Great sacrifices: Labels in Poverty
By Samantha Davidson.
Odd, but true: some New Zealand teenagers (or their parents) are forking over $160 for a single item of clothing, while not even being able to get enough together for school fees.
Did you know that almost one in every three young New Zealanders lives in poverty? Children and young people in New Zealand also have the fifth highest rate of death from maltreatment in the developed world and are more at risk from human rights abuses than any other group.
Clothes or class?
Reports suggest many parents and teenagers are having trouble paying school and exam fees, and are skipping NCEA assessment because of it. There have been reports from schools of students themselves or older siblings paying for fees from part-time jobs, and in one occasion a parent taking out personal loans to cover them.
Some young people are working hard just to put themselves through school – something the majority of us take for granted – and are then being penalised by their peers for spending their hard earned dosh on education and living expenses, as opposed to the one-season-wonder-fad of pre-ripped jeans and wrinkled shirts!
Due to our generation’s obsession with Von Dutch and Stussy, certain parenting magazines (check out mainstreetmom for a laugh) actually recommend paying extra for labels to avoid being the unfortunate guardians of a child who is “the target of unwanted teasing and bullying”. One intriguing “guide” even has several ways in which parents can obtain more cash-to-splash, including cutting out car insurance – the chances of actually having a crash aren’t terrifically high, after all.If these are the lengths the people of our nation are pressed to go to for the preservation of ones’ social fashion status, what are we saying to the world?
We might buy into label clothing for comfort or ‘cause we like the way it looks, but it doesn’t mean we should judge people who – for whatever reason – aren’t wearing it.
Check out Child Poverty Action Group’s report on how NCEA fees are affecting poor families
Find out more
- No Logo, Naomi Klein
- Branded: The buying and selling of teenagers, Alissa Quart
- The New Rulers of the World, John Pilger (video)
- antipreneur.org
- adbusters
- International confederation of Free Trade Unions
- Trade Aid
- globalissues
TAKE ACTION: Be the alternative
Want to try to avoid branded clothing altogether? Here are a few suggestions.
- Go op shopping. Ah, the thrill of the find and the pride of a bargain. Because a lot of op shop items have been sitting in grandpa’s wardrobe for forty years, much of it precedes the move toward cheap and nasty labour. And more often than not, it’s one of a kind. Cheap too!
- Make your own stuff. Who knows, it could be the beginning of a career in fashion design. Not only do you have complete control over what goes on your t-shirts/pants/hoodies, you know exactly who was exploited in the making. And I hear knitting is hip again.
- Go Black Spot. This is a new anti-brand movement started by US magazine and anti-The Man force Adbusters. Their mission appears to be to take down Converse founder Phil Knight, and their first action is their Black Spot sneakers. They look just like Converse sneakers, but instead of the Converse symbol have a black spot representing their rejection of brands.
- Seek out fresh talent. If the sewing machine is a bit intimidating for ya, try hunting down an up and coming designer. There are heaps of new boutique fashion stores opening up in the cities with young designers begging to see their work on the frames of hip young
This article was written as part of Global Focus a collaborative project of Tearaway Magazine and the Global Education Centre. It was first published in Tearaway magazine and is reprinted here with their permission
Illustrator: Rebecca ter Borg
