It was only by chance that I switched on the TV to Blood, Sweat and T-Shirts earlier this week; the four part BBC3 docu-series that follows six fashion obsessed folk as they travel through textile factories in India in a bid to learn how the clothes they wear are really made. Coinciding with the BBC’s newly launched online eco magazine Thread, Blood, Sweat and T-Shirts has the responsibility of opening the nation’s eyes to the matter of ethical dressing. Or at least the eyes of those with a freeview box.
As you are probably aware, an Indian sweat shop isn’t an idyll of perfect working conditions, but rather a dilapidated room where people sew, eat and sleep with little hope of progressing beyond the four walls within which they conduct their lives.
Disturbing as the sights of mistreated, underpaid, overtired and overworked factory workers are, it is the attitudes and reasoning of the twenty-something individuals whose journeys we have to follow that is just as, if not more, shocking. I was more horrified at the small mindedness and ignorance possessed by Western culture, if these six Brits are indeed representative of their generation and society, that is portrayed through this programme. In fairness to those taking part, the job at hand does not look a fun one. Sewing collars and hemlines in seconds is a skill that they cannot really be expected to master and their living conditions are obviously a far cry from the comfortable existence they are accustomed to. However, if their reactions and attitudes, not only towards the Indian way of life but towards consumerism generally, are typical then something needs to drastically change. Although these six people cannot necessarily be blamed for their spending habits and approach to consumerism, (we are of course all a product of the capitalist society we inhabit) it has to be down to each of us to rethink our fashion needs.
