My love affair with H & M was over almost before it really began. I am a bit of a miser and hate spending a lot of money on clothes when I tend to ruin them. Since we don't have an H & M in Maine, I was pretty excited that there are like three in Edinburgh. I hadn't been to one since last summer, in Boston--funny how my perception's changed.
Low-quality (albeit pretty and colorful) clothes bearing "Made in China" tag just don't have appeal for me anymore. I'd rather have something well-made by someone earning a living wage than a bunch of cheap items made by children in sweatshops. Our obsession with owning material things in bulk and having more than we need or can use is getting really out of hand. Rampant consumerism feeds the globalism we in first-world countries practice--we need cheap goods, so cheap and often inhumane labor is the easy answer for many companies.
In addition, our love affair with cotton is a problem, too. Cotton production requires a lot of water and often a lot of pesticides. I've found organic cotton garments to be a lot more common in retail shops in the UK than in the US, which is comforting. I'm certainly not the patron saint of ethical buying, but ever since I started working on Caveat Emptor I've realized how important--and really, how easy--it is to put my money where my mouth is and spend wisely. I may love a good bargain, but where I'm saving money, someone else (and the planet itself) could be suffering.
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