Clothing Swap - and a one-year commitment

We have done lots of things to reduce our global footprint since we began this 'one more thing per month' commitment back in May 2009. A skim over the blog archive shows we have made attempts to live more sustainably on many fronts, but I have been aware for some time there is a gaping omission in my commitments: clothing.

In June, one of the women at our church arranged an after-worship clothing swap. She was a bit overwhelmed by the volume of discarded clothing that arrived for redistribution. 

I took four bags of clothes, and came home with one bag for me and another one for a dress-up box for Eva (collected from the unwanted items being packed up at the end).

The clothing swap ran over two weeks, so we could take things home to try and return them the following week if they didn't suit. A visiting group of young people the second week helped quite a lot of the items find a new home - they could not believe their luck to be told all the clothes were free!

So, I have slightly reduced my wardrobe's load. The next step, and the one I have been actively avoiding for a while, is to commit to not refilling it with unethical garments. As this blog is called 'Small Steps' I have finally decided it is OK to commit to a small step only at this stage: for the 2013-14 financial year, I will not purchase any items of clothing for myself that are not ethically sourced and/or second-hand.

Its a small step only because I have not included clothing purchases for the children, and I have not committed to more than twelve months. 

A great deal of the clothes my children wear are hand-me-downs (to those who have passed clothes on to me for the kids - thank you! - you know who you are. Especially you who keep on handing on the next sizes after we grow past the welcome truckload of baby clothes) but just last week I bought Eva a whole pile of leggings - 'soft pants' - as she won't wear anything else at present and suddenly grew out the top and through the bottom of nearly all her existing such garments. They were $7 each and I knew as I purchased them that it could not be possible for everyone in the supply chain to have been paid and cared for appropriately for their work in making them. Eva will fit into them for a year if I am lucky. I am still struggling to commit to paying what I should be for clothes that will need replacing next year.

My first thought is that I may well simply buy nothing for myself this year. I have enough clothes. I tend to buy clothes on a whim, not go searching for a specific item. Figures from 2007 showed Australians spent $10.4 billion on clothes in that year and estimated that by 2013 we would be spending close to $12.8 billion. An average Australian woman purchases 56 clothing items per year (men buy less - around 29). Aside from proving that I am not an average Australian woman, as I find this figure outrageous and can't imagine what I would do with more than one new item of clothes per week, these statistics illustrate that we are consuming clothing at an unsustainable rate.

The most obvious issue of concern in the clothing industry is the poor conditions and low pay of clothing manufacturing workers. The horror of over 1000 clothing workers dying in Bangladesh in April because their building collapsed on them has brought the issue of third-world factory conditions to western media attention, if briefly. It is perhaps less well known that between 50 and 70% of Australian-made clothing is produced by piece-workers, often migrant women with few choices, who work to ridiculous deadlines, generally in cramped conditions, and end up earning on average $5-$8 per hour. In Australia. And many earn less - $3 an hour is well-documented - while having no superannuation, holidays or workers' compensation, and often being required to provide and maintain their own machines and tools.

Besides the immediate human impact, there are also significant environmental issues involved in the production of clothes. All that fabric comes from somewhere - cotton fields heavily sprayed with pesticides are a big supplier; non-renewable petrochemical-based materials such as nylon, vinyl, spandex, acrylic and polyester account for a significant portion of my wardrobe. All manner of chemicals are used to turn those raw materials into clothes that are coloured, shaped, pressed, washed, displayed and packaged for our purchase. Like most things we consume, clothes have often travelled a long way to reach us - and not by solar vehicles. Much clothing ends up in landfill - sadly, large amounts get there without ever being worn, but even well-worn garments are generally destined to get to the tip in the end, and if they are not natural fibres, they will have a long and stinky life there.

Buying second-hand is better than buying unethical clothes brand new, but I am also slightly uneasy about it. I have had patches in my life when I could only afford clothes if purchased from an op shop - including when I needed to outfit myself for my first professional job. It frustrated me enormously that the best items were often picked out by bargain hunters who could have afforded to buy new clothes but liked op shops.  I promised myself then that when I had a real income I would leave op shop goodies for those who had no other options. Another friend follows a policy of always paying double the shelf price when buying from an op shop. I don't entirely avoid second-hand stores, but it will be a challenge in the coming year to buy ethical, not just to avoid buying new at all.

