Fashion Bloggers, Blogshops & Fast Fashion: The Rise of the Asian, Middle-Class Consumers

Handprint, a short film aimed at raising awareness of the challenges of 

garment workers and jewellery producers around the world. 

Several months ago, I attended a workshop called 'I Want A Fashion Blog' hosted by a famous local fashion blogger and her photographer friend. I have no intention of being a fashion blogger in the conventional sense. I wanted to be a fair trade advocate that writes about fashion.Why fashion? Because just about everyone I know associate fair trade with commodities such as coffee, sugar and tea. Not surprising since these fair trade products are easily available in the supermarkets though not as diverse as what one might get in a Western nation. The proliferation of trendy cafes that embrace the Third Wave Coffee Movement with its emphasis on direct trade with socially responsible farms also means that consumers here have greater access to ethically-sourced produce.

I am also motivated by the fact that most resources I found from books such as 'Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion' to online articles and lifestyle blogs articulate the issues surrounding fast fashion from a Western consumer perspective. They talk about how physical and cultural distances eliminate any empathy towards the exploited garment workers and ensures disregard towards the environmental impact of fast-fashion. Often, they also try to advocate for locally made fashion. But the problem here is I live in Singapore so these arguments don't necessarily apply. How I see it, these things are happening in my backyard and yet most are still oblivious to the situation.

More alarmingly, the rise of middle-class consumers across Asia and particularly China means that the level of consumption is set to rise dramatically in this part of the world. According to the UNDP's 2013 Human Development Report, two-third of the global middle-class will be found in Asia by 2030. Coupled with lower awareness of sustainability issues as compared to Western consumers, this is a potential recipe for social and environmental disasters.

Consumer expenditure growth (% change) clothing and footwear
Region	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
Asia and Australasia	3.4	8.7	10.4	10.5	10.4
Western Europe	0.8	0.6	1.5	1.5	2.9
North America	2.3	3.2	2.9	3.0	3.3
Source: The Economist Intelligence Unit

Already, a wide variety of sources including this article from The Wall Street Journal have indicated a strong correlation between a rise in the Asian middle-class with the rapid expansion of fast-fashion retailers. An article from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) details aggressive expansion plans across Asia by fast-fashion retailers such as Asos, H&M, Wal-Mart, Uniqlo, Gap and TopShop. The EIU article also provides a projection of consumer expenditure growth in the apparel sector across the world. The table above clearly shows that Asia Pacific is leading the pack with double digit growth forecast between 2015 and 2017.

To make matters worse, retail landlords in China are even aggressively luring fast fashion retailers to set up shops in their malls through lucrative deals such as waiving base rent in return for a percentage of the store's turnover. The success of international fast fashion brands have also encouraged Asian retailers such as the Metersbonwe Group to speed up their production process and inventory turnover thus contributing to existing problems that includes the pollution of Yangtze and Pearl Rivers.

Aside from fast-fashion retailers, high technology adoption across the region has also led to the growth of widely-read fashion blogs and blogshops that further fuel the demand for short-lived fashion fads. For the uninformed, a blogshop is an online retail business that leverages on blogging platforms such as Blogger, LiveJournal and WordPress to sell highly affordable products. It is an extremely popular retail platform in Singapore that allows thousands to make side incomes. According to Blogshopsingapore.sg, there were over 50,000 blogshops in 2011, the estimated average income of a blogshop is around S$1440 and the estimated retail price of a blogshop product is S$20. The website also wax lyrical about the advantages of blogshop shopping.

As with fast fashion retailers, blogshops rely heavily on high stock turnover and low cost garments for their business model. Blogshop owners usually source cheap clothing from the region or City Plaza, a fashion wholesale mall although increasingly many owners have taken on the role of designer to give themselves an edge in the competitive blogshop-sphere. Given their unsustainable retail model, I wanted to research on the social and environmental impacts of blogshops. There were none. Instead, what I found were glowing articles praising the entrepreneurial spirits of these blogshop owners such as the blogshop couple that own MGP (My Glamour Place) that reportedly makes S$30,000 a month in 2011 selling dresses that retail for about S$30.

Returning back to the workshop, I was curious if anyone would raise the issue of ethical fashion or whether I had the guts to raise my hand and disrupt the workshop by asking the blogger if she ever thought of the hidden costs of fast fashion but I thought better of it. As much as I'd like to, I could tell they had put in a lot of effort to organise the workshop and it would be terrible of me to ruin it. That said, I hope that - even if the possibility is remote - some of the girls I met at the workshop might come across my blog and re-think their fashion stance and embrace the ethical fashion ethos.

