The Unexpected Harm Behind Natural Dyes

Photo by Olivia Garcia

Fashion thrives through separation and segregation of labor and merchandising in order to uphold a sense of glamour and luxe to its consumer. As a capitalist society, in order to consume more, we do not want to feel the guilt associated with the dangerous and corrupt labor practices that our Western societies are responsible for implementing. This ignorance, whether conscious or not, dismisses all culpability in regards to this system. Additionally, the current movement for sustainability and desire for ‘natural’ dyes rather than artificial, undermines the labor that is responsible for these tasks. When we think natural, we assume it is better, but for the lives of garment workers, that almost always signifies worse.

Natural Dyes at TAC, Photo by Olivia Garcia

When visiting the Textile Art Center back in February 2019, I was exposed to the ways in which weaving has remained almost the exact same since ‘caveman’ times. Our guide demonstrated the ways in which you are given creative freedom when working manually on a loom and the intensive process. She also demonstrated on a different loom the ways in which pegs are used like a coding system in order to replicate the pattern. While she encouraged a sentiment of artistic creativity and the values of producing textiles and natural dyeing of fabrics, there was a lack of reference to the ways in which manual labor of garments and dyes have undeniably depleted communities and encouraged unjust situations for mass production.

Photo by Olivia Garcia

Textile work is extremely skillful and at the TAC, there is an emphasis on the artistry that accompanies it. However, there is often a disregard to the highly skilled workers in foreign factories who possess equal or greater knowledge of sewing, weaving and dyeing. While places like TAC are valuable in preserving and exposing these techniques to the general public, who most likely are unfamiliar with the skills that involve weaving, there is also a responsibility in acknowledging and educating about the relation to these practices to the evils of mass production and Western garment corporations.