A recent assignment in my "Global Flows" class at The New School forced me to trace the production cycle of one of my favorite articles of clothing: a feathery, salmon-toned cashmere, the perfect pick-me-up on a blustery winter morning. It was a Uniqlo* purchase, or steal, as I like to think of it, for a measly 3,900 yen. For something that claims to be 100 percent cashmere, I'd say its a pretty sweet deal.
Or is it?
As I was catapulted from Uniqlo's rows of Pantone colored turtlenecks to the deteriorating grasslands of China, I came across some pretty frightening stuff. While the company takes full advantage of China's cashmere-producing goat herds, it's actually tainting the skies over--gasp--North America. If you don't believe me, you should at least believe Evan Osnos of the Chicago Tribune on his freaky expose of "the connection between cheap sweaters, Asia's prairies and America's air [capturing how] ordinary shifts in the global economy are triggering extraordinary change."
I'll give you a slightly truncated version of Osnos' alarming discovery. As Uniqlo touts its cheap cashmere, these unfortunate goats are forced to graze away at the already dwindling grasslands, contributing to some of the worst and most far-reaching dust storms China--and the world--have ever seen.
In the mean time, Uniqlo continues to produce syrupy promotional placards such as this one, which sat next to a stack of sweaters at its Menlo Park branch in NJ.
"Uniqlo's cashmere is the crown jewel of fabrics everywhere. To make you happy three Mongolian goats have given up their wool to make your sweater. It is soft, warm and also lightweight. It is the only cashmere that is not expensive like other cashmeres. This will bring good feelings to everyone."
Talk about pulling the (unjustly produced) wool over your eyes...
*Uniqlo=Japan's neatly folded answer to The Gap
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