greetings jah child!
i dont want to behave like a real elder. like ive mentioned many times before...im a white guy who has followed the rules of the nazarite vow and who isnt describing himself as a rasta that long. i mean i have to be honest. so im sorry to say that unfortunately im possibly not the right one to be asked.
i just wanted to say that i know that main stream clothes are full of chemicals, theyre not vegan and they use poor women and even children to produce those clothes for main stream labels in asia for a couple of dollers a month and this poor people are even glad to have those jobs.
so until now i have just avoided to wear certain labels which are critized for certain production ways. but im just at the beginning of getting conscious about what to wear and what kind of opportunities the different cultures are giving to us fashion wise.
so right now ive just realised that wearing jeans for example is a real statement. i mean nothing represents the usa, the whole western lifestyle and their labels including the whole gloablised fashion trends better than jeans. better than blue jeans. i mean i still wear them. sometimes i even wear clothes that arent vegan because ive already bought them but i make sure that from now on i use my consciousness for things like that when i buy clothes.
i mean first of all, for all of the youths out there, wearing certain labels is an illusion anyways. there is one company which produces certain pants. and once they are complete they label them with comnpany logo A and it will be sold for 10 dollers and the same products will be labeled with company logo B and it will be sold for 100 dollers for example. and its all produced by old women and little children in china, vietnam or elsewhere. its all about business and brainwashing. and the youths promote it unconsciously.
but from what I KNOW NOW, jah child, is that you have certain opportunities. ive just googled for a fair trade shop in my hometown and ive found one. you can just purchase fair trade clothes online. just google it or search for "rasta clothes".
but i know that its quite expensive and its not possible for everyone to find a fair trade shop or to get everything online. so there are certain websites which tell you which labels use questionable production ways. since im from germany unfortunately i only know german sites. ive tried to google for such a list in english but i havent found one yet.
so one website i can strongly suggest is aktiv-gegen-kinderarbeit.de:
http://www.aktiv-gegen-kinderarbeit.de/firmen/firmenliste/
^^
it means "active-against-child labor" and although its in german its quite easy to understand the concept of the list. there are a whole heap of internationally know labels in a huge list. beside the label names there are four boxes. a green box means its free from child labor, a yellow one means its not clear and a red box means they use child labor to produce their clothes.
the four categories seen on the website (from left to right) mean:
1.business policy against child labor
2. control of the production centers
3. accusations and reputation (child labor or not)
4. commitment (against child labor)
another german site is wer macht was. wermacht.info
it means who does what. you can just use the search box and the website tells you with a green or red tag whether the label uses animal testings or not.
another simple trick i use is just google certain shops and the single products and search for some reports online. maybe there is a vegan forum or a review which can say if certain things are vegan or not.
so, you see, unfortunately i dont have the perfect answer.
but what i can say, even if its quite simple, DONT FOLLOW FASHION BLINDLY and check the background of certain companies. JUST LOOK OUT FOR FAIR TRADE SHOPS. ASK FOR VEGAN CLOTHES. and...some young people might not know about it...there is a thing called knitting. i know some rasta empresses knit their own clothes. you can knit a pullover or even a beanie.
thats all i can say right now when it comes to clothes. we dont need most of the things we see in tv adds and commercials and we pay hard earned money to make those people richer. for what?
there is this thread in here about african tribes who walk around without any clothes on. i think thats inspiring. human beings arent made to run around in tight pants and ties around their necks. everyone of us should lay down in the sun naked for 20 minutes a day. our skin needs to breath as well.
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