My Own Dress!

So... I've been totally slack in updating this blog. Sorry guys. It was a case of a) getting married and being too busy to do so, and b) feeling like I did not have enough information to write a decent post. Nevertheless, I DID end up buying a wedding dress... 


I ended up getting my dress from Jean Fox in Parramatta. All their (Jean Fox label) dresses are designed and made in Australia, so I felt a bit better about that than getting it shipped off to China or somewhere where the working conditions are unknown (which is what would happen in pretty much every other case). I admit there is still a risk, but all the work done on it that I saw was done by their wonderful in-house dressmaker who was definitely being treated fairly.


I was enticed by the website SpotVogue.com since they seemed to have a huge range of super cheap made-to-order dresses.
I emailed them about the working conditions of the workers who make the dresses. Here is an extract from our email exchange (R is me, and S is SpotVogue):


R
Question - you say you work with particular manufacturers; who are these? I ask because it is important to me that my dress is made by someone under fair working conditions. Wat do you know about the working conditions of the people who make the dresses you sell?
Thanks a lot,
Robyn


S
Thanks for your kind inquiry.
All our dresses are made by the professional dressmakers of our suppliers in Suzhou City  which is famous for
the silks. We have visited them before we started the business with them and their workers work in fari work conditions. By the way, can you please let me know which dress do you like so that I can offer you more information?
Don't hesitate to let me know if there is any question, thanks.


I talked about the dresses I was interested in. The rest of the conversation that follows is edited to only include information about the working conditions of the dressmakers:


R

I'm glad to hear the workers have fair work conditions; can I ask exactly what standard they conform to? For example, are they "fair" for the place, or fair according to practices in the US and other western societies? Is there a standard number of hours per day that the tailors work? Are they paid according to an award? Do they have a union? If you don't have this information, would you be abe to get it from them?

How long ago was the visit by SpotVogue's people: Do you plan to visit the work site again, to make sure things haven't changed?

S

please understand that all the companies in china should operate according to our Labor Law, and all our suppliers obey our labor law, they open 8 hours per day and 5 days per week. When the business is very busy, they will pay extra for the workers who work extra hours. Generally, we will visit our suppliers once time per year.

As you can see, it appears that the manufacturer is a separate entity from SpotVogue (as is the case with many wedding dress retailers). This means they do not have much control over the working conditions of the dress makers, and basically work on a good faith assumption. This arrangement is very convenient if forced labour is occurring since the retailer "knows nothing" and therefor cannot give very reliable information about such things. This is perhaps a cynical view, but the optimistic counterpart is that the retailers simply do not know what is happening and just trust that everything is above board.

Something to think about...

That's all the advice I have on it right now (Again - massive apologies for being so slack updating this blog!). 
If you're int he market for a more ethical dress, something you might want to consider is getting a second hand dress. Some great websites for finding a second hand dress (in Australia) are:
http://www.smartbride.com.au/
www.idogowns.com.au


Alternatively, getting a local tailor to make it for you is an option where you know about the whole process from start to finish (which isn't ask expensive as you might think!). The only problem with this is sourcing ethical fabrics.... I found a woman in Perth who makes her own ethical wedding dresses and uses bamboo sateen. Her website is: http://www.odeliska.com/

So, you want to buy the "right" dress.

Two weeks ago I bought a wedding dress. It was a very weird, very overwhelming experience. OK so I did buy the third one I tried on, so it's not like the process was particularly drawn out or anything. Nevertheless, I was surprised at how much these dresses are worth (I paid $1100AUD for mine - I know, ridiculous! - and that turned out to be quite cheap compared to most of what is out there).

Before buying a dress I did  a lot of research; If I was going to part with an exorbitant amount of cash then this dress was going to have to meet some pretty high standards!

First, I did the obvious - searched around to find styles I liked, learned what was out there, and how much certain types of dresses typically cost. I strongly recommend doing this before even stepping into a store and trying a dress on - you'll save a lot of time and effort doing the groundwork. There is plenty of information out there on the internet, in bridal magazines, and from your friends who have gone through the experience.

Second, I looked into the "ethical" aspects of wedding dresses. At least, I tried to. I was amazed to find that there is hardly any information out there about this issue! In saying this, I know the word "ethical" can mean different things. For example, was it produced by someone in safe working conditions who was paid a fair amount for their labour? Was it produced in a manner that adversely affects the environment (e.g., waste from fabric production)? Were the materials used to make it obtained in a sustainable way? Of course, there is no "perfect" dress in this sense - hardly anything is truly "carbon neutral", and whose working conditions are ever beyond improvement? - but different issues will matter more to different people, so making yourself aware of the issues and making an informed choice should be part of everyone's wedding dress shopping experience.

That hardly any information was available on these ethical issues related to buying a wedding dress really surprised me, a) because people spend so much money on them, you'd hope they were being manufactured appropriately, and b) because I feel sick at the idea of someone being totally screwed over at the expense of my first-world vanity.

Anyway, my hope is that this blog will provide brides-to-be, bridesmaids, and other interested parties with some information about ethical issues involved with buying a wedding dress!