Thanksgiving Shopping

I went shopping with my mom before leaving on Saturday as I had to buy some shoes. I didn't find the shoes, but I did find two collared shirts with no pockets (slim-fit!), two thermal undershirts, a pair of jeans and thermal hoodie. Winter, here I come.

While I was there, I went into the Gap, something I've avoided for years. Because of sweatshop labor, for years I didn't buy anything at the Gap, Banana Republic or Old Navy. Sure, there are other reasons not to shop there (most often over-priced and cheaply made clothing being two), but that was my reason. I'd looked into it before I went to the mall because I wanted a pair of Morrisson Jeans. Anyway, I found all this stuff about Gap being more socially responsible (see here and here) and made the command decision to buy stuff at the Gap if I so desired.

They have this new campaign called Red or something like that where half the proceeds of any of the red stuff you buy goes to fight Aids in Africa (I stress "fight" because when I went with Rhodes Scholar Tim to buy his new I-pod and he got the red one because ten bucks "went to Aids in Africa" I made fun of his imprecise English and said that I didn't support Aids in Africa and was, in fact, against Aids in Africa). I did notice most of the stuff was made in China and I thought of this article which pointed out China's crack down on Aids workers in Africa. I guess, if nothing else, it shows the dilema I've spoken of often...that basically we're screwed when we try and help anything in the world.