Jack MacRoary's Fairtrade Adventure
Episode Ten
Genre: Drama
Swearwords: None.
Description: March 9th – The Fairtrade Fashion Show part two.
Swearwords: None.
Description: March 9th – The Fairtrade Fashion Show part two.
If it was down to me I wouldn’t be writing about the Fashion show at all, and certainly not two episodes. But Melissa said that I had to give it the credit it deserved, not just steal all the limelight for myself. I think if she wants you to know about the Fashion show she should write the episode herself, but I don’t want to make her cry again (you’ll see what I mean later), so I’ll just do it myself. Here goes.
In the run up to the fashion show we had quite a few ‘heated’ discussions about what we would say while the models walked up and down. Melissa wanted to focus on the colours and the materials and the textures and all that – though she did agree that it was important to point out that there are Fairtrade clothes available at all price ranges, but that sometimes paying more is worth it.
Fashion isn’t just about wearing clothes, you know. If only it was that simple. Well, to be honest it has always been that simple for the MacRoary family – even mum didn’t buy into designer brands. And if you’ve read my earlier stories you’ll know that in the MacRoary household we have colour coded underwear. That’s not about fashion, that’s about speed, so that mum can know where to put everybody’s vests, pants and socks without wasting time she could be spending doing something better. But you don’t want to know about my underwear, do you? You want to know about the Fashion show.
Well, let me tell you, fashion is an industry. A profit driven one and money talks. And in the research we did as well as watching the film The True Cost, we came to the conclusion that you have to watch out for companies jumping on the band wagon – or as Brian said – jumping on the Brand Wagon. Because, for example, at the Fashion show I was going to be wearing F&F clothes and some of them have the Fairtrade label. But that might make you think that all F&F clothes are Fairtrade and that’s not true. You have to look for the label.
On the Tesco website they have all sorts of things like Corporate Responsibility and what they do for charity and all that – and I’m sure it’s all good and well (though dad says it’s just a scam to offset their taxes) but it’s not the same as Fairtrade. For example Tesco signed up to the Better Cotton campaign and this does mean that people will get better conditions. But they are still selling clothes really cheaply, and the only way to do that is to pay the workers badly somewhere along the line. I’m a farmer’s son and I know that you can’t sell things at less than the cost of production without someone being out of pocket. Ask any dairy farmer or pig farmer in the country and they’ll tell you the same thing.
The other big problem in fashion is Chemicals. Jeremy White was put down to wear a cool pair of sandblasted designer jeans at the fashion show (which were not Fairtrade and in fact which he owned himself, anyway). He thought he looked really cool. You might think that sandblasted jeans look cool, but the people who work in the factory that does the sandblasting can really suffer. And the chemical pollutants from factories using dyes in the production process can have really far reaching effects on the health of people and the environment. And he took quite a huff when we did the dress rehearsal with the narration and Miss Direction (she was reading out what I wrote) explained how bad the sandblasting process really is and how uncool that is. Jeremy threatened to walk out if I didn’t change the script. I threatened to punch him if he didn’t just do what he had agreed to, which was mince up and down the stage in his posh jeans. Melissa started to cry (which is unusual but the pressure was getting to her) and said we were like ‘rutting bulls.’ And Miss Direction tried to calm things down and say it was just a case of ‘artistic differences’ and eventually we got Jeremy to agree to carry on with the show. And we didn’t change the words. After all, the whole point of the fashion show was not for Jeremy to look cool (though he seemed to think it) but to explain to people the importance of Fairtrade labelling in fashion – and not just fashion clothes but everyday clothes.
Miss Direction made me and Jeremy shake hands. Which we did, but only for the Fairtrade cause. Wait till the gloves are off, or the boots are on, at the football match. I’ll be taking no prisoners then!
At the end of a very turbulent committee meeting it was Brian’s turn to sum up our achievements. He said: ‘Fashion. It’s a minefield.’ That made even Melissa laugh. Then Brian said he was starting to have sympathy for the naked rambler. He told Melissa that if it would help, he would come to the fashion show naked, to show people that as soon as you start putting on your clothes in the morning you are living the consequences of millions of poor workers having rotten lives. He wanted to start the slogan ‘Get naked for Fairtrade’ but Miss Direction said she thought it was not a good idea as there might be ‘issues’ with it. And that was the time to stop. Miss Direction suggested we don’t put Brian’s ‘naked’ idea into the minutes. Instead we concluded as follows:
I guess what we are learning is that no buying choices are easy. All actions have consequences and that applies to shopping as well. Farmers know that already, of course, but everyone needs to wake up and smell the Fairtrade coffee and feel their Fairtrade cotton socks in the morning and know that they are doing all they can to help people in the developing world live as good a life as we do.
We raised a lot of money at the fashion show. But I don’t want to go into the actual events because it was just EMBARRASSING and I hope I will never have to do anything like that again. I just hope no one filmed it to post on YouTube. One good thing that came out of it though was that the school agreed to source Fairtrade shirts and shorts for our upcoming Fairtrade Football match. Which is what I’ll tell you about tomorrow.
In the run up to the fashion show we had quite a few ‘heated’ discussions about what we would say while the models walked up and down. Melissa wanted to focus on the colours and the materials and the textures and all that – though she did agree that it was important to point out that there are Fairtrade clothes available at all price ranges, but that sometimes paying more is worth it.
Fashion isn’t just about wearing clothes, you know. If only it was that simple. Well, to be honest it has always been that simple for the MacRoary family – even mum didn’t buy into designer brands. And if you’ve read my earlier stories you’ll know that in the MacRoary household we have colour coded underwear. That’s not about fashion, that’s about speed, so that mum can know where to put everybody’s vests, pants and socks without wasting time she could be spending doing something better. But you don’t want to know about my underwear, do you? You want to know about the Fashion show.
Well, let me tell you, fashion is an industry. A profit driven one and money talks. And in the research we did as well as watching the film The True Cost, we came to the conclusion that you have to watch out for companies jumping on the band wagon – or as Brian said – jumping on the Brand Wagon. Because, for example, at the Fashion show I was going to be wearing F&F clothes and some of them have the Fairtrade label. But that might make you think that all F&F clothes are Fairtrade and that’s not true. You have to look for the label.
On the Tesco website they have all sorts of things like Corporate Responsibility and what they do for charity and all that – and I’m sure it’s all good and well (though dad says it’s just a scam to offset their taxes) but it’s not the same as Fairtrade. For example Tesco signed up to the Better Cotton campaign and this does mean that people will get better conditions. But they are still selling clothes really cheaply, and the only way to do that is to pay the workers badly somewhere along the line. I’m a farmer’s son and I know that you can’t sell things at less than the cost of production without someone being out of pocket. Ask any dairy farmer or pig farmer in the country and they’ll tell you the same thing.
The other big problem in fashion is Chemicals. Jeremy White was put down to wear a cool pair of sandblasted designer jeans at the fashion show (which were not Fairtrade and in fact which he owned himself, anyway). He thought he looked really cool. You might think that sandblasted jeans look cool, but the people who work in the factory that does the sandblasting can really suffer. And the chemical pollutants from factories using dyes in the production process can have really far reaching effects on the health of people and the environment. And he took quite a huff when we did the dress rehearsal with the narration and Miss Direction (she was reading out what I wrote) explained how bad the sandblasting process really is and how uncool that is. Jeremy threatened to walk out if I didn’t change the script. I threatened to punch him if he didn’t just do what he had agreed to, which was mince up and down the stage in his posh jeans. Melissa started to cry (which is unusual but the pressure was getting to her) and said we were like ‘rutting bulls.’ And Miss Direction tried to calm things down and say it was just a case of ‘artistic differences’ and eventually we got Jeremy to agree to carry on with the show. And we didn’t change the words. After all, the whole point of the fashion show was not for Jeremy to look cool (though he seemed to think it) but to explain to people the importance of Fairtrade labelling in fashion – and not just fashion clothes but everyday clothes.
Miss Direction made me and Jeremy shake hands. Which we did, but only for the Fairtrade cause. Wait till the gloves are off, or the boots are on, at the football match. I’ll be taking no prisoners then!
At the end of a very turbulent committee meeting it was Brian’s turn to sum up our achievements. He said: ‘Fashion. It’s a minefield.’ That made even Melissa laugh. Then Brian said he was starting to have sympathy for the naked rambler. He told Melissa that if it would help, he would come to the fashion show naked, to show people that as soon as you start putting on your clothes in the morning you are living the consequences of millions of poor workers having rotten lives. He wanted to start the slogan ‘Get naked for Fairtrade’ but Miss Direction said she thought it was not a good idea as there might be ‘issues’ with it. And that was the time to stop. Miss Direction suggested we don’t put Brian’s ‘naked’ idea into the minutes. Instead we concluded as follows:
I guess what we are learning is that no buying choices are easy. All actions have consequences and that applies to shopping as well. Farmers know that already, of course, but everyone needs to wake up and smell the Fairtrade coffee and feel their Fairtrade cotton socks in the morning and know that they are doing all they can to help people in the developing world live as good a life as we do.
We raised a lot of money at the fashion show. But I don’t want to go into the actual events because it was just EMBARRASSING and I hope I will never have to do anything like that again. I just hope no one filmed it to post on YouTube. One good thing that came out of it though was that the school agreed to source Fairtrade shirts and shorts for our upcoming Fairtrade Football match. Which is what I’ll tell you about tomorrow.
About the Author
Jack MacRoary, also known locally as the Bard of DrumTumshie, comes from the small farming community of TattyBogle, which he has singlehandedly put on the map through his fame. After bursting onto the Scottish literary cultural scene in August 2012, when he appeared at the inaugural Edinburgh eBook Festival, Jack now attends DrumTumshie Academy.
During his brief but eventful literary career so far, Jack has been a blogger, providing an insightful commentary on rural life and Scots culture; a short story writer; and most recently a political commentator through his McSerial contributions to the McStorytellers website.
The Complete TattyBogle, Jack's first “real book” published by McStorytellers in 2015, brings together in a handy compendium all of his musings, commentaries and stories to date.
During his brief but eventful literary career so far, Jack has been a blogger, providing an insightful commentary on rural life and Scots culture; a short story writer; and most recently a political commentator through his McSerial contributions to the McStorytellers website.
The Complete TattyBogle, Jack's first “real book” published by McStorytellers in 2015, brings together in a handy compendium all of his musings, commentaries and stories to date.