Fibre crafts are very labour-intensive. This is why crocheted/hand-knitted items by indie designers are priced the way they are: you’re notjust paying forthe materials. You’re also paying for the hours that were needed to design and make the item. Even if the designer were to price those hours at minimum wage, they still add up.
Fast fashion strives to manufacture items as cheaply as possible. A lot of different things make up the final priceyou pay at a shop, such as design, materials, shipping, packaging, marketing,… Labouris only a fraction of that price, and garment workers rarely get paid a living wage as to keep the prices down.
Take this seven part TikTok breakdown of a crocheted Target bikini top by Drea’s Hook, for example. After replicating part of the top, she estimates it would take about 3 hours to crochet the full item by hand (and it was crocheted by hand). That doesn’t even account for the materials, the labour needed to sew the lining and the tag, the design, shipping, stock photos,… Yet it only costs $22. If the person who crocheted the top was paidat all, it can hardly have been more than a few cents.
Stolen designs:
On top of labour exploitation, there’s been multiple scandals regarding fast fashion brands stealing designs by independent crochet artists such as Knots & VibesorLoupystudio, among others.
Design theft not only profits off the work done by the original designer withoutany form of compensation in return, it also devaluesthe work needed to make an item.
Theaverage person doesn’t know how much work goes into making clothes. When fast fashion brands knock off original designs and sell them for a fraction of the price, it propagates the idea that the original item was priced unfairly. After all, why would someone charge €250 for a sweater when you can buy a similar one for €15 at H&M? This way, the industrykeeps getting away with exploitingits workers while indie designers struggle to get by.
Caneveryoneafford to pay that €250? No, of course not. Even that €15 sweater can be a big financial hit if you’re on a budget, and we all need clothes to keep us warm in winter. But practical issues aside, I think we can all agree that everyone deserves fair compensation for their work.
Conclusion:
People often assumetheir clothes have been made by machines. This is a logical assumption given the average fast fashion price tag, but unfortunately it’s a wrongone.
Sure, we’ve got sewing and knitting machines and all other kinds of mechanical helps, but someone still has to work those machines. When an item has to be made by hand, like crochet, it will take longer. If the price tag doesn’t reflect this extra labour, then neither will the worker’s wage.
This blog will never shame anyone for buying fast fashion. Even if you’re aware of the problems within the industry, there’s plenty of valid reasons why quitting just isn’t an option for most of us. We’re stuck in a broken system that we cannot change overnight, and not everyone has access to alternatives.
That doesn’t mean we can’t chip away at it.Educating yourself about these issues is a big first step. It makes us more conscious about the clothes we wear and the labour and resources that went into making them, which in turn motivates us to take action. If more people were aware of these problems, the industry would be much less likely to get away with them.
International Workers’ Day: ‘The Great Upheaval’ to the ‘Triumph of Labour’
Thefirst of May has long been a day of celebration – whether of the arrival of spring or of religious festivities – and, since 1886 at least, been known as International Workers’ Day.
Here are some images to give an abridged history of how this day became a rallying cry for political solidarity among the world’s workers:
The top illustration (from Melbourne) summed up the demands of workers’ strikes during some historians have called the great upheaval, a period towards the end of the 19th century when radical groups including socialists, union organizers, and anarchists became increasingly vocal and demonstrative with their calls for better conditions and terms for workers. Chicago, among other cities, was a maelstrom of these forces clashing with police, politicians, and bosses.
On May 1, 1886, after months of deadly confrontations and years of simmering conflict, a group of unionized furniture workers urged other union members across the city in a walk-out:what they got was a march of roughly 100,00 workers and others in solidarity (estimates of the number differ widely, some saying close to half a million at the day’s peak).Across the country at the same time, workers’ strikes and marches were occurring too, particularly around strong radical populations as in New York, thus marking the first multi-city mass march in American history.
The Haymarket Sq. Rally [image 2]: a few days later, after several days of growing unrest and demonstrations at which multiple protestors were killed in police encounters, a rally for a largely German-ethnic workers’ group gathered to hear several militant anarchists, including newspaper man and upholsterer August Spies, who was speaking when everything went incendiary.
A bomb went off just in front of several mounted policemen who had arrived to jeer and instruct the disassembly of the rally – the frontmost officer was killed. From there, all hell broke loose: policemen fired on and swung batons at the crowd – and whether they fired twice or just the first time in the chaos was a matter for the trial afterwards – while reports differed on whether anyone in the crowd fired in return or, as Spies insisted, they were unarmed[x]. In the end, officially two workers were killed, though the number of casualties who were able to escape the Square but who may have died from their wounds without seeking official medical attention is impossible to know. A further five policemen died from their injuries, though one police officer anonymously told The Chicago Tribute that much damage was done by police firing on each other in the dark, chaos, and sudden smoke.
