Since You've Been Gone (or, The Time I Got Locked in My Gym)

I know I've been sparse 'round these parts lately but it's been for good reason.

I had signed up to run a 4 mile race and I needed to make sure the 20 minutes per day that I'm not at work were spent at the gym and not diddling with this blog. The race was my first timed race and my goals were to run 11:30 minute miles, not to finish last and to run the whole time. You all know I'm a gym class failure so these are actually real goals. I am happy to report that not only did I run the whole time but I came in at almost a minute faster per mile -- which means I beat out 655 runners who were SLOWER THAN ME. I also now know how to attach a time chip to my sneaker, a skill that will be prominently featured on my resume.

As with any training, there were some brutal aspects. For instance, I was accidentally locked in my gym. They locked the gym, turned out all the lights and left me there. At the very moment I was wrapped in a towel, stepping into the locker room shower with my locker key as my only possession. Unfortunately you need light + a locker key to get in your locker so I was out of luck when the lights went off -- the locker room was pitch black but the gym itself had some emergency lighting. I walked all over the gym, in my towel, yelling "Hello?" but they were gone. How does an entire gym empty out at closing time on the dot and lock its doors when someone is still in the locker room? You tell me. Did I mention this was my first time at this branch and it's 3 floors?

Luckily I didn't have to call the cops to get me out, the only solution I came up with. It turns out the studio next door shared a secret hallway with my gym and a chivalrous stranger came to greet me. While I was walking around yelling unanswered salutations. In my towel (awkward). He showed me the unmarked steel door that led to the shared hallway and offered to get me out of there but it was clear I'd need clothes in order to take him up on this offer. I felt my way through the pitch black locker room, dressed by the light of my previously-in-locker iphone and made my way to the hallway to meet with the Upstanding Citizen to bring me to freedom.

When telling my friend this story she asked me if I was afraid or pissed off when it happened and I said, "No, I was just incredulous the entire time. Like, who the hell gets locked in their gym?" It was also a fun example of how I act under pressure - which is to exist in a state of disbelief riddled by profanity.

I can only imagine this helped me on race day. As I stood out in the cold, in the slow people race corral all the way at the back of the starting line I thought, "At least I'm not locked in the @#!%!@ gym." Thank you for that, irresponsible gym staff.

None of this has anything to do with clothes or ethical fashion, although it partially explains why I was not around talking about either.

Uniform: Black and White Movie

I wore this to:

- work

- clean cage paper and give food/water to 35 feral cats during a shift on a local TNR project

shirt/Swap a Go Go swap
skirt/American Apparel
belt/Buffalo Exchange, Portland
tights/Maggie's Organics
shoes/Beyond Skin*
*gift from Sunjo Over the Moon

Outfit scorecard: Everything came from swaps, American-made, resale, ethical labor, organic cotton, etc. How ethical clothing is also involves the longevity of the clothes, and I can happily say that the shirt, skirt and tights have at least a few good years in them and it's possible I've worn the shirt and skirt over 50 times.

I love black, gray and stripes so this is pretty indicative of my uniform. I am a walking black and white movie.

What my morning looked like

Waking up:

That is all.

One Room School Marm

Unlike 99.9% of the blogging population, I don't like Valentine's Day. In fact, I used to slap together a zine called I Hate Valentine's Day over almost two decades ago. The sentiment used to be painted on my '80s Buick Regal when I was in college. I no longer loathe the holiday nor do I have an interest in celebrating it. Luckily I partnered up with someone with similar feelings.

But I still managed to wear something pink-ish around VD. As you know, this is about as pink as I get. My motive was to a) finally wear this button-down 7 months after purchase and b) to wear one of my With Care ties.

shirt/Housing Works

tie/With Care

skirt/Beacon's Closet, tailored

tights/Maggie's Organics

shoes/gift from Sunjo Over the Moon

Outfit scorecard: The shirt and skirt are pre-owned. The tights are organic cotton blend made in decent working conditions. The tie is With Care via Etsy. The shoes were a gift but also made by Beyond Skin. I have to admit that Beyond Skin was a vegan brand I've totally ignored up until now but the more I poked around their site, the more impressed I was.

Ethical Fashion: Transparency

*If you read my blog via a reader, you may have seen a draft of this pop up last week. Careless keyboarding.

shirt/Beacon's Closet PS

skirt/sweatshop 5-6 years

tights/sweatshop

boots/CdC Hearts of Darkness - Rebel

Outfit scorecard: everything sweatshop is at the very least kindergarten age; the Cri de Coeur/Hearts of Darkness boots are PU (vs PVC) and made in an "ethical, sweat-shop free factory in China"

At one point in time, I was your typical consumer. I believed my assumptions about clothing brands without digging very deep. I'll admit that the brand for the skirt and tights above is Brooklyn Industries. In the early stages of Brooklyn Industries there was a lot of talk about how they used local designers. This lead to me to think that they also manufactured their clothing in Brooklyn (or least within the US), which is untrue. So for years I bought from Brooklyn Industries thinking I was "shopping local" when I wasn't. Ditto for Built by Wendy. I still find people who think these two local brands manufacture locally.

In some ways I’m still the average consumer or at least a type of average consumer. I think about what I buy. I expect to be able to buy clothes that are decent to animals, humans and the earth. But even when there are eco brands, you often have to drill down past their press releases, past blog posts about how eco they are, through their About Me pages to find out how they're even remotely eco and then decide if that is enough for you. I feel duped when brands or bloggers label something eco! and do not tell me how.

