Ethics of Use
Brands control upstream supply chains assiduously; but downstream, after a garment is sold, the user is in charge. A user’s actions can uphold a brand’s values, be incurious about them or subvert them in a range of direct or subtle ways. Defiance comes in many forms: the protestations of a blog, the cutting and reworking of scissors and thread, or the attitude with which a garment is worn, upending the worldview of the corporation that made it.
Direct from the maker
"This shirt I bought in Thailand 20 years ago from a local market. It was locally produced so I think one of the things, in retrospect, that pleases me about that is probably a slightly higher percentage of what I paid went to the maker and the local market store trader than would have been the case if I’d bought it off the shelf in a shop in the UK. It is silk and it is exceedingly comfortable. I have worn it throughout ever summer for the last 20 years and it goes on and on and I just like it."
Berlin - July 2010
Photograph by
Stefan Rother