The Haymarket Martyrs [image 4: ‘The Anarchists of Chicago’, by Walter Crane] Following the rally, the mayor arrested seven known militant radicals, including Spies, Adolph Fincher/Fischer, George Engel, Samuel Fielden, Oscar Neebe, Albert Parsons, Louis Lingg, and Michael Schwab (many of whom worked for Arbeiter-Zeitung, the dual English and German radical newspaper), and sent them to trial.
in the end, the jury – who all testified before the trial began with some degree of prejudice against the defendants (who were tried in a group rather than individually) – convicted the 7 men of the bombing and resultant policeman’s death. Two had sentences commuted (and seeing his appeals fail, Lingg had killed himself rather than be executed), but on 11 November 1887, Spies, Parsons, Engel, and Fischer were hanged. Their deaths became seen by radicals and aggrieved workers worldwide as martyrdoms to the cause; in 1893, the then-Governor declared that the 1887 trial had been a shameful miscarriage of justice, and released and pardoned the men still in jail.
Since the 1886 May Day marches, strikes, and subsequent struggles, workers have continued to use the holiday to highlight the ongoing plight of working people across the globe. Famously, the Soviet revolution in Russia made May Day an official worker’s holiday, which led, over the course of the USSR’s history (and later also, Maoist Chinese), to a deep irony of the propagandistic and increasingly sunny imagery of Soviet or Communist posters for May Day in contrast to the actual conditions of the proletariat in those countries. [Image 7, for example, shows some Soviet stamps from 1989 celebrating May Day; beside that, image 8 reads, "Ot mraka k svetu, ot bitvy k knige, ot goria k schast’iu[From darkness into light; from Battle to Books; from Misery to happiness]”, a poster by Nikolai Kogut (Moscow, 1921). Image 6, on the other hand, shows a poster using the familiar imagery of the female worker, barefoot and in nondescript dress, waving a red flag – here to celebrate the German institution of International Women’s Day, 8 March 1914.]
Lastly, image 9 is the high-def panorama illustration of Walter Crane’s 1891 “The Triumph of Labour” [via Morna O’Neill]. As O’Neill describes,
“Crane created his most famous commemoration of the socialist May Day celebration, The Triumph of Labour, in 1891 (Fig. 5). It would become the definitive image of English socialism. Borrowing slogans and emblems (such as the Phrygian bonnet) from the French RevolutionandEnglish trade unionism, the cartoon celebrates the unity of industrial, agricultural, and artistic labour rendered as the happy progression of liberated workers through a setting of natural bounty. The cartoon brims with decorative emblems (from the cornucopia of Lady Bountiful to the banner carried aloft by the labourers) executed in Crane’s rich linear style. It does not have recourse to the modern idiom of the newspaper or the usual political-cartoon arsenal of satire, parody, and caricature. Rather, it is a revolutionary expression of the ideal future through what Crane termed “succinct, emphatic, or heraldic expression in rich, beautiful, and symbolic form” to embody “social ideals” (Crane, “Art and Character” 114). These decorative forms embody political ideals: The Triumph of Labour is an emblematic rendering of the future promised by the hope of socialism and the central place of art in articulating and realizing that future. Rich with allusions, dense in imagery,The Triumph of Labour is a compendium of Crane’s artistic practice. At the far left, signalling his faith in the intertwined nature of art and labour, he portrays himself holding aloft a palette and riding beside an architect in a wagon bearing the standard “Wage Workers of all Countries Unite.”According to G. K. Chesterton, writing in 1912, socialists recognize each other “on the fact that a man of their sort will have … Walter Crane’s ‘Triumph of Labour’ hanging in the hall” (142). For Crane, all art—whether painting, design, decorative object, or political cartoon—constituted a better, more beautiful world that implicitly and, at times, presciently condemns the current one. Crane’s art expressed the revolutionary power of creativity and beauty, and gave voice to his hope for a better world.” [x]
To those curious about my pregnancy I had my beautiful baby on the 25th of January and we couldn’t be happier!
On January the 24th I was taken into the hospital to be induced as they were concerned about something called Shoulder dystocia which is basically where the babys shoulders get stuck on their way out.
I went in at 12 in the afternoon and after two hours of tests and waiting they finally induced me using a newer method of induction. (painful. I bled.)
This method has to be left in for 12 hrs meaning at 2am they once again violated my cervix
After a full 12 hrs of inducing, they made me wait a further 2 hours while listening to my baby.
Keep in mind that I wasn’t allowed anyone in there with me. Even my partner was only allowed a two hour.