Blueprint: Supporting Emerging, Ethical Designers

Forty Red Bangles

Several weeks ago, I visited BLUEPRINT an annual fashion trade show that showcases emerging and established Asian designers as well as international brands looking to enter the Asian retail markets. Obviously, my primary purpose was really to suss out new ethical labels that are making a difference to their communities and the world at large. I'm happy to report that I've found several stylish, sustainable brands gracing the 5th Edition of the event.

One of the brands I was looking forward to check out was Forty Red Bangles, a socially conscious fashion brand from India that sells a wide-range of products from organic apparels to upcycled accessories from the House of Wandering Silk as well as handmade toys. They also have an adorable kids line called Four Red Bangles that sells kurta pyjamas made from certified organic cotton and printed with low impact GOTS certified dyes. Since I have so many friends with young ones, I can foresee Four Red Bangles being a major source of gifts for their kids.

The story behind the brand fascinates me. Ramona Saboo, the founder of Forty Red Bangles, hails from Australia and migrated to India after marriage and has since moved to Singapore. The name Forty Red Bangles was inspired by the forty red and white bangles traditionally worn by Indian brides as a symbol of luck and safety. For Ramona, the bangles represent the connection between her past and her future. The brand was established as a way for her to showcase the beauty of India's craftsmanship and design with sustainability in mind.

Community development is a major part of Forty Red Bangles philosophy.They work with small artisan communities in India as well as non-governmental organisations. They are heavily involved in projects that focus on the empowerment of marginalised women such as the Sambhali Trust in Jodhpur and Gramshree in Gujarat. These organisations provide women, especially those from the lower-caste, with the means to achieve financial independence as well as preserve traditional skills and craftsmanship.

Clockwise, Zariin Jewelry, Betel Life and Kolombiana

Apart from Forty Red Bangles, several other ethical brands that also caught my attention at the trade show includes Zariin Jewelry, Betel Life and Kolombiana. Zariin Jewelry sells semi-precious jewellery fairly made by Indian artisans with a portion of the proceed for every piece of jewellery sold going to the SOS Children's Villages India. Betel Life from Taiwan, on the other hand, sells eco-friendly slippers made of betel leaves which creates jobs for Taiwanese farmers as well as Taiwanese aboriginal weavers. Meanwhile, Kolombiana sells tribal bags handmade by artisans from indigenous communities across South America to provide them with means of livelihood and allowing them to preserve their hand weaving traditions. Kolombiana also has a brick-and-mortar shop in Haji Lane so drop by their store when you're in the Kampong Glam district.

Fair Trade Finds: Boutiques at The Pit Building

Clockwise: AsiaAmour, Bisous La and Baliza Shop

Boutiques Singapore is a biannual shopping event geared towards the expatriate community. For its 2014 spring edition, it featured over 100 independent vendors that sell original designs as well as artisanal goods made from all over the world. Most importantly for me, it is probably one of the few boutique fairs in Singapore that feature a wide-range of fairly traded goods from apparels to home decor. Fair trade vendors present at the fair include: AsiaAmour that sells classic, tropical resort wear fairly made by Cambodian seamstresses; Bisous La that sells accessories and home decor items made by craftsmen across South East Asia; and Baliza Shop that sells Bali and Ibiza inspired resort wear.

Colourful tassels made by the children at Ladli. Photo courtesy of Baliza Shop.

Gema Santander, a spunky, petite Spanish lady runs Baliza Shop and she enthusiastically told me that all the products are made in Ladli, a vocational training program for street children in Jaipur, India. Children as young as ten assemble the tassels whereas older kids are tasked with the sewing. Without Ladli, many of these kids are left to fend for themselves and have to resort to begging, child slavery or prostitution. Ladli is run by i-india, an NGO that provides education, artisan training, nutrition, healthcare, counselling and accommodation for these street children. Baliza currently reinvests all its profits to develop and promote its production at Ladli.

I bought a kaftan from Baliza Shop for my upcoming Mediterranean trip (my sad wardrobe is mostly filled with work clothes) and I have to say I am very impressed by both the quality and unique design patterns, made through traditional techniques of hand dyeing and printing. The last time I bought a kaftan was over a year ago through the Victoria's Secret website and was very disappointed with the quality. It was flimsy and crumpled easily, only supermodels like Miranda Kerr can carry it off.

To buy from any of the above mentioned retailers, you can subscribe to their facebook pages to receive the latest news on their upcoming events. If you're lucky, you can also set up appointments to visit their showroom.

Help Anna: Style It Forward

Have any gently-used designer apparel and accessories to give away? If so, head to the Hilton Hotel between 29 May and 1 June to donate them as part of Club 21 Cares initiative. The donations will be used to fund the Singapore Committee for UN Women's Help Anna campaign through its charity sale. The campaign serves as part of its wider initiative on ending violence against women across the region.