Initial Time: Clothing swap: half an hour going through my clothes. I would have liked to take longer but it was not to be. Perhaps I was more ruthless because I was in a hurry. The clothing swap itself was a lovely friendly chat with friends while having a cuppa and wandering among rows of clothes - I don't consider it time 'spent'.

Twelve-month commitment: much thinking; no actual set-aside time. 

Initial Cost: Zero

Ongoing time or cost commitment: I am guessing individual garments will cost more, but cutting out impulse buying will mean the overall cost is about even. Similarly, time spent hunting for ethical brands will be an addition, but no longer meandering into any old clothing store that says 'sale' should be a time-saver.

Impact: Clothing swap: many of us reduced our wardrobes while adding a few items at no cost to us, to workers or to the environment; fifteen bags of clothing were gathered up at the end and passed on to charity shops. Not bad for a church gathering that has about 40 adults present on any given week.

Twelve-month commitment: I can't quantify it but I hope it will be two-fold: (1) ceasing to provide funds to clothing companies with unethical practices (2) actively financially supporting producers and retailers who are doing the right thing. I suspect it may also have the impact of changing my heart towards clothing. Just a couple of hours tonight researching this issue to write this blog have me already more concerned and willing to act differently than I have been in a long while.

I will try to let you know how this works out for me over the coming year.

Links

Slightly old but useful SMH article on Australian fashion cycles, consumer trends and their environmental and social impacts. Scroll to the almost-bottom for the 'life-cycle of fast fashion'. 

Ethical Clothing Australia (ECA) - formerly 'No Sweat' - the Australian accreditation scheme for ethical clothing

About Ethical Clothing Australia

Shop Ethical's info on Ethical Clothing Australia and on outworkers (homeworkers) in Australia

Shop Ethical's list of (as of today 120) clothing brands with ethical credentials - fair trade, organic, Australian made, alternative fibres, second hand etc, vegan (?!) and ECA-accredited. Listed in table-form showing which of these the brand gets a tick for, with links to the websites of each brand.

Fair Wear Australia - 'aims to end the exploitation of workers in the garment industry, in Australia and overseas'

Textile Clothing and Footwear Workers Union of Australia - includes information on various issues, and campaigns to participate in (eg. recent work to raise money for victims and families effected by the Bangladesh factory collapse)

Labour Behind the Label - 'supporting garment workers worldwide' - lots of campaigns to be involved in, with a resource section of research and information

Indigo Bazaar - funky-looking online fairtrade clothing shop. I haven't shopped there... yet

Check the comments section for more links or to add your own.

Bottling plums

Now on to something much more aesthetically pleasing than nappies...

Plum season is at an end and once again I was looking for ways to keep plums ready for our porridge through the coming months. The last couple of years we froze them, but our freezer doesn't really have room for storing months worth of breakfast plums. This year I decided to try bottling them.

We purchased 4.4kg of plums at the end of the season.

 

I initially searched online for no-sugar bottling options, as the amount of sugar our jamming experiments had required somewhat alarmed me. I found plenty of options, including one with no sugar, but it seemed too good to be true and I didn't have a second chance, so I compromised with a light sugar syrup loosely based on the second recipe here. I dissolved two cups of sugar with 1.5L of water. Measuring sugar in cups rather than kilos (as for jam) was a good feeling.

Plums were scrubbed and quartered, then squashed fairly firmly into jars. Warm sugar syrup was poured in to fill the jars (tapping to remove air bubbles) then they were closed and set into cold water on the stove.

These were then heated to boiling, and left to simmer for 20-30 minutes. I was unsure whether the water should cover the jar lids or not, but the size of our pots only allowed it to cover two jars and these did not work as well, so next time I think no covering the jar lids.

Pot lids were balanced on as best I could, as this reduces significantly the amount of heat required to keep a pot simmering. 

 

The finished product - 8 jars of plums - is delicious. Sweet but still tart. Lightly cooked but still fresh tasting.

Initial Time: About two hours.

Initial Cost: About $17 for plums. Either we missed the week they were in bulk and super cheap, or it never happened at our market this year.

Ongoing time or cost commitment: Zero

Impact: Again we are challenging the mass-production excess-packaging meet-every-whim-regardless-of-season food culture we live within. Its a little drop in a big ocean, but a good drop none the less.

No More Nappy Sacks

When Eva was born I was given a pack of Nappy Sacks. They were convenient but wasteful. I told myself that when they ran out I would buy no more... but I did.

With baby number two I have decided, really, NO MORE! I took this action months ago but wanted to wait to see if I could stick to it before blogging about it. (There are several secret actions in this category...)

