear is always from thrift stores and yard sales. It is amazing what great clothing, in excellent condition people give away. If I have to buy something new it is Fair Trade, because, like you, when I see a $10 pair of jeans I wonder at the human misery involved in its production.
Thank you for your comment - it is good to know there are some like minded folk out there :)
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