Fashionably Conscious

I recently viewed the documentary Schmatta on HBO the other day and I was really moved by how the fashion industry has been diminished by American greed over the past few decades. Schmatta in Yiddish simply means rags.

Whether we recognize it or not, we all contribute to this industry. Mark Twain once famously said, “Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.” Naked people in society are often found going to jail due to indecency.

We need to wear clothes and we have the choice on what we put on our bodies. All clothes serve a purpose: to keep us warm, to protect us, to make us feel attractive, to make us professional, to help us work, etc.

According to Schmatta, Americans are now buying approximately 5% of clothing made in the United States. Immigrants who built their foundations in this country by working in jobs to create clothes for you and me are slowly becoming extinct. Now, most of our clothing is outsourced and made in Third World countries that have poor working conditions, use child labor, and they make our clothes cheaply so that we can buy them from our Wal-Marts and our Old Navys.

I am just as guilty. The recession has hit me, though not as hard as many Americans. I am fortunate to still have a job. Everything cost more and we are making less or nothing at all. But still, when I go and buy my clothes and necessities, I am saddened that I am no longer contributing to our economy so that I can save a few dollars, and indirectly, I am contributing to inhumane labor and putting hard working people out of business.

Many people outside of Manhattan may not care that the once lively Garment District is turning into a graveyard of empty building that once housed workers that made clothing for us. I do not live in New York City. I have never stepped foot in the Garment District and I’m afraid that if I ever do get there, it will be gone. It’s not so much the impact of this neighborhood disappearing. I have seen neighborhoods vanish before my eyes living in St. Louis. St. Louis is now a skeleton of the vibrant city that it once was. What saddens me is what this represents. The American Dream is dying.

click here to find out more: http://www.hbo.com/docs/programs/schmatta/index.html