By 4am I was told that I’d be able to get my waters popped later that day but I was in so much pain by 8 I barely even registered my waters had gone on there own at 8.30am.
They wouldn’t give me any painkillers until I was in deliver suite which didn’t happen until I was 5cm dilated at 5.15pm.
By this point I was in so much pain I just wanted it to be over my contractions were practically every few seconds and they were only getting worse.
After getting up there I had 30 minutes with gas and air and finally my fiancé got to the hospital at 6pm. Now I’m screaming at midwife telling her I think I need to push but she keeps saying I can’t I’m only 5 cm.
However when she checked me again I was 9cm so I had to start pushing soon…
After thinking I was gonna die with no painkillers and screaming at my fiancé that I couldn’t do it anymore…
At 8.53pm my baby boy was born at 8lbs 5oz
We have been home for 3 weeks now we’ve had our ups and downs but I wouldn’t change them for anything.
Yes he screams for me constantly and most days I’m running on 3-4 hours and a lot of coffee but he is also the most beautiful amazing little human I’ve ever seen and I can’t believe I created him!
I’ve never loved anyone or anything as much as I love him…thank you baby boy for being born into my waiting arms.
this may be an Unpopular Opinion (even on tumblr) but like the 8-hour workday is just Too Gotdamn Long
like even sitting in an office for eight hours a day isn’t particularly pleasant (or healthy, as we are beginning to see) but when we’re talking about doing *actual work* for that same amount time it gets pretty fucking brutal
doing literally *anything* (even leisure activities) for eight hours straight tends to be less than enjoyable but when we’re talking about things like construction, landscaping, factory work, and hell, even foodservice and retail, eight hours is a fucking ETERNITY
i might just be a lazy weak-willed bitch but honestly i think i’m not entirely wrong
this was being worked towards by leftist labor unions way back in the day after the time of FDRs new deal. people in the 40s and 50s were already starting to realize that we no longer actually needed an 8 hour work day or even a 5 day work week.
even with the comparatively primitive factory tech of the time we were already creating a huge amount of excess production back then and companies were making massive amounts of profit. So it already stood to reason that companies should either let their employees work less and thus each employee could work a shorter shift without lowering the yearly compensation of each employee, or in cases where businesses provide an active service they would shorten the shift but hire more people to cover the necessary operating time. but of course that would mean less money for people at the top so companies fought back hard and we ended up with nixon’s bullshit and so on and now its considered the norm for us to spend the vast majority of our lives doing work that really just amounts to waste.
The IWW realised this and were fighting for it all the way back in the 1930s. This is a take with a lot of historical and theoretical grounding, OP, so you’re standing in good stead.
I’d also like to add it’s also been studied and scientifically proven that after 6 hours, we have an extremely noticeable drop in productivity. Sweden saw nothing but benefits from a 6-hour work day, including worker productivity, happiness, and half the amount of sick-leave used when applied to nurses.
“With one letter [our employer] sent us away, and our dialogue turned into a monologue,” says Anton Gorb, a trade union representative at Ukraine’s largest private postal service, New Post. […]
In March, the Ukrainian parliament passed wartime legislation that severely curtailed the ability of trade unions to represent their members, introduced ‘suspension of employment’ (meaning employees are not fired, but their work and wages are suspended) and gave employers the right to unilaterally suspend collective agreements.
But beyond this temporary measure, a group of Ukrainian MPs and officials are now aiming to further ‘liberalise’ and ‘de-Sovietise’ the country’s labour laws. Under a draft law, people who work in small and medium-sized firms – those which have up to 250 employees – would, in effect, be removed from the country’s existing labour laws and covered by individual contracts negotiated with their employer. More than 70% of the Ukrainian workforce would be affected by this change.
Against a background of concerns that Ukrainian officials are using Russia’s invasion to push through a long-awaited radical deregulation of labour laws, one expert has warned that the introduction of civil law into labour relations risks opening a “Pandora’s box” for workers. […]
But in April, under Ukraine’s wartime suspension of certain labour rights – which was billed as ‘temporary’ – New Post’s management revoked 30 points of the collective agreement with the trade union.
Most of these points relate to coordination of working conditions with trade unions, but also some social guarantees, such as providing workers with uniforms, the availability of a first-aid kit at the workplace, working hours and others. […]
“De facto, this regime assumes that literally anything can be entered into an employee’s employment contract, without reference to Ukrainian labour laws. For example, additional grounds for dismissal, liability, or even a 100-hour week,” explains Sandul.
Ukrainian workers had previously protested against the introduction of this law, but as protests have now been banned by the Ukrainian government (using wartime emergency powers) it’s unlikely they’ll be able to stop it going through.
