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So, when buying pre-owned things you would think that you are not contributing to the psycho/physical effects of sweatshop labor or to the effects that manufacturing has on the environment, among other things.
I might have continued to hold this belief had I not had this niggling fear that my efforts of buying pre-owned clothing were not guilt free. The loophole or catch I realized is the merchant.
So, my question was and is:
What do the sellers do with the money? Do they use it to buy new things? Are my buying practices only enabling those that have no ethical compass? So I decided to create a little survey to send to the shops that I buy from on Etsy (an online marketplace).
Yesterday, I sent out the survey to some 50 shops (In the survey introduction I originally said 100 but that estimation was a bit overblown since I had not factored in that my feedback rating - which is over 100 on one account - includes feedback from sellers that I I bought multiple items from and some things handmade i.e. not vintage and some from suppliers and I did not send the survey to these shops). I am still collecting responses and I will be writing an article which I will share the survey results.
My motivation for writing a survey is because I want to get an idea of where my money goes.
If I understand you correctly, you are saying that where the seller spends his/her money is an externality that you must consider when purchasing an item from that seller. However, that is not what an externality is. An externality relates to the production of an item, not its end use. If you are concerned about where the sellers are spending their money that is a different philosophical question. You do not live in a vacuum in this world. EVERYTHING you do has an impact and unintended consequences and you would drive yourself crazy considering all of them. Every penny you have ever spent in this world is cash being injected into the economy and you have no control over what is done with it. Even when you buy your organic, all-natural kale chips from the cool independent grocery store down the way, you are basically giving the owners your money to do whatever they want with (and most likely that is to go buy pot). All jokes aside, tracking where other people spend the money that you gave them seems fruitless, really makes no "impact", and does not give you a stronger moral compass.
ReplyDeleteWhile I am in total support of and practice both buying and selling only used and vintage items, I certainly don't hold myself to be an "ethical" consumer because of this. Just because you buy an item that is used doesn't mean that someone still didn't slave away to make the item in the first place. Yes, extending the life of the product buy giving it a new owner mediates the harm to some extent, but the product was still created in the first place and even as a second-generation buyer you are still purchasing an item that was produced in a way that you obviously disagree with. Where are the ethical standards here? If you were truly opposed to the practices or externalities that come from the production of apparel, then you wouldn't be buying clothing at ALL. You would not be participating in the global economy at all. You would be shearing your own sheep, growing your own cotton, and sewing your own clothing. Yet once you consider this, you will probably realize how much you do in fact rely on the apparel industry as a human being in this modern world. It isn't so totally evil after all.
Again, I am not advocating that you or I go back to a de-industrialized world, I am just pointing out the hypocricy of branding corporations as evil yet still buying an item made by one just because you found it in a thrift store. It is just like people who are vegan and are opposed to wearing leather, yet they have no problem wearing "vintage leather". "Well the animal was already dead and even though this garment was produced in an unethical manner, it already happened, there is nothing I can do about it, so its fine if I buy this vintage leather jacket because I am not "contributing" to this practice of killing animals." Well you are still contributing. Buying a second-hand item that was a product of the apparel industry which you despise, is contributing to the sustinance of the industry. It contributes to the culture around leather jackets being acceptable in society
ReplyDeleteAll that being said, my personal views on the apparel industry are that I am in total support of keeping the apparel industry going and thriving because I see it as an important part of our global economy. I participate in the global economy because I want to live in the modern world. I do not want to spend a majority of my day shearing sheep and sewing my own clothing. I embrace our industrialized and modernized society and while I am aware of the true externalities of the industry (environmental consequences, etc.), I do not think that buying second-hand is a "guilt-free" way of still participating in the economy.
I hope you do not think I am trying to lash out at you or anything - I appreciate you creating the survey and opening up the topic for dialogue. Thank you for being curious and listening!
Hello Kelly,
ReplyDeleteI'm not an extremist but if I were I think that not buying anything at all is exactly the action to take in order to avoid moral contamination. I was just about to say that in the prior paragraph. Since participating in this system means having to deal with the lack of transparency and having to live with the possibility and in many cases actuality that everything carries a taint. Since a person can't really know what is being done with the money one should just buy what she needs needs and nothing more. The only problem is that people behave irrationally and many people don't even realize it. We live in a system where individual freedom is prized and people really aren't held accountable for their actions. Even the people who are trying to live by their convictions don't really know objectively if what they are doing is right. Living a totally moral life can be a lonely and hard one.
Regarding your argument about supporting the practices which produced the vintage goods in the first place.
One can't really know under what conditions the goods purchased were produced. But I will say this Buying a used/vintage piece of clothing with the label Made in China from the original owner might be perpetuating a system of unsustainablity by giving your money to someone who has a history of purchasing things that were produced unsustainably. I feel that buying vintage things is more ethical than buying new things. The fact that they were produced generations ago is sort of water under the bridge. They are there I will buy them instead of buying new ones..
Continued....I'm not sure where you are coming from but it seems like you have the wrong idea of my intentions. I did not intend to “rate” the etsy sellers because I know it isn't possible to get any sort of genuine assessment from strangers, let alone from people that I might buy from in the future. I'll say it before and I'll say it again. This is my first time doing anything like this: i.e. witing a blog, writing survey questions, getting people to participate.
ReplyDeleteAnd actually I wouldn't want to participate in the global economy if it should continue to function the way it does, indefinitely. And you know this doesn't keep me up at night (and I'm going to blame this on the fact that my bed is always comfortable and always where it should be because I never go to bed hungry and the room I am sleeping in is always pleasantly quiet) but I indulge in fantasies of living a rustic life in an act of rebellion, for peace of mind, and for self-determination so to speak. I fantasize because there needs to be disruption in this life or else I fear I will be lulled into apathy, and cynicism.
The only reason the system isn't totally evil is because there is great potential in people and not governments to organize in small but subversive groups.
The last line in my second blog post :
“My motivation for writing a survey is because I want to get an idea of where my money goes.”
Is simply to clear up some confusion I saw in the response question about my motivation for creating the survey.
again please consider copy and pasting your response to the survey in my latest blog post. I will do the same with my response.
Ashley