[SFW] Exclusive Art of the Month (February 2022) - Sketch (Patreon)

Hey huns!

Given the theme for the SFW piece of this month was shopping with Allen trying outfits, I figured it would be best to add Mei to the scene, helping him choose clothes for a Valentine's Day date with Raaji > v <! I figured that shopping together is something Mei and Allen would do pretty often as the bffs they are! (and also Mei needs to help Allen out otherwise he would only wear black tees and black pants or black sweaters and black pants T ^ T...)

And YES they both have fairly comfortable lives (Mei more than Allen) enough to visit a luxury shop like Mulberry (or Burberry in our world X,D)! Just wanted to make a point regarding the fashion world while I was given the opportunity! I think we're all aware that department store clothes (aside from UNIQLO) are not really good for the environment nor good when it comes to human rights and work rights (due to child labor stuff, unethically acquiring their resources and such), although we also know that for the majority of the population that can't afford luxury brands we gotta get our clothes from department stores.

My point with Mei's distaste for being at a department store in the beginning is purely due to this (and not her being classist)! Given she's of chinese descent, she's fairly aware that China suffers a lot with underpayment, child labor and unfair working conditions to suffice the demands of large and cheap western companies. Since both her and Allen can afford a few luxury items, she'd rather buy from luxury brands that are more ethical rather than clothes from a department store.

Obviously not every luxury brand is ethical and not every big company is unethical! However, luxury brands and small self