The Lily Holds Firm: #Assemblage 2 for The Mystic Wheat, 2018. Copper, brass, sterling silver, mixed materials and found objects. . This is absolutely not a call to arms (see second image). I am advocating useful #labour for the benefit of society. (She says, posting her hard work for no remuneration). #timeforchange . We decided not to use any figures in the compositions for the project because it would cause referential issues (amongst other concerns); this meant that there ended up being some rather surreal objects used instead of figures. . #thelilyholdsfirm #dollart #dollarms #pipework #threshing #collage #workersunite #toriesout #craftobject #politicalart #politicalcraft #anastasiayoungjewellery #artjewellery #fineartjewellery #contemporaryjewellery #foundobjects #objettrouve #surrealism
Without a planned economy, there is no way to ensure full employment.
Capitalism consistently operates under capacity. This means empty facilitates, full of productive machinery, while those who could operate it are unemployed.
That’s not an accident.
Competition for jobs drives wages down. If 1000 people are willing and able to fill one post, the employer can choose the cheapest from a large pool of workers, all undercutting the cost of each other’s labour to secure the job.
If there are only a handful of people to do a job, wages cannot be forced down as far.
Near-full employment would leave employers with a very small pool of potential workers, forcing wages to increase or stay the same.
The market drives unemployment, demanding the longest possible hours from the cheapest available labourers.
This slogan is sometimes attributed to Marx. In fact he’s not the author, and warns about misusing it.
Pro-capitalist commentators abuse this phrase, claiming a socialist state would seize all property and redistribute it according to perceived need.
In socialism, workers collectively decide what to produce and how. They democratically decide what to do with the products. This leads to more equitable distribution of the wealth they produce.
A “socialist state” does not alienate workers from the fruits of their labour. On the contrary. It exists to stop wealth being taken from those who produce it.
Only in a state of superabundance, where co-operative labour has provided allworkers with more than they need or want, might society voluntarilychoose to distribute on the basis of need.
“In a higher phase of communist society, after the enslaving subordination of the individual to the division of labor, and therewith also the antithesis between mental and physical labor, has vanished; after labor has become not only a means of life but life’s prime want; after the productive forces have also increased with the all-around development of the individual, and all the springs of co-operative wealth flow more abundantly – only then then can the narrow horizon of bourgeois right be crossed in its entirety and society inscribe on its banners: From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs!” - Marx, ‘Critique of the Gotha Programme’
Release of urgency, campaign “Verdad y Castigo por Juan Pablo Jiménez” (“We demand truth and justice for Juan Pablo Jiménez”):
Attorney and PDI’s (Chilean Policy of Investigation) version is imposed in court, Juan Pablo Jiménez is killed for the second time.
Thursday January 15, 2015, it has been imposed in the courts the thesis of the “stray bullet”, built by the PDI, the Prosecutor and the Ministry of Interior of Chile. In a simplified trial, and before a clear agreement between the prosecutor and defense counsel of the accused for the crime, the accused admitted to being the shooter that ended the life of Juan Pablo Jiménez, young Chilean sindycalist, despite pleading guilty systematically over the last two years. The minor was sentenced as author of unlawful killing, with no single test that can determine that the alleged bullet he fired into the air actually impacted Juan Pablo. That is something that neither the accused himself neither the judge nor the prosecutor can claim.
We note that because there was an agreement between the prosecutor and defendant, not an oral trial, not a single instance to perform tests was developed. In the case of Juan Pablo, it has not been rendered before the Court any evidence; defense, family and colleagues had no opportunity even to present the results of the analyzes before the judge, in which comprised new background and a complaint anonymous marking the full name of the author that may have shooted of Juan Pablo from within Azeta (the electricity outsourcing company he worked for).
As “Campaña Verdad y Castigo por Juan Pablo Jiménez”, we denounce this orchestrated trial by the Chilean State, whereby the assembly of Attorney, which alleges that a child of a poor population was guilty of killing Juan Pablo. We make a call to continue mobilizations to report that today justice has assassinated our colleague Juan Pablo Jiménez once again.
For purposes of mobilization call on an URGENT MEETING TO ALL COMRADES wishing to show solidarity.
Place: CEPCH (Valentín Letelier # 18, Metro Moneda, Santiago, Chile)
When: FRIDAY, JANUARY 16, 2015, 19:00 HOURS.
Juan Pablo Jiménez was a Chilean syndicalist killed on February 21st, 2012, within the company he was working. He fought during ten years against outsourcing and other ways of laboral abuse. This happened last wednesday in Santiago’s downtown, in the capital of the country.
