ethical clothing pledge

As part of my New Year's resolution, I took the ethical clothing pledge, inspired by my dear Lizard and also isismade's blog - creator of the ethical clothing pledge badge, in the right column of my blog.

The pledge follows these guidelines:

I pledge to only wear clothing that is one or more of the following:
1. Pre-loved
2. Handmade (preferably by me)
3. Reconstructed
4. Made with ethical / environmentally friendly materials
5. Made by a company with strong ethical policy & workers' rights

These are her words, but so perfectly embody my thoughts:

* Companies with environmentally friendly practices (such as cutting down on waste/energy/water) get brownie points
* If I get one little inkling of sweatshop labour, I'm outta there!
* Above all though, I think the most important thing is reducing the amount of things we use in the first place. Not purchasing ANOTHER piece of clothing just for the sake of it is the biggest statement we can make.

I'm tired of saying that slavery is wrong and that I won't support it, then purchasing clothing that has questionable ethics and ignoring that fact. I'm tired of hearing about a company having slavery in it's supply chain and being a customer of theirs. Take Victoria's Secret for example - I do not want to support that or even to be associated with it. I believe we vote with our wallets, and my voting has not been telling the story I want it to. I'm half tempted to cut the tags out of all my underwear - but then I guess no one sees them anyway!
I'm also tired of consuming so much - or not even really consuming as I never actually even wearing anything out! I just pile up "cute clothes". And I agree with isismade in saying environmentally friendly practices are an awesome bonus. They are important to me, but not as important has people.