I Ran Away to Chicago to Seek My Fortune

In 1985, I sold clothing made from upcycled materials at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago with outstanding success, considering it was during the time when recycling garbage was unheard of. The dress on the left was a one-of-a-kind item made from a variety of yarns and strips of fabrics and could not be reproduced exactly. It was included in a show called Wearable Art '85 at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. By the time the show opened, my rag knits were quite popular as unique items, so I decided to create a line of artwear that could be reproduced. The clothes on the right are from that line. I used 100% cotton fabrics and fibers that were dyed, painted and constructed by hand and they attracted a lot of attention and sales!

Transportation is frequently a problem with walking my green talk and not a point I am willing to compro

mise. Until the mid-1990s, I could take the Amtrak train to Chicago and return to Indianapolis on the same day, so doing business in Chicago was not a problem. When A

mtrak discontinued the daily service, business in Chicago became difficult. However, MegaBus service has changed all of that. In less

than two years, I have learned how to use social media effectively and open an Etsy shop, so I am naturally curious about what's going on in the Chicago marketplace. Yesterday, I acted on that curiosity and took Megabus to the city with the goal of browsing the Apparel Center at the Merchandise Mart for a

showroom.

My trip was efficient and comfortable and even greener than expected. The vehicles

are engineered for optimum fuel efficiency. During my next trip, I'll remember to take my netbook and adapter because each seat has an electrical outlet and there is WiFi! The bus schedules between Indianapolis to Chicago are convenient for short visits or a full day of business.

The Merchandise Mart is an impressive structure built by Marshall Field at the peak of the pandemonium of the Great Depression to make it easier for the makers of goods to reach

a wider market. It's two city blocks long and has an annex that was designed to be an apparel market. In the 1980's that was packed full of glam and glitz. Since that time Chicago has gone through many changes and so has the building. Chicago is the greenest city in America and the Merchandise Mart itself is the biggest LEED certified existing building in the whole world. That's good green karma!

So I went to work cooking color and researching the information online about the Merchandise Mart, its shows and its showrooms. It just seemed odd that there was just one floor exclusively apparel showrooms. My original plan was to take samples on the day of my trip but my gut told me to check out the situation first. I noticed when the building became LEED certified there was a Green StyleMax show. I couldn't find any subsequent sustainable fashion shows.

I was really hoping to find showrooms that deal exclusively with sustainable design businesses. However, even being America's greenest city is still small

on the grand scale of everything. I've only been able to find 16 retail stores in Chicago with 40% or more green merchandise. and, to be honest, I'd really rather do what I do in my own green way and express my aesthetic and point of view without being too overtly political about it. So I went with an open mind, making

the trip a fact-finding mission instead.

The architectural facelift of the old building was gorgeous and it's so good to know that green and history can work

well together! Not only can old be new again, it can be even better than it used to be. No doubt that green has moved far past its hippie image into the land of luxury!

There is no doubt either that green is a way of business life in this building. Every trash can in the hallways had a place to recycle paper, aluminum, plastic and glass. The ultimate badge of greenness was displayed prominently throughout the building. Here it is at the end of the bridge to the Apparel Center!

However, there is absolutely nothing that could have prepared me for what I found on the other side of that doorway. The 13th floor, essentially the only floor of the Apparel Center still devoted to apparel is a ghost town. It is at least 75% vacant. Showrooms still in business have red banners protruding from their doorways indicating occupancy.

*SIGH*

I did make some great contacts with the showroom tenants that have survived in this environment without going out of business or moving to less expensive locations. It's too bad that Marshall Field's original concept to make business more efficient didn't work very well in the building using energy more efficiently. There was, however, a real spirit of comradarie and cooperation between these wholesalers of fashion I've never seen before and much more openmindedness about the business of fashion in general.

I do have optimism that I will be able to expand into the Chicago and upper Midwest markets soon. It's going to take a somewhat different approach than what I had anticipated. But, change is good. Not only that. Change is necessary. Guess where the people who couldn't be more flexible and forward-thinking are. Gone.

*SMILE*

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About Clothing, Fire and Ethical Fashion....

One hundred years have come and gone since the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in New York City on March 25, 1911. Since then, we have been on a roller coaster ride of changes in the industry of clothing manufacture and have arrived at a point actually worse than where we started. Because the industry has shown no interest in evolving itself in a positive way and unions have transformed from apolitical entities into political powers feeding only the egos of their bosses, the mechanism for change lies presently within the hands of the consumer.

Fashion consumers are an interesting group. They are willing to starve themselves to ill-health and even death or self-destruct financially with insurmountable consumer debt. Curiously, as a majority, they drive a price-driven market fueling sweatshops and the institution of slavery. Misery must beget misery and, perhaps, this is an example. With society's increasing interest in all things "green", this is the perfect time to evaluate our thoughts about ourselves and our relationships to other people as we strive to save the planet. That is exactly why I always describe my work as both friendly to the planet and to humanity.

Knitting girl is the "face" of American textile workers at the turn of the 20th century. The majority of the laborers were young, immigrant females with little or no education and worked

long days in dangerous conditions for less than 25 cents/hour. Most of the 146 fatalities in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire were teenagers and women not unlike this girl.

Labor unions were becoming powerful in the textile industry and it is interesting to know that there was a failed attempt to unionize Triangle shortly before the fire. One of their biggest labor/management disputes was about fire safety. They wanted the fire escape door unlocked and the exterior fire escape repaired.

The fourth largest industrial accident in American history not only accelerated the causes of the labor unions but also inspired all levels of government to focus on labor and

occupational safety lawmaking. The result is that American workplaces are among the safest and fairest in the world. There is one problem with this utopia for workers, though. The manufacturing has moved out of this country to countries with less regard in the 21st century for their laborers than the greedy factory owners had for them in the 20th century.

This is the "face" of the 21st century international textile worker. Separated by a century of time and the distance across the international dateline, it is essentially the same face as knitting girl. Because we are growing in cultural and social maturity throughout the world, we have the opportunity to change this face. We need to decide as a group that whatever we want for ourselves, we want for everyone else.

I named my business after a French slang term which I explain in the blog header and I want to challenge the 'baisebeige' consumer, the consumer who thinks he or she is truly all that, to consider adopting alternate ways of acquiring clothing. Please consider buying clothing from only fair trade workshops in countries with positive human rights policies and practices, buying vintage or modern previously owned clothing, buying handmade clothing, or making clothing yourself. As a result, your style will shine and you will truly be beautiful beyond imagination!