I Know #WhoMadeMyClothes
I already wrote a longer post about Fashion Revolution Day, so I’ll keep this short. Rather than taking a picture of my clothing tag and asking that brand #whomademyclothes?, I’m taking a picture of me wearing a shirt that doesn’t have a tag. You see, this shirt was handmade for me by a group of girls in Bangladesh. See the pictures below? Yeah, that’s them cutting the fabric and sewing the shirt.
I visited Bangladesh back in 2010 when I was running an advocacy and fundraising campaign for the Stromme Foundation, a Norwegian based international development organization. The campaign was focused on a program called Shonglap, which educated adolescent girls in rural Bangladesh and provided them with a practical skill so that they would be empowered to refuse early marriage and instead show their family and community their value. This was such a life-changing experience for me, and I’m honored to be writing this post and wearing the shirt that they made me.
The three girls that I got to know the most on the trip were Latifa, Reshma, and Salma (pictured above from top to bottom). They will always carry a special place in my heart. My passion for bringing justice into the fashion industry (and business in general) is so that girls like them don’t have to worry for their lives when they show up to work every day. I want them to have just as many opportunities as I had growing up.