Do You Really Know Where Your Clothes Are From?

You probably don’t know where the shirt you’re wearing right now was made. Sure, there’s a tag that says “Made in China.” Or maybe “America,” or “Portugal,” or “Italy.” It’s the same sort of tag you’ll find in your suit, jeans—pretty much everything you have in your wardrobe. But it doesn’t tell the whole story. Sometimes, “made in wherever” means that a garment is fully sourced and constructed there. Other times, it means someone attached a few buttons to an almost-completed button-down and slapped a new label on the thing. Regardless, that won’t tell you where the cotton was grown or the thread was spun. Basically, it’s a crapshoot. But this week, on the fifth anniversary of the Rana Plaza factory collapse, the NGO Fashion Revolution is asking us all to think a little more deeply about the issue with its annual Fashion Revolution Week, also in its fifth year. So ask yourself: Do you know all the steps that went into your wardrobe? Read more at Esquire.