When out and about I use the packaging from bread to bring dirty nappies home. I also have one 'Pea Pods' nappy bag - a wet-bag that a Pea Pod brand cloth nappy came in, a gift from a friend. Apparently all Pea Pod nappies come in these, but as I only have this one of their nappies (which doesn't work as reliably as the Baby Beehinds ones we mostly use) I have only one bag, which I wash and re-use.

I am delighted to say we are now a Nappy Sack free house.

For the uninitiated (you lucky, lucky people who have no dealings with children's poo), Nappy Sack is the brand name for little light-weight orange plastic bags designed for single-use transfer of dirty nappies into a bin. They look exactly like the bags in parks for dog poo. In fact I think they could well be the same thing rebranded.

Initial Time: A few seconds each time we finish a loaf of bread to shake the crumbs from the bag, tie it in a baby-safe knot, and store it in the nappy bag.

Initial Cost: Zero 

Ongoing time or cost commitment: This is a cost saving. Nappy Sacks cost about $8 for a pack of 300. Bread bags come free (if you buy the bread inside).

Impact: I only used Nappy Sacks when we were away from home, and I think we used 3 boxes (900 plastic bags) to get Eva through nappies and start out baby number two. Maybe four. Many people who use disposable nappies use a Nappy Sack for every nappy, even at home, which would be thousands of plastic bags. By my estimates, I will avoid putting several hundred, but no more than a thousand, little plastic bags into landfill.

The Shop Ethical guide

While holidaying in southern Victoria in February, I got distracted on my way to buy lunch by the wonderfully named Cow Lick bookshop . On the counter were copies of Shop Ethical: the Guide to Ethical Supermarket Shopping. So, along with bakery goods and a pile of excellent quality mark-down children's picture books, I returned to the car with the means for our next sustainability commitment.

 

This pocket guide is the size of a passport. It has masses of simply presented information packed into this handy size document. 

In each product category, the brands you are likely to find on your supermarket shelves are ranked according to how their parent companies measure up on a wide range of ethical issues, from treatment of workers to appropriate marketing, from animal testing to pollution. 

Brief introductions to 25 issues of potential concern are included throughout the guide, along with some concise analysis of supermarket chains, price wars and house branded products. In order to keep the guide at a size that fits nicely into a handbag, detail and subtleties of issues cannot be explored. However, websites to follow up for more information are provided. The Shop Ethical website also has far more extensive information available.

I like having a paper document in my hand, but Tyson with his smartphone preferred to purchase the Shop Ethical Ap and I must concede that this is a very useful format, as it allows much more detailed information to be available if required, and I presume gets updated.

The Guide comes out of Victoria, and is at times east-coast centric. When I encounter WA companies not itemised in the guide (eg. Olympic, Benjamins, B Re & Sons, Del Basso) I figure if they have not come to the attention of the Guide, they are probably not nasty multinationals. All these four look pretty local to me. The Guide is also less useful at our local continental store, where nearly everything is imported, and many brands are not in the Guide.

Another limitation is that its rankings are based on the parent companies rather than the characteristics of the specific product in your hand. For example, Body Shop ranks very badly, as it was bought out in 2006 by L'Oreal (who are being boycotted for animal testing), despite Body Shop doing much work on various justice issues, including against animal testing.

Initial Time: My first full shopping trip with the guide in hand took double the usual time.

Initial Cost: $8.95 (or $4.95 for the Ap). On my first shopping trip I estimate I added about $5-$10 to our fortnightly shop by choosing more ethical brands that were slightly higher priced. However, the need to look up every product dramatically reduced my impulse buying, as I was only bothered with the process for items we really needed, so I more than made that money back.

Ongoing time or cost commitment: As I learn the brands the time taken will reduce. For example, next time I will know without looking up: Leggos over Raguletto; White King over Harpic; Bathox over Radox; D'Orsogna over Watsonia.

Also, I am not starting from nothing. We have boycotted Nestle for many years (on account of their marketing of infant formula in developing countries where subsequent dependence on the product instead of breast milk leads to infant deaths) and, less strictly, Coca-Cola (for taking drinking water from poor communities in India - we are only less focused on this boycott because we simply don't buy the sort of products Coca-Cola sells very often, if at all). I find I simply don't see Nestle items on the shelf anymore most of the time. Years of boycotting Nestle has trained my eye to consider the company's products not even there. I imagine this process will gradually emerge with other brands now too.

