Friday, September 26, 2008

The Jeans Industrial Complex



I own one pair of jeans. I hate shopping, and until recently I didn't have a lot of money. But I did splurge on the jeans. I went straight to the Gap, where they would have something that fit, that would made me look good, and that would look like it was from the current decade. Whether or not I know what the current decade looks like.

I wear the jeans nearly every day. I wash them once or twice a week.

Yeah, I still haven't gotten around to buying a second pair. Or rather, I did, and my teenage daughter took them. She didn't mean to--they were mixed up in the laundry. So now she's wearing another pair of mid-rise slightly-loose-on-her jeans, bringing her total up to 3. Do you think I want to take her to a store and mess up that?

Also, this amuses me because I have to buy my jeans while she's at school and then hide the bag. Because my daughter disapproves of The Gap. She's concerned (and rightly so) about labor abuse in third world countries. [check out the comments, we have exonerated the Gap, and I am now shopping there guilt free.] Fortunately, she doesn't look at the labels of jeans that just show up in her laundry basket.

Recently I raised all the children's allowances significantly. Now she has to buy her own clothes. She likes clothes, but she's virtuously not shopping. Something to do with the carbon footprint.

I bought a couple t-shirts at Target this week. $6.48 each. I don't know what human suffering that's predicated on. But to solve the problem of clothing myself when I was just out to buy a crockpot was more than I could pass by.

3 comments:

elasticwaistbandlady said...

I'm keeping the elastic factories alive during these difficult times with my many, many pairs of elasticwaistband pants.

As an added bonus, my teenage girls REFUSE to even think of stealing my jeans to wear unless there's a Dress Up Day at the Homeschool Co-Op and they decide to go as a fat hobo.

Amy said...

You have me intrigued and hooked to your "new money" life. Keep the posts coming!

This is Carrie said...

From someone who worked for Gap Inc and visited some of the factories they use, you can let your daughter know that Gap has some of the strictest factory standards in the entire fashion industry and spends a lot more money than other companies making sure the factories they use abide by them. Many other companies won't even go into a factory unless Gap has already done business with them.

But the truth is, no matter how hard they try, there is no way for them to control the labor practices of every factory they use. There are just too many. But Gap will continue to get all the bad publicity on the subject because they are high profile.

It's an important thing to be concerned about, but she should direct her concern to a more deserving place.