The Real Price Of Cheap Stuff

Check! And that was it. I voted. Coming out of a critical election in Canada, I can't stress enough on the importance of voting. What most people seem to forget however, is that we are given a much more powerful tool that allows to vote every single day: money. The way individuals decide to spend their money will dictate the kind of change we want to see in the world.

Not too long ago, I stepped into the step-daddy shoes. When shopping for your little one, you become increasingly aware of your purchasing habits. What you buy will always be around the kid whether if it’s eating, chewing, playing, wearing or simply looking. One day, my girlfriend and I got the little girl
this pajama for $8 CND. 

Since I have been in business and sustainability for quite sometimes now, I started thinking to myself: “How is it possible to produce this product for $8”; harvesting cotton, manufacturing cotton, dyeing the fabric, sewing the material, ship it half way across the world, the distributor and retailer profit margin. There is no way on earth this can be possible. Somebody somewhere had to pay for it. Being a curious person in nature, I decided to perform some research on the topic. Despite the overwhelming amount of information online, I’ve been able to put all the pieces together.

The workers are the first party who is paying for our cheap prices. The work environment quality is at the lowest. Not only day can be working over 16 hours a day, but their salary does not even cover living expenses. Employees at the Joe Fresh factory, had noticed several important cracks within the concrete building structure.

After many warnings to the company about the issue that needed to be addressed immediately, Joe Fresh decided to not take action. Since it is a company whose business model is based on shareholders' profit maximization, fixing the factory structure would have affected its annual profit. In 2013, the factory in Bangladesh collapsed killing over a 1000 workers. Joe Fresh is now facing lawsuits of over $2 billion but is not yet resolved. 

 The environment is clearly the second party that is paying for this type of business model. The picture below demonstrates the process to dispose of the dye waste. It is very simple, there is no process.

This is what over a 1000 litres of yellow dye look like after being flushed untreated into the river. And by the way, this river reaches the ocean just a few kilometres downstream. This is not even counting all the chemicals and trash that are dumped into the Asian rivers. Filtering and treating the dye would be too costly and negatively influence short-term profit. 

Now you might think that it is an Asian problem. It is their reality not ours citizens of developed countries. Well, this is exactly where we are wrong. Somehow, somewhere along the story we removed ourselves from the problem. If you take only two minutes reflecting about the issue, we are the root cause of their reality. If we would not buy cheap clothing and trash it, not because it's no good, but simply because it’s no longer trendy or we don’t like the color anymore. Most North Americans and Europeans have absolutely no clue about the amount of energy, water and resources that it takes to make an insignificant t-shirt. It would be great if a government were to create a policy in which all products need to have a Q-bar code explaining the life cycle analysis (LCA) to educate consumers. If you would like to know more I suggest watching the documentary “The True Cost”. 

Luckily, there is light at the end of the tunnel. There are a lot of businesses that are doing the impossible to solve many problems in this world. Patagonia, as I sure many of you know, is doing everything it can not only to create a socially responsible supply chain, using only recycled and organic material, and let its employee go surfing on a bright sunny day; They also help documentary producers on causes like removing unnecessary dams and saving Canadian glaciers from being developed for tourism. Despite all this, Patagonia still makes exceptional quality outdoor gear and is profitable. In the end, I am voting with my dollar when buying a Patagonia shirt that will last for 10+ years instead of buying 5 low quality unsustainable shirts for the same price. Do I really need that many shirts anyways?  Another example is Ikea, now only using sustainable wood for its furniture and is on the process of installing solar panels on every store with the objective to make their building energy independent.

This not only happening in the major league. Even on a smaller scales businesses are doing their best to have a positive impact. MealShare offers an innovative way of bringing a first date to a restaurant while providing a meal to someone in need. You can feed the world while also feeding yourself. When buying handmade Olukai Shoes from Hawaii I help preserve the Hawaiian tropics, charities and local jobs. When I decide to buy from my local organic market instead of going to the any chain grocery store  I reduce pesticides usage, support local jobs, as well as feeding myself with better quality food. Look for logos like B-Corporation, Sustainable Seafood, MealShare, 1% for the Planet, Non-GMO and many more. Invest your money in responsible investment and fossil free funds instead of letting the bank deciding for you. All the options are there is it simply up to you to do a little bit of research and act accordingly.

We have more power than we think. We could change the world as we know it by the way we buy. This article focused on the garment industry but there are so many more. If you do not know where to start, I suggest starting by looking at the Certified B-Corps. These companies already have been through a thorough process to get the certification. B-Corporation which does not only look at the product but the entire business practices.

Take action now! Do it for your grand-children, your children, or your own future. COP21 is great but only focuses on global energy / CO2 emissions.

In this short life story that I shared with you, we discovered that voting is not only once every four years. Every time we spend money, it’s your voice. I will leave you with this.

One thing that is worse than awareness, being aware without taking action.