Something a bit different today. I don't mean to lecture anyone, and I am the first to look for a bargain, but as a crocheter I will never buy cheap crochet again.
Anyone who has wandered the high street or browsed online recently cannot avoid the amount of crochet on the shelves this summer. It is everywhere! It is plastered all over influencer posts and the catwalk at the moment and with the celebrity and designer endorsement comes the fast fashion imitations.
Crochet is not fast to make so should never be considered fast fashion.
Unlike knitting, crochet is too complicated to be made by machine, it can only ever be hand made. There is no such thing as a crochet machine.
I have been painstakingly working on variations of this dress for months, and it has taken hours and hours of crochet to get to this final stage. If the fast fashion companies are using cheap labour to make cheap crochet products, they must be exploiting their workers even more than the machine made garment manufacturers.
The average worker in an Indian sweatshop makes 58 cents an hour, and in Bangladesh they make only 33 cents. If your high street retailer or online shop is selling a crochet item that takes hours to hand craft for £7, how little is the crocheter being paid for their skills?
We all know that our clothes are made by people who are less fortunate than us, working long days in terrible conditions and little choice. I know that this is a problem for all fast fashion and not just crochet. But when you see crochet in the shop, maybe stop and think about the maker who has spent hours of their life making it, and if it is worth the price. Is it an investment piece that you will wear again and again, or will it end up in the pile of last years trends?
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