I get that I have a responsibility to shop according to my values. Being vegan is the easiest part of this. I just abstain from buying products made of animals or animal parts. All I have to do is look at the label. When I throw in the environmental and labor factors -- which means when I look at how companies deal with sourcing their textiles, manage their polluting and remnant waste, transport their goods for sale and treat their workers -- I might as well assume they all suck, for as much information as they’re willing to give me.

I understand how ethically-minded folks turn to a solely pre-worn wardrobe as the only viable option. Who can get a handle on the manufacturing side? I know it’s needed. While I think we have a massive stock of dubiously-made clothing items to swap and rehome, eventually the newly produced items being manufactured should be replaced with less harmful items.

The only company I’ve seen take a successful stab at this is Honest By. I first saw them mentioned with a vague write-up on a green fashion blog (meh). When I hopped over to their “about me” page, I was equally bored (noble but lacking details). But when I clicked on an item – something worthwhile appeared! It listed material sourcing (but not any waste issue information), labor specifications (but not confirming treatment, wages or conditions) and it gave me the carbon footprint of the item (as long as I reframed my brain to think in lightbulb-burning hours and car driving distances). The one thing I could not figure out was how much anything costs. I fear it's from the untouchable class of green clothing. Even so, Honest By is a step towards what all of us want. Hopefully it doesn’t end up being novelty.

Local Designer Side Note:

I understand the importance of supporting small designers, and that often they sink or swim based on where they manufacture their clothes. But I wish it was more obvious what their whole package was instead of assuming that small designer = good. Local store = good. Local crafter doesn't mean their source materials didn't come from overseas. I am not out to sink the small designer. But small designers and ethical manufacturing don't always go hand in hand, although there are many examples where they do. I just think it's something to know and based on that, make our value judgments accordingly.

Women's Mags: Not Pretty Attractive News

 None of us like being lied to.  Or treated like we're stupid. 

Hillary Rosner talks about what kind of truth ladies' rags aren't willing to talk about in Their So-Called Journalism, or What I Saw at the Womens' Mags.  It's probably stuff you'd like to know about.

Here's one stomach-churning snippet:

One destination on my Borneo trip was an orangutan sanctuary run by an incredible Danish woman, who was passionate and unflappable and very photogenic. Maybe, I thought, I could interest a women’s magazine in a short profile of this woman, as a way to inform readers about the palm oil problem—which, despite sporadic publicity over the years, very few people seem to know about or understand. So I contacted a friend of a friend, a smart and lovely editor at a high-profile women’s magazine that from time to time runs articles about strong women doing worthwhile work. Her reply was quick, honest, and upsetting: The magazine couldn’t tackle the palm oil issue head on, because half its advertisers were beauty companies guilty of destroying the very same forests my Danish woman was trying to save.

The "pretty then strong" woman profile is a sad fact.  My old coworker submitted her story about how she quit smoking to a ladies' fitness magazine.  How did we know she was going to get picked?  Because she had a heartbreaking story involving performing CPR on her dad?  No, because she was a blue-eyed wholesome apple pie American blonde.  And she was picked.  It seemed her photo shoot was more important than her story, which was heavily edited without integrity.

Okay, they can't buck their advertisers.  We know that.  But we never know who all of their advertisers are at one time and exactly what issues they have to omit because of them.  A great reason to not trust anything they write.

I know most of us don't turn to women's mags for hard news but if they're going to try, they should make a better effort.  To not treat their readers like dunces.  To not only feature "pretty and strong" women.

What's the answer?  To hold them accountable?  How?  To not buy them and be glad my money isn't going to support them?  To frequent blogs without sponsors instead?  To not use a non-news source as news?  It's frightening to think this might be the only news a teenage (or adult) might see.

Oh, and here's info on palm oil.  It's just strong - not pretty - which is pretty attractive.

Beggars Can Be Johns

This is what I was wearing when a man begging for change on the subway stopped next to my seat.

dress/PS Beacon's Closet resale
shoes/vintage via Etsy
tights/Maggie's Organics (the better, older version)

He leaned over and said, "You look just like Audrey Hepburn! Look at you!" (I don't.)

"Okay, thanks."

He sat ten seats away and kept begging money. A few stops go by and he's still begging for "Quarters? Quarters?" and I start to feel a tinge of pity. Maybe I should give him some money?

I usually avoid this because most subway beggars are junkies or alcoholics and while I've heard people cite "giving them some joy" and "helping them get to their bottom" as reasons for giving them money, I don't want to give them joy nor a bottom so I abstain.

More "Quarters? Quarters? You got a quarter?"

Pity increasingly builds. Then the begging changes to this:

"Quarters? Quarters? Quarters for transport? Quarters for food? Quarters for booze? Quarters for pussy?" Seriously. "Quarters for pussy?" I won't ask how that's even possible. Or where. In fact, the topic's erased from my brain. But it was at that point that all pity was officially withdrawn. No quarters for you.

He got off the train after another 10 minutes of this, but not before leaning over my seat (again) and saying, "You really do look like her. Elegant and classy."

"Okay, dude. Whatever."

Outfit scorecard (animals, people, world): Everything was pre-owned or organic and made by fair labor standards. 50 gold stars.