The United States Supreme Court just ruled that spending money is covered by our firstamendment right to freedom of speech.

And while this ruling is problematic, money can certainly be a vehicle for change. As L.N. Smith wrote inSunrise Over Disney “Every dollar you spend…or don’t spend… is a vote you cast for the world you want.”

Simply put, change how you spend and change the world.

Debra Lawson, yoga teacher and co-founder of Dharma Bums, an ethical yoga clothing company based inSydney, Australia echoes this sentiment “Yoga teachers and students need to lead the charge. They need to shopconsciously and support brands that are made ethically.” As yogis, we should be influencing the world aroundus. Over 20 million people in the United States alone practice yoga. If we were truly living our practice wewould be changing the cutthroat and unscrupulous business practices in the world, or at least those within theworld of yoga. Chad Satlow, a yoga teacher as well as founder and CEO of Third Eye Threads based out ofEncinitas, CA, is trying to turn the tide – “As our company grows, we will continue be able to ‘Be the ChangeWe Wish To See In The World.’”

But, unfortunately, the corporate influence on yoga is both powerful and pervasive. Bigbusiness is changing yoga, and not the other way around.

There are corporate festivals that coordinate their events at the same time as local, grass-roots festivals, in anattempt to put them out of business. There are corporate studios that charge more for a training than any teacherwill make in their first 5 years of teaching. And, there are clothing companies that exchange free clothes and achance to be a brand ambassador so yogis can turn a blind eye to sweat-shop labor, polluting textile mills, andextreme conservative politics that are antithetical to the ethics of yoga.

The yoga apparel industry in the USA is valued at $13 billion per year.

(That’s more than the gross domestic product of Iceland.) But the fashion industry as a whole is problematic, atbest. There is, of course, the impossible standards of beauty and overt sexualization (and sometimespornification) that are used to sell clothes. But, it gets worse. 25% of all global pesticide use, 10% of allagricultural chemicals, and 3% of all global water use goes into cotton production. 2700 liters of water are

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needed to grow the cotton needed for one t-shirt. 20% of global industrial water pollution comes from thetreatment and dyeing of textiles (these include heavy metals, chlorine, ammonia, and many more toxicchemicals). These are usually dumped directly into rivers.

A river in China flows with the run-off of the season’s colors.

Sweatshops exist in nearly every corner of the globe where workers are paid pennies a day to work long hours insqualid conditions. It is estimated that 246 million children between the ages of 5 to 14 are employed in thegarment industry today worldwide. I know I can’t go up against a multi-national chain that makes millions ofdollars and creates celebrities out of teachers. (Believe me – I’ve tried!) I also can’t name these global entitiessince I lost enough friends when I called for a boycott of Lululemon. It seems more folks are loyal to their pantsthan their practice or their peers. But I’m not alone and neither are you. We have options. Here are 2 ways youcan change an industry, and the world.

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A child worker at a textile mill in Bangladesh.

Research

Yes, it’s time consuming. And, yes, it’s a pain in the asana. As I learned more about this business, I realized thatI was part of the problem because I was completely unaware of where my clothes came from. So, I googled‘ethical yoga clothes’ and it gave me even more questions. The term ethical can applied to the clothing industryin many ways. There are many terms that are used to indicate ethical clothing companies (fair trade, ethicaltrade, environmentally friendly, sustainable, local, etc.) But these primarily fall into 2 separate conditions thatcan help determine wether a company is ethical or not. Labor: what are the conditions the garment was made in?Lawson told me “I got to see first hand the conditions of the factories, the long working hours and the terriblylow pay of the workers in third world countries. I believe the big corporations that currently dominate the yogaapparel market have a responsibility to the supply chain who produce their clothes.” She’s right. Garmentworkers deserve a livable wage, safe working conditions, and a reasonable work day. And that is something thatcompanies like Dharma Bums, Patagonia, and others are actively doing by closely working with their partners inthe supplier chain they ensure ethical and fair working conditions to everyone involved. Environment: what isthe environmental impact? Are your pants poisoning drinking water in third world countries? And, how manywashes does it take to wash out the toxic chemicals? Companies like Third Eye Threads are focused onenvironmental concerns.

According to Satlow “Our facility is made from 3500 sq ft. of recycled billboards. We have a garden that ispartially watered from run off from our dome. We have been using recycled Starbucks boxes since 2008 to shipour wholesale orders. We have shirts made from recycled shirts, and we are able to recycle 100% of the wastefrom our printing process.” There are many companies that are putting their energy into making ethical clothes.And many have a strong web presence. There are also a lot of bloggers doing this research for you. Click herefor a list of some ethical yoga brands.

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Support

So, you’ve done your research. You’ve found companies that represent your practice in action. Now shop fromthem. And if you can’t afford to spend money, let other people know that they exist. Most ethical clothingcompanies charge far less than the big corporate companies, taking a cut out of their profit margin to passsavings on to customers. They simply cannot afford to advertise like their more expensive and less scrupulouscompetitors. So help them! Using social media and taking selfies has become ubiquitous in the yoga world. But,they can also be a great way to promote yoga ethics. So tag your top! Pin those pants! Share those companiesand products that represent yoga in action! If more yogis made a choice to move away from unethicalcompanies, and support the companies that reflect our values with our money and our voices, it would changean entire industry. Think about it. “Big corporations have the power to instigate change often much quicker thanthe local governments. In many of these countries the local governments are often corrupt but nothing speakslouder than the $. And the threat of losing business would create much needed change.” ~Debra Lawson If allthese big corporations care about is money, how would they respond if they suddenly weren’t making as much?They would change their business practices. It really is that easy to live your yoga and change the world.

About Maya Devi Georg

Maya Devi Georg is a yoga teacher and writer for Yoganonymous, as well as a writer and editor atwww.BrahmalokaOrBust.com. She has studied with Swami Bua, Swami Jnanand, and Yogi Gupta (among manyother amazing teachers). Studying since 1999, and teaching full-time since 2004, she has taught thousands ofstudents and conducted many teacher trainings. She currently lives in Stuttgart, Germany with her partner KiranChris, and their dog Spitha Canis.

View more articles by Maya Devi Georg

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