Students learn to 'check their labels' at speaker series event

Students trekked through newly fallen slush Friday to hear the story of a pair of underwear.

Author Kelsey Timmerman highlighted the importance of a global connection to the clothes individuals buy locally by following the labels on a few of his clothing items, such as a pair of underwear, to the places they were made. Once there, he met the workers who made them.

Timmerman, author of “Where am I Wearing: A Global Tour to the Countries, Factories, and People that Make Our Clothes” and the opening speaker for the event, “Check Your Label: Elements of Conscious Consumerism” sponsored by the Kelley School of Business, was one of the five speakers Friday at the IU Auditorium.

Timmerman said he discovered shocking commonalities between himself and the people he met. People, he discovered, who often worked 100 hours every week had a very low standard of living.

“When it comes to our clothes, others make it, and we have it made,” Timmerman said.

Timmerman was not the only person who expressed these feelings.

Speakers Amy Chin, cofounder and director of the International Development Collaborative, and Anne and Kelly Campbell, cofounders of The Village Experience, work with organizations that collaborate poor villages to generate products to sell in the U.S.

These non-profit organizations create jobs for people living in these villages, giving them fair wages and ensuring they are treated well, Chin and Campbell said.

The Village Experience also takes profits from the sales they make to fund projects to generate income for the local villagers. By choosing fair trade products, which are products made by people who were paid fairly for them, individuals can make a difference, Anne Campbell said.

And individuals make a difference everyday. Blake Mycoskie, founder and chief shoe giver of TOMS shoes and the main speaker of “Check Your Label,” said he learned this himself when he started a company that has forever changed the way people think of buying shoes.

Mycoskie said after visiting Argentina and seeing so many children there without shoes to wear, he was inspired to start a company that would give away a pair of shoes to someone in need for every pair that he sold.

He said this idea occurred to him when he took part in a shoe drive and compiled and gave away donated shoes to children without them. But in order for his shoe donation to be sustainable, Mycoskie said he had to alter the idea behind the shoe drop to a business that funded the concept.

“Giving does not just feel good, but it’s actually a really good business strategy and that’s okay,” Mycoskie said.

And what he said really surprised him was how excited people were about the TOMS project. Without any form of traditional advertising, Mycoskie said he believes customers are the best marketing team he can ask for. He said not only do they wear the shoes, but they spread the story far and wide, some of them even lining up at the door to work for TOMS shoes.

“People want more than a 9-to-5 job. They want to become part of a movement,” Mycoskie said.