FashIntern…i totally appreciated and admire what you are aiming to do. And I don’t want to rain on your parade, but i want to mention that over 50% of the worlds textiles are produced in China
https://blog.bizvibe.com/blog/.....-countries
Which means tracking and truly understand the where and how of what you buy is going to be very tricking and your going to have to make many leaps….large companies employ whole departments to visit factories and trace and track supply chains.
IMO your best bet is small local companies who call out on there labels and websites the origin, by item, of the fabric and sewing factories.(assuming the EU companies act similar to US ones, most small made in the US brand that I’m aware of will list if the fabric is imported or also make in the US) It’s not going to be perfect, and its going to be the definition of slow shopping, as their offering will be limited and may not match your needs at any particular time. In addition the costs are likely to be higher.
Good luck

Thanks Kkards! I know you know the industry well, so appreciate your insight. I’ve avoided things from China for quite a while, and my son, who was addicted to Hollister a few years ago, is beginning to do so as well, hooray.

Sleeping on this discussion, I’ve decided that I’m going to continue checking out policies and styles of companies in the EU, which has much better labor and environmental laws than the US or other regions, and will support sustainability moves by major companies. As I learn about small companies operating responsibly in underdeveloped countries, I will support them too.

The site I buy from most frequently here, Zalando, has had a “sustainability” option in site searches for a few years (at least). I’ve been skeptical, but looking again, I see that it is now divided into different types of sustainability. Searching for sustainable jeans brought up legacy companies, the kind I think many of us roll our eyes at including in this. But when I searched for Lee, Levi’s, and others, only some models came up, and they had specific types of sustainability listed. That makes me think it’s not just greenwash.

As much as I love the ideal of 1000 flowers blooming, with small companies operating equitably around the world getting fair shares of shrinking consumption, I think that if we want to change the production and trade methods that affect so many more people besides factory workers, we have to push for change from major players. They have influence in creating the system we have now and their changes can have lots of resonance. Refusing to buy “dirty” products is one kind of pressure, but rewarding the efforts towards sound environmental and labor policies by buying the products is also a way we can push for change.

Thanks to everyone in this discussion; I appreciate the ongoing conversation about these topics.

@Lisa No worries - glad you took it in stride.

@FashIntern - I completely get what you're saying, & admire it. If you're able to do so, then I say go for it. For me personally, I'd like to be able to as well but I also need to be realistic about my situation/ lifestyle etc:

Before moving here, I was admittedly much better about shopping locally sourced clothing since I could easily find my size in-person, even in charity shops. Just before the pandemic, I had also begun to be able to find my size in secondhand clothing here (rather than just on clearance racks or at western fast fashion stores), since most shops max out at XL (I'm a 2XL in Chinese sizes). But then of course we were 'forced' online lol - ASOS used to be a go-to for me, & I've noticed that they've also added a 'sustainability' search option like you saw on Zalando, but my switch to natural fibres meant that much of the fast fashion scene wasn't working for me anymore either. And whilst secondhand clothing is great, I'm often at the mercy of a much smaller collection than at mainstream retail. There's also the environmental cost benefit analysis of having just one unique/ vintage thing shipped to me from around the world.

So at first I felt bad about ordering things online, but @rachylou's observation of ordering coffee beans twice a year echoes my own online purchasing habits now (or at least what I try to follow). I did a big haul in January & then another now. It's not perfect but I'm trying to mitigate my carbon footprint this way (I've also paid a little extra for carbon offsetting before, but stopped because it's more like putting a plaster over the underlying issue...)

I've tried buying secondhand online but ran into the issues above - so I'm trying to limit my searches to local companies, but part of the issue is (as others have mentioned above) that many local sellers & makers still use Chinese dominant fabrics & supplies. Sometimes I get promising info about these fabric etc suppliers, but other times it's a bit of a dead end.

All this to say, I unfortunately don't have a solution either lol - I'm already paying the 'fat tax' for clothes to be made in my size on this side of the world lol, so I do need to be realistic about balancing the environment & my bank balance (especially after going part-time). I've also started looking into Aussie & New Zealand brands to help reduce the number of miles my parcels need to travel, but of course they're in opposite seasons to us right now. I'm trying to get better about purchasing off-season & planning ahead, but it's still difficult to do without making (environmentally & financially) costly mistakes

PS - The free trade thing you mentioned is interesting. Sadly there's all sorts of loopholes being exploited - one thing I've noticed is actually how much *cheaper* it is to buy/ ship things from here to the UK than the other way around. Even for things made in China!

Zaoebi, I get it—so many decisions and challenges!