I am prepared to make small exceptions where there is no reasonable substitute, such as: Milo (Nestle) while pregnant and breast feeding - all other substitutes have three or four times less iron, and I need the iron!; Johnson & Johnson nursing pads (company concerns re animal testing, unethical marketing, price fixing, action on Darfur) - seriously, the other brands are useless; Butter Menthols (Allens ie Nestle) - nothing from any better company works the same.  

The biggest challenge for me is stepping away from house brands (for us, shopping at an IGA, this means Black & Gold, No Frills and Signature Range). The problem with these brands is that they don't disclose manufacturing information, so informed choice becomes impossible. Estimates say half of all house brand items are imported. Low prices on house brands squeeze local producers. I am struggling with avoiding them completely and taking it one item at a time at this stage.

Impact: I am a big believer that every small action counts. Companies that cannot attract buyers for their products will eventually have to change their practices or fold. I have not yet taken action to notify companies that I am avoiding their products, and why, but I am considering this as a future monthly action. Every action counts, and it counts a whole lot more if the relevant people know.

Some time ago Tyson and I reflected that we were reaching the limit of what we could feasibly do to reduce our global impact within our home. We surprise ourselves by going on finding ways to chip away at our domestic energy and water use and generation of waste, but our footprints now are bigger where we don't see them: in supply chains, production systems, and all the behind-the-scenes stuff that goes into supporting our lifestyle. Trying to shop ethically is a way to keep me mindful of these hidden footprints - which don't turn up itemised on bi-monthly energy bills - and make what difference I can. The Guide is not perfect, but its a whole lot better than standing in the supermarket aisle and guessing.

The week of the nectarines

One of the best things about shopping at the farmers' market is the availability of seasonal fruit in bulk. Last Saturday whole boxes of slightly imperfect nectarines were selling for $10. Our box had about 8.5kg of fruit.

What to do with 8.5kg of nectarines? 

First project: jam

 

Tyson based the jam roughly on this recipe. About 2.5kg of nectarine flesh (after stones were removed - no need to peel) produced the quantity of jam shown above.

So many people have reacted with surprise when I mentioned making nectarine jam that it has caused me to think about how strongly our perception of what is or is not 'legitimate' food is shaped by what is available in supermarkets. There is no Cottees or IXL nectarine jam and therefore it doesn't register on the radar when a big box of nectarines is available. Unlike strawberry jam, which a box of ripe strawberries fairly cried out to me in large letters, despite the fact that I don't buy strawberry jam as it is not my favourite.

Nectarine jam is so, so good. WAY better than strawberry jam, and easier to make, as the pectin content is higher in nectarines than strawberries (the thing that helps it set - I didn't know that six months ago either).

If not jam, then smoothies: 

Two peeled nectarines, hearty dollop of vanilla yoghurt, about a cup of milk. Blend.

Or baked nectarines:

 

 

 

 

Tyson did one tray simply adding cinnamon or vanilla sugar to each half fruit and baking uncovered for around 20 minutes (pictured). He did a second tray as follows: 

Line well-greased baking tray with baking paper. Halve the nectarines, drizzle a little brandy on each half, then sprinkle sugar on each. Put a small lump of butter on each. Pour about 100ml water into the bottom of the pan. Cover with alfoil or a baking tray and bake for 20min in a 200°C oven. Take the cover off and sprinkle a little more sugar on each, then back into the oven for 10min to finish.

The brandied ones came out softer than the cinnamon ones - more of a stewed than baked finish.

Or just eat them. Many of the 'slightly damaged' nectarines in our box were much more delicious than the 'perfect' ones usually available.

 

They ran out by Thursday, so I can assure you we had no trouble putting away the whole box.

Market day today: Nectarines $5 a tray. Our tray weighed in at just short of 7kg. So the week of the nectarines is extending into a fortnight... at least...

Initial Time: Clare: five minutes to make a smoothie. Tyson: three hours for jam; about 20 minutes for baked nectarines. I love being married to a man who likes to cook...

Initial Cost: $10 (and now another $5 for week two)

Ongoing time or cost commitment: zero - in fact, a cost saving as we won't be buying jam any time soon. Or possibly ever again, if we keep up the bulk fruit jamming a couple of times a year.

Impact: As when I wrote about using bulk strawberries (jam and pulp) and freezing plums, this is more about shifting my thinking than having a large impact as a single action. Still, we have managed again to use local fruit in season and make a small reduction in the food miles and packaging required to source our food.