When you think of animal testing, you think of laboratories and cosmetics, not the fashion industry in particular. However, billions of animals have been slaughtered for the fashion industry to use for everything from down to leather.

This weekend, I took part in the MultipleSclerosisRun/Walk in New York City. Working together with my sister, we managed to create a team of six members and raise over 10,000 dollars for the cause.

Have you been struggling with finding high quality clothing pieces for affordable prices? Finding clothes that actually fit your body type well? Clothing that lasts for more than two wears? 

It turns out, you’re not the problem.

Over 44 million people have some form of disability, with 39 million of those having some sort of physical impairment.

Economic policies have a direct impact on you—one larger than anyone would expect. When the economy goes into a recession, consumers tend to buy less, but when the economy is in a period of expansion, consumer spending increases. Consumer spending is the amount of money a household spends on final goods and services. This is due to the fact that in a recession, people tend to save more, but the opposite happens in an expansion. This directly relates to the prices of things you buy, something especially apparent in the fashion industry.

Of the 32 employees working at a garment factory in Italy, nine of them didn’t have the required documentation to work legally. Of those nine, two of them were illegal immigrants from China. The workers slept in the factory, where there would be shifts of people who continued to work overnight, to ensure 24-hour production.

When I think about Dubai, I don’t imagine much greenery or sustainability. I think of modernization and urban life: factories piling pollution into the air and trees torn down to make space for man made skyscrapers. However, these assumptions were challenged when I recently visited Dubai in December 2024.