This global pandemic, scary and unprecedented, affects everyone but those in developing countries especially, like most disasters do.
Many of which are the people that make our clothes, already disadvantaged due to the lack of sick pay, paid leave, or adequate health care. Many lives but also many jobs are and will be lost and my heart goes to all of those people whose lives have been heavily impacted. This is really sad but we can all do our part in containing the spread, as I’m sure most of you are already doing.
This crisis has meant that no one can do business as usual, production and consumption will be inevitably slowed down, so while we isolate we can also learn many important things. First of all, that if governments want, decreasing pollution is possible and in many parts of the world improvements have been seen. This is obviously not the way to fix what we’ve done to the environment, but it’s proof that it’s possible to reverse global warming seeing that in just few months positive changes have been observed.
This lockdown, which is pretty much a worldwide event, can also be an opportunity to start, as so many of us already are, by looking after the clothes we have, sewing on buttons, repairing hems, darning holes. You can choose to spend the extra time on our hands scrutinising fashion brands, and asking for greater responsibility. Investigate your clothes, be curious and continue to be active from home. Through social media you can raise awareness on the most vulnerable people in the fashion industry – the garment workers without health care or sick pay, whose living and working conditions will be made even more acute by this pandemic.
We can use this crisis to pause: take stock, focus on our social conscience, reflect, and ensure that the drastic measures we are facing will lead us to be better prepared and more committed as we move to a more mindful, considerate future.
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