There isn’t a set definition of the words sustainable and ethical - and because of that people are able to greenwash it, they use these terms to sell a product but don’t have the authenticity behind it. We have to be careful of what is actually being progressive and what is being opportunistic.

Id like to talk about Cultural appropriation as i feel its something close to my heart from witnessing the skills and hard intensive labour involved in making so many crafts which have been made from natural materials from scratch by indigenous cultures all over the world. from basket weavers in Africa to wool spinning in Ladakh and indigo dying in Vietnam.

Developing countries are competing to work for MNCs at the cheapest price point possible more and more today which I'm witnessing and feel so sad about -  which is why they employ women, and that is a great marketing campaign. They can say ‘yeah we’re giving women jobs’, but these women are cheaper labour and they get paid lower salaries for longer hours and have to juggle childcare and house keeping on top.

Right now in the fashion industry, people say ‘it’s employing so many women so it is a form of empowerment’, but there is a difference between empowerment and exploitation that we need to be aware of. You can give women employment, but they could be paid less and manipulated.

Factory owners have been taking advantage of women’s unequal position in society for a long time, instead of challenging patriarchy a lot of these are reproducing it. But the scenario is changing now.

A lot of people’s opinion of labour exploitation is that it only happens overseas. But the garment industry is the second biggest in LA, and most of the workers are predominantly undocumented immigrants. What I’ve realised is that their identity is ‘weaponised’ to create a workforce that can be manipulated, one that doesn’t speak out against their employers fearing deportation.

There is a rule that says even if you are undocumented you are entitled to the minimum wage. But here workers have a piece rate, they’re paid for each piece they complete and that rate hasn’t changed in the last 30-40 years. Three cents per piece, so around five dollars an hour is what they have to make do with in an expensive city like LA. 

You don’t have to go overseas to make a difference, there’s so much you can do in your own locality if you want.

Colonisation has basically split the world - into a global South, which is considered the poorer section that is the producers, and the global North which is the consumers, to put it simply.

Indigenous craft is prized globally but how much of it is actually coming from that community and are they being compensated fairly?

One example of resisting this is a group of indigenous women in Mexico and Guatemala, a group of Mayan woman, have started a campaign that if any fast fashion brand, like H&M or Zara, wants to use their designs they must first come to them for permission or monetary compensation or they’ll sue the brand.

Cultural appropriation is about two things, power and profit. And as we see those two things are related. We have to be very intentional about ensuring that such a product is coming from a person belonging to that identity because when that doesn’t happen it’s very easy to de-contextualise it and in the process that object just becomes a commodity and loses the cultural value it carries. This can then be disputed in the field of cultural property. 

 

Pic: Kolpa World an amazing shop in Kathmandu showcasing proper Nepali natural craft! but how many of these peaces are vulnerable to be copied.

Design is a big field of dispute when it comes to inspiration behind making garments and homewares from cultures all over the world, but where do we stand when it comes to creating without stealing.

Iv observed many brands over the years on instagram who want to say they are supporting woman and their crafts but these communities a lot of the time are very vulnerable and influenced by stories of “progress” they have been making these items for 100’s of years for practical and symbolic reasons. Some brands want to now manipulate their skills and create things which are just made for the western world almost disregarding the purity of the pieces. This could be detrimental to their own cultural property as they are being taken advantage of for their skills. This could lead to a drop in them making their own meaningful pieces with lack of time, which sadly means these skills and stories of the textiles or weaving get diluted as the generations go on.

   “I would like to believe or hope for a realisation on cultural preservation, and in maintaining a value system in all heritage handicrafts and textiles.”  

 

The way forward I would like to think would be to separate the value of various handcrafted artisan goods and the pieces which are made for mass production. 

This could lead to a way of the indigenous cultures enabling and enforcing a form of copy right or patient on their pattens and designs.

One amazing small enterprise i met in Borneo said in his opening speech for a cultural event i attended, 

 

“I do development practices which align with the communities values and what they want, not what I think they should want or should do”

So This Xmas please consider what your buying and where, its so easy to pick up a basket in a home bargin store or a textile from a shop which is claiming its recycled.. hard as it is but uses your intuition to feel whether this has exploited someone down the line.

 

Thanks for reading.. I'll have more stories and observations coming up every week in 2026, Ill publish is as a newsletter and now Substack... 

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