If I told you that I didn’t love retail therapy, I’d be lying. When it comes to shopping in person, nothing beats the feeling of going into a store and finding exactly what you were looking for and more. Somewhere in between my guilt for spending money, and shopping without a limit is a happy medium: I get what I need for a good price and I know it’s something I’ll use. As of late, shopping feels like a difficult task. What I mean by this is that since the pandemic, I don’t love browsing in person, with people in my personal space, and often being the only one wearing a mask in the store. Sweating quickly ensues and I run out of the store confused and anxious, with literally no idea of what I just purchased.
I frequently rely on online shopping for all of my needs, which is nice because I can take all the time I need, compare products, and do research to my heart’s desire. I recently stumbled across the “Amazon Home Products You Need” side of Tiktok, and let me tell you — it was a doozy. I don’t know how I became so embarrassingly impressionable, maybe it’s just my desire to want things to look nice in my home, but I was suddenly adding everything to my cart. The prices were amazing but then the wave of guilt ensued; am I really about to support Amazon? The big evil conglomerate that encourages their workers not to take bathroom breaks? (No, I’m not making this up.) There has to be some other option!
After sitting with all of these purchases only a click away, I actually Googled “Most Ethical Clothing Companies” and the results were interesting. Most of them were comprehensive lists of companies that not only have never heard of but were also all insanely expensive. And I get it — I know prices have to go up somewhat to insure that employees are being paid a fair wage but there is absolutely no way this can be accessible. If we go to the other end of the spectrum, we can look at a company like Shein, which has tons of affordable home goods, clothing, accessories, etc. on its site. When I first came across Shein I was appalled at how cheap the stuff was, and when looking at “clothing hauls” on Tiktok, this was probably the most popular brand that showed up. People were showing off $200+ worth of merchandise, telling people how they got amazing deals. But Shein has come under fire… a lot. From stealing designs to casually selling a swastika necklace to being exposed for having lead in some of their children’s clothing. More recently they were exposed for paying their employees a mere 3 pence an hour.
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