Fashion matters

Hello, hello, and welcome to this week’s edition of The Stitch—where I drop a little piece of evidence-based research straight to your inbox.

Before I do, I want to say a very big thank you for signing up to The Stitch. Having you here has me feeling a little more optimistic about this world we all share together.

If you’re here because someone has forwarded you this email (big thanks to whoever did that!) and you’d like to join in the fun, you can subscribe here:

Let’s cut right to it. Big official welcome to this fourth(!) edition of The Stitch. This week’s theme? Fashion!

I get it. Maybe the word ‘fashion’ is a turn off, and you’d prefer I say clothing, or apparel. You could sub in one of those words, if you’d like. I’m sticking to fashion.

Tensions in terms have me thinking of fashion theorist Valerie Steele, who has written on how ‘fashion’ can be seen as a bad word—the ‘F-word’—even though it’s something people are indeed thinking through when they make decisions about what they are wearing (or not wearing). Every. Single. Day.

These tensions still stand. Fashion is often perceived to be silly, unimportant and frivolous. And yet, most of us have a legal obligation to get dressed in the morning. And when we do, we make certain choices based on what we like, or how we feel, or what we can afford, or find, or how we’d like others to imagine us.

Fashion is complex. And it’s important. Of course I would say that, given that fashion sits within my own research wheelhouse. So, while this may be the first newsletter where I share evidence-based insights on fashion, it likely won’t be the last…

Because fashion is political, it is cultural, and it is social. Fashion—or whatever you want to call it—matters.

Importantly, it’s linked to millions upon millions of jobs, with a social and environmental footprint that has been making our collective heads spin for ages and ages.

Now, in recent weeks, we’ve seen the impacts USAID cuts are having on organizations all over the world. In Bangladesh, labour rights organizers in the garment sector are among those being hit hard.

So, I thought it a good time to zero in on some evidence about the labour rights of garment workers. Specifically, workers in Bangladesh, in a post-Rana Plaza era.

Rana Plaza, for those who may not know, was a building that collapsed in 2013 in Savar, Bangladesh. The building housed garment factories where workers were producing clothing for sale in international markets, like Canada. More than 1,100 workers were killed. Thousands more injured. The disaster is said to have sparked important change, but not everyone agrees on this.

📖 READ //

In this article, Md Shoaib Ahmed and Shahzad Uddin discuss workplace bullying in the apparel sector, focusing in on evidence from Bangladesh. They questions whose interests are being protected, and at whose expense:

🎧 LISTEN //

Now for a podcast. In this episode of Don’t Call Me Resilient, Dina Siddiqi and Minh-Ha Pham reflect on what stakeholders in Bangladesh—like companies, governments and even activists—have been up to since the collapse. They bring a chilling take and add much needed context.

As you’ll discover through these resources, it’s all a big mess. But it’s a human mess, at that: caused and created by people. I like to remind myself of this, because otherwise I find change to seem impossible. And it’s not impossible at all.

⁉️ Now back to the ‘F’ word (fashion). My question for you this week is this: what are you wearing today? What do the tags reveal, and what do they hide?

You can reply directly to this email ([email protected]) or share your thoughts in the comments.

If you enjoyed this newsletter, please share it with anyone you think might also enjoy it! I’d be ever so grateful if you did.

Until next time,

Mary

If you have an academic, evidence-based, article or project you’d like readers to check out (whether already published open access or not), be sure to submit a pitch here: