Have you ever thought about where our clothes come from?

Fashion today has a major impact on today's economy. As we all know, the economy isn't as stable as it used to be.

The way in which we obtain clothing has changed over the course of 20 years and the way we view fashion and its importance has too. Fashion holds a higher importance in our lives than it did before and garments are becoming more extortionately priced, however, do any of us stop to think about who is  making these products in the masses that we demand them in? Every time your tights/jeans tear what do you do? You go the cheapest store to get more, why, because they tear all the time, what's the point of buying really expensive ones? Have you ever thought about how the company gets so many at one time? Well, I think everyone should stop and think about it sometimes, because there are people around the world who work vast amounts of hours in the worst possible conditions just to bring us our favourite clothes line.
At the age of 12, what worries should a child typically have? What colour ribbon their going to wear to school the next day? Which doll they want for Christmas? Whether or not they want to give their mum and dad the run around for their bath? I'm sure you will agree that children should not be thinking about work, and the responsibility of their household, or their futures for that matter. But yet again, there are still children all over the world who are working for ridiculous amounts of hours to get the clothes that we wear on the shelves. There have been many investigations into the problem of child labour, some of which would bring tears to your eyes, urging you to do something about it yourself. When child labour is investigated, the children are interviewed and asked questions. When they say they are 'working for the sake of my family','to grow up and be a working man for my family,' it breaks your heart. To think that we live real childhoods, not spending hours in a factory, in a cramped place sewing beads on to dresses or clearing thread form the floor. Children younger than 8 work shifts of 16-20 hours at once. That is not the age for children to be working. They should be outside! Riding bikes, falling over, exploring the world outside of their home.

But what is the most that we can do? We could just stop buying items from stores which are known to use child labour. And you can't say that you don't know of any, seeing as they are all over the news at times or the pricing of the clothing are low enough to raise some suspicion. No ones saying that a formal protest must be carried out and that we must storm the stores, replicating the riots of summer 2011. The problem lies within ourselves, where we look at our wallets first and then at the source of our clothing. No one can really blame us, looking at the state of our economy, but that still does not give reason to buy clothes from places which are exploiting child labour. To cater for our high demands of cheap clothing, the orders get bigger in these countries therefore they must work harder, for longer hours. Something I personally hate, is when someone who has an opinion, but  it's just not worth sharing; 'Well it gives them jobs, we are giving them work to do.' I agree to the point of where adults are concerned but children? How would we like it if the children of our nation were working shifts of 12 hours, not attending school, or playing outside?

According to the International Labour Organisation, around 215 million children work, many of them full-time, not attending school. Some of them must under go hazardous conditions in their work places, when we sit back and enjoy our brand new jacket or pair of shiny new trainers. Being children, they are not paid at the same rate as adults, which makes their labour cheaper therefore used more frequently. It's a disgraceful truth but it must be addressed.
As a nation who buys, therefore promotes such exploitation of children, we should be deeply ashamed and should strive to help these children be it through donations or by picking up a pair of trainers which are little bit more expensive but have a reliable source.

We could make a difference, its the difference between pure ignorance, and paying attention.