Complex Simplicity

I’ve felt a little puny today – sore throat, headache, and all – so today’s post is more a comment on another blog than it is any original, thoughtful prose.

Shaun Groves is lamenting the fact that, after visiting the Dominican Republic to see first-hand the horrific work conditions for adults and children who make all the clothes we buy and are wearing in this country, finding fair trade items of clothing that fit and are reasonably priced is turning out to be quite the challenge.

So, just for the heck of it, I decided to do a little googling to see if it is possible to find fair trade clothing…in my size.

If you will become offended or defensive reading about the trials and tribulations of skinny, short people, you can stop reading this post right now. Come back tomorrow.

I’m serious. The sore throat is not making me very diplomatic tonight.

I already dread shopping. I rarely do it. It makes me tired and gives me a headache. I admit that part of the dislike stems from having to spend money.

Usually I end up having to spend much more money than I assume “normal” people could spend on apparel because I wear small petite sizes. Even many stores that carry “petite” do not carry sizes that will fit me. And now that the general population of the world seems to be getting larger, sizes have changed. The number says it will fit me, but the clothing is getting bigger.

I’m sure most people are delighted that they can now buy clothing in one or two sizes smaller without having to do anything themselves. I, on the other hand, have nightmares that someday I will not be able to find any garments that fit me anywhere unless companies start making negative sizes.

I know there are others out there with these same issues. I’m guessing a lot of them are of Asian descent. For a brief period of time we considered moving to Singapore where one of the absolute most positive things I was looking forward to was being able to go shopping and find clothing in my size.

So, I discovered there are indeed stores, online and in real life, that carry fair trade and organic brand attire. However, the only store I found that carries items in petite sizes only sells a variety of clothing that looks like potato sacks: tunics, shawls, ponchos, large, loose-fitting shirts, vests.

Don’t ask me why I even tried to research fair-trade petite apparel; it’s making my headache worse.

Just for the record, the only clothing-related issue Shaun has is his tall height and even he is having trouble finding some fair-trade jeans. And he can buy regular jeans at Target if he wants; I cannot.

Let it be known that my desire is to buy fair-trade items. The complexity and near impossibility of this undertaking is mind-boggling.