Oct. 04, 2019

How Many Hands Are On Your Body?

The Lingerie Lynx - Little Pieces Blog

By Cullanete Bloom

How many hands are on your body?

My guess is 64 or more.

20 hands belonging to all the people that made the yarn which in turn created the fabric. Hands that picked the cotton or sheared the sheep, and that helped with spinning, dying and packaging of the thread. More hands that took those threads and set up the looms that wove them, and yet more hands that took that fabric and carried out the softening or smoothing treatments.

20 hands belonging to all the men and women who cut the fabric, sewed the pieces together, trimmed the garment, packaged the garment, and shipped the garment.

Around 12 hands that made the buttons or floral appliqué, or printed the graphics, or hand beaded the trim.

And yet another 12 hands belonging to the warehouse workers that unpacked the garments and distributed them, belonging to sales associates that steamed and hung the garments, and others that neatly folded them to pass to the final set of hands, yours.

How many of these hands were happy hands?

Perhaps one pair belonged to a seamstress in Bangladesh whose partner died in 2013 when the Dhaka factory collapsed killing 1,134 people and leaving her with 6 children to raise on her own. Perhaps another pair were those of a forced laborer in Uzbekistan who has trained for years to become a nurse only to be forced to pick cotton in 12 hour shifts. And maybe a third pair belongs to a Chicago sales associate, age 22, who is working 3 jobs at minimum wage in order to put himself through community college while helping his ill mother pay her rent.

This is the cost of fast fashion. And these are all the hands on your body when you buy that bustier for $9.99 which arrived at your doorstep in less than 48 hours, neatly boxed and delivered by Amazon.

Little Pieces is fiercely dedicated to ethical fashion. We want to limit the hands that touch you, and we want them to be kind and happy hands. When you buy a Little Piece, know that we are doing our utmost to source fabrics from factories that pay their workers a living wage and have healthy working conditions. Know that for the majority of our Little Pieces, the only pair of hands that touched the garment in production is one pair. Either me or one of our very talented sewers made the style from start to finish, with joy and a great deal of love for the craft.

The next time you shop for lingerie, shop Little Pieces. And if you pause because our styles may be slightly higher prices, just ask yourself- “How many hands do I want on my body?”

Slow Fashion = Slow Love. And Slow lovin’ is the best kind.

My Happy Hands Los Angeles Workspace Custom Lingerie