Dear friend with a regular paycheque,
I'm kind of upset with you and I don't know how to say this so I'll just say it like it is: Here I am, a self-employed broke-ass artiste with a part-time job in the non-profit sector that barely covers rent. I'm squirreling away tiny amounts of money here and there, abstaining from $3 lattes and bus tickets so I can buy locally designed and made clothing, jewellery and art. And there you are still spending your moderately cushy paycheques in The Mall.
The mall? Do you realize you live in the most creative and dynamic city in Canada? That you are surrounded by stores carrying emerging and established designers of every kind, making beautiful objects to fill your heart's desire? And yet you scorn the pricetags and opt for Made-In-China products that will end up on the Value Village shelf in a year, if you aren't too lazy to do a second hand store drop-off?
Sure, the prices are a wee bit higher. But not in the long-run. And the impact it will leave will be more than worth it. Still bitchin' about this abnormally cold spring? Welcome to the result of over-consumption that sails millions of tons of plastic mass-produced crap across the Pacific Ocean.
I can't do this alone: money is power, and you - my dear friend with power - are the key to ensuring that our dynamic fashion scene, the local economy & all of its budding talent survive.
And we'll all look the hotter for it.
Sincerely,
Rachel
P.S. Don't know where to start? LABcreatif is holding a sale of many of their designers' wares, at Les Ailes De La Mode - y'know The Mall you keep shoppin' at. More info here.
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Word! Okay, granted, I just went to the evil Mall yesterday, but it was mainly because I seriously need to do laundry and instead opted to buy a cheap-o t-shirt to fill the void in my wardrobe until Saturday. But still, I hear ya! I've been scoping out the goods on Etsy, though. They have so much great stuff, and I am a sucker for typewriter paraphernalia... maybe you should make me a necklace!
ReplyDeleteI hear ya, I end up in The Mall every once in a while - hard to avoid completely.
ReplyDeleteI do love the Etsy but I like encouraging people to use their Shop Local feature - smaller carbon footprint & you often save the shipping if you arrange to pick the piece up!
Typewriter paraphernalia is so HOTT. I would love to make ya some typewriter bling.
Oh my god I feel your pain (totally going hunting for those Glascow high-waisted pants this weekend, btw...even though I can't afford them). ;)
ReplyDeleteOh that reminds me! I must blog about those!
ReplyDeleteI didn't even realize Etsy had a shop local feature! Thanks for the tip. :)
ReplyDeleteGet off your lofty perch. You shop at Zara and that's in "The Mall". Your a world class hypocrite and there is not a whole lot about your fashion choices or anything else that indicates a legitimate position about ethical fashion. Your just creating a ill constructed "image" for yourself and tote it around as the latest accessory. You need a moral high ground to survey others from while being completely submerged in your own rederick. Know what I cannot stand? People who do not stand by their own politics. Shit or get off the pot.
ReplyDeleteYou probably shop at American Apparel despite their greasy sexist adds and heroin chic. How is it that some people can adopt a certain value and not own another while the two values are directly related? Did you know that the workers in the L.A factory were intimidated into NOT forming a union. Sounds like A.A have a gimmicky and label related interest in creating a image for themselves despite being what they really are, a sweatshop bullshit anti union wage slave hierarchy. fin.
Thanks, Anon, for them fightin'(albeit unnecessarily aggressive) words.
ReplyDeletePerhaps next time you comment it won't be anonymously and will provide a link to your 100% righteously ethical montreal shopping blog so we can all learn to be better humans like you.
p.s. I don't shop at AA and find their ads and anti-union practices as offensive as you do so please don't assume you know everything about my politics.
p.p.s. it's rhetoric, not "rederick".