It’s Our Duty To Know How Our Clothes Were Made

Easier Not To Know What We Don’t Know

It’s easy to go about our lives not knowing the fact that our clothes were made by under-paid, poorly treated workers; our leather jackets created from cruelly skinning cows and consuming a ridiculous amount of water to do so; and our down jackets produced by plucking geese alive, leaving them with terrible wounds. 

When you don’t know these things, you can pretend that they don’t exist. So, we plod along, running away from the news and the dark reality that envelops much of the fashion industry. Because it’s so much easier. 

But it’s our duty to understand the implications of our choices. 

It’s Our Duty To Know

I understand that not everyone can afford ethical fashion. I also understand that it’s unlikely we’ll know all the details of each piece of clothing (although we should, and hopefully soon). However, it’s our duty to understand the basics.

By basics I mean that real leather is made from cows and uses toxins and water that pollutes the environment. That the down in our jackets and pillows is so often collected by the live plucking of geese. That non-organic cotton uses toxic pesticides, fertilisers and methods toxic to the environment and destroying soil fertility. Or that fast fashion often underpays and mistreats their workers. 

It benefits the fashion industry that we don’t know where our clothes come from, and don’t associate a leather bag with dead cows. But that's simply not good enough.

Our duty to educate ourselves on the impact of our consumer choices. Maybe you don’t care, and you’ll move swiftly along, and swipe your card at that fast fashion store again tomorrow. Fair enough – at least you acknowledge the impact that it's having. 

What is not fair, however, is ignoring when you have the ability to be informed. 

It’s a coping mechanism; I get it, understanding our impact is undoubtedly anxiety inducing! 

But, we owe it to our Planet, our People, and our Animals.

We owe it to them to understand how we’re impacting them. 

At culthread, we also believe we owe our Planet, People, and Animals respect and love. That’s why each of our pieces are 100% vegan, 90-100% recycled, and ethically handmade. That's also why we've created our cultruth guide to help explain sustainable fashion succinctly and simply.