2025 Challenge: The Resolution You Can Keep!

It's a new year and there is so much to look forward to. With every new year comes new goals, house clean outs, resolutions and challenges. It's something that makes the human existence fascinating and what sets us apart from other creatures-- we want to strive to be better with each coming year.

Whatever your resolutions are, big or small, I would like to ask you to add one to your list. I would ask you to pay attention to where your clothes are coming from. I say this, not because I own a clothing boutique and want to sell more clothes, but because I am a clothing boutique owner and it has become VERY evident people just don't know. In the US, we have gotten so used to everything being "fast" and are more and more addicted to instant gratification. Call it "the Amazon" effect, or whatever you want, but what is happening is the US consumer is more and more about getting a "quick fix" than ever before. As a clothing store owner, I see it most with clothes and how customers shop and interact.

In recent years there is a new competitor in the clothing industry that people do not talk about. For years, we clothing store owners have been aware of certain types of apparel companies and stay away from companies who are not responsible and reliable. Today, these companies are going "direct to consumer" and providing a cheap options to people, unaware of what is actually going on. I truly believe a lot of online consumers just assume the prices are lower because the "middle man" is cut out and these are the prices the stores would be buying the goods for anyway. As much as that makes logical sense, it is just not true. As responsible business owners, we wouldn't be buying from these suppliers anyway, nor do I ever think a shirt should cost $5. The US consumer is so price sensitive the cheap price of these goods is too appealing.

First of all, you have to know that slavery is real and very much happening in the world today. China and the Xinjiang region of China are the worst offenders, providing clothes at the lowest costs imaginable because people are not being paid-- modern day slavery. That's not to say all goods made in China are made with forced labor. There are companies that exist which are doing so responsibly and still being made in China, BUT, those companies are selling the goods for a higher price making it possible for the items in the supply chain to earn a fair wage. 

Have you ever thought about...how is it that some of these items are so cheap on certain websites? It's not rocket science. It's VERY obvious when you actually stop to think about it.

Here's what you need to know:

• Where not to shop. Temu, Shein and Amazon clothing are marketplaces which are completely unregulated. There is no watch dog ensuring fair labor practices and quality materials. This means the goods are made by slavery, or what is now called "Forced Labor". Temu, Shein and Amazon (including Alibaba) are bringing forth tons of materials in a quick way directly from China from forced labor offenders. These products are often cheap fabrics and toxic dyes. These three sites have become THE marketplace to get these goods at cheap prices for China and no one is holding them accountable because someone, or some country, is making a TON of money off the US consumer.
• Pay attention to the websites. Many direct to China companies have been making websites and marketing them as legitimate businesses and retailers. These companies are just a front for these direct to consumer sites and the companies are adding to the prices to pad the margins. Some US consumers realize a shirt or bathing suit shouldn't cost $5, so these companies are selling them for $20 hoping the consumer thinks they are not a slave labor offender.
• Knock off products are very common online. These websites also often are selling "knock off" products designed in the US. The Chinese companies are stealing the designs and making copies. Just because an image is the same when you do a Google image search does NOT mean the products are the same. 
• Look for descriptions and materials lists in the garment you are looking at. There are so many different fabric options and often people are clueless how the words and blends translate to quality. Synthetic fibers will always be cheaper, but break down slowly or not at all in the environment. Educate yourself on fabrics and dyes that are best for your body and for the environment. Find out if the fabric is quality or if it is a step up from plastic. If a description for the product doesn't exist, it most likely is from a company that is not legitimate.
• Ask the influencers questions. If you like to shop from influencers on social media and take their recommendations, know, these influencers may not know if the products are produced responsibly either. Ask the influencer if they know. When they post "Amazon Haul" videos on social media, question the products origin. When you do and you get educated, it will inevitably encourage the influencer to be educated as well.

You're reading this and wondering how can you tell when you're shopping online if the business is legitimate? What is the consumer to do?

1. Don't shop for clothes on the first three mentioned companies. Do not be lured by their prices. Do not tell yourself, "oh well, I will wear it once or twice and then donate or throw it away." This type of consumerism is not responsible and ultimately creates a an addiction that US consumers need to be aware of.

Your clothes should last. You should be able to wear them for years and quality garments from reputable designers and stores matter. 

2. When shopping online, the easiest way to tell if a website is legitimate is if you can see the models face. I know it seems odd, but if you cannot see the models face, the image is either computer generated (AI-- aka not a real human) or a stolen image and the model is not being paid for its use. 

This image above is a screenshot of what it looks like to shop for a dress online. The first red flag of which links not to click are the ones were you cannot see the models face. That usually means the model was not paid to "model".

Also, it is important to know, a real clothing designer will form a clothing/sewing pattern, on a real human body. The clothing designer will adjust the pattern and fabric a few times before the final production piece is completed. When you see clothes featured on a "fake person", it often means this process isn't happening and is the biggest reason the clothes won't fit. The sewing pattern was never put on a real human, or even a US female. Chinese female frames are much smaller than US females.

3. Is the company real? The next way to tell is to look to see if the website has contact information. Read the copy on the website. Do typos exist? Do the sentences actually make sense? These are all red flags that the company is not legitimate and direct out of China. A legitimate company will have a proof reader and will not make these errors.

4. Shipping time. Shipping time used to be a key indicator, but the Chinese figured that out, so now they have a few warehouses in the US where they can ship these items quicker. Key point #1 & #2 are still very important to pay attention to.

5. Conduct your own reverse Google image search. When you are looking at making a purchase that might look like the website is sketchy, save the image and reverse image search in Google. If the images that pop up are all the same on a variety of websites, it's most likely a copy of the item and the images are stolen imagery. This is especially true if you look through the images and find the item on a website you know to be real and the price is much higher along side websites you've never heard of for much lower prices.

Do you see how on this screenshot, the reverse image search brings up very similar dresses all over the internet? At first glance, it makes it look like they're all just the same dress being sold elsewhere. In reality, the first one is the actual clothing designer, with the formal gown price tag. The others are knock offs and there's no telling what you will actually receive in the end.

6. Don't be a "Wardrober". Don't get in the habit (or break the habit) of buying several pieces from an online retailer to either 1) return what doesn't fit, or 2) don't worry because the pieces were so inexpensive it's just no big deal to donate or throw away.

This process is called "Wardrobing" in the industry, and it is a well known e-commerce problem. Get to know your sizes at that online clothing store. Ask questions and know your measurements. Legitimate clothing stores will have good descriptions and chat functions so you can ask what will fit or won't fit. 

OR, better yet, go to the store and try it on. Returns on websites are often 3xs higher than in store returns, meaning customers are 3xs more likely to return online purchases than an item purchased in a store.

Here's why it all matters:

1. The clothing mountain in Chile. Did you know there's a clothing mountain in the desert of Chile? It's true and it is not getting any smaller. This mountain is the result of the "buy 10, keep 2" mentality or buying products that only make it through one wash because the quality is so bad. This place is called the Atacama Desert and it is the graveyard for clothes in Chile throughout the world.

This is a satellite image from space of the area where the clothing graveyard exists in the Atacama Desert in Chile.

The clothing comes from all over the world and is dumped in this mountain. Other dumping sites exist throughout the world as most garbage disposal sites cannot accept clothing trash, but the clothing mountain in the Atacama Desert is the largest dumping location.

Estimates range from 66,000-44,000 million tons of clothes are dumped in the Atacama Desert each year. Most of these clothes are dumped here illegally. The clothes seen here are made from materials which are not biodegradable and contain chemicals that are toxic. Scientists believe it can take up to 200 years for these to decompose.

This mountain is the final resting place all for unwanted/unsold clothes. After Goodwill/Salvation Army/other countries has gone through what does not get used or sold, the articles go here. Chile is one of the largest importers of second hand clothes. Some of what is imported is resold, but most of it is dumped illegally in the Atacama desert making this mountain. The fabrics are so cheap, mostly made from plastic materials so the clothes are not breaking down and the mountain is getting bigger and bigger. Estimates vary from 66,000-44,000 million tons being dumped annually in this desert.

2. The Amazon return waste. Did you also know that almost every product you return to the UPS store from Amazon never makes it back on the shelf? Amazon is not returning these products to the Amazon distribution centers, but instead selling these boxes of goods to this secondary market for overstock/collectors and other types of businesses to buy and resell. Buyers call them Liquidation Boxes and bid on Liquidation pallets. Amazon returns have become second nature to almost all Americans that these boxes have become a huge business. Sadly, the clothes inside often just get thrown away because they're not safe to be resold.

This is the returns bin for Amazon purchases at the nearest UPS Store to the Sweet Elaine Boutique location. This photo was taken January 9, 2025 which is a SLOW day in the UPS Store. Last week, after Christmas, the area was so full of clear plastic bags the employees could barely get around there were so many Amazon returns. The employees box these returns up by color and send them on their way to be liquidated. Daily. This small UPS store sends out 6-8 3' boxes daily. There are 4 UPS Store locations in our town of roughly 80,000 people.

When you click on the button in your Amazon app to make a return, it generates a QR code and tells you to drop it off at the nearest UPS Store. The UPS Store handles the rest and that means it's NOT going back on a shelf and instead will be placed in a liquidation box to be resold or thrown away. (Like the picture above.)

3. The impact on the local economy. When this much "stuff" is being purchased and then wasted, it brings upon a huge burden to local economies. Not only are the small businesses in the towns being squeezed and not shopped, but landfills are filling up with shipping boxes and envelopes that local communities never had to worry about at the levels they handle today. 

I challenge you to educate yourself and think about where you're shopping. Is the business local? Are you only buying things because of price and WHY is the price really that low? 

I know many of the mentioned sites above make shopping incredibly easy, but these are not driving your local economy. If you love the feel of your small town, remember, the heartbeat of a small town IS the business owners in that town. If all you're doing is shopping direct from China, you are not going to have a small town feel much longer.

We're all on this Earth together and how we choose to treat it every single day makes a difference. How we choose to support one another in our community matters. It all matters, and it starts with each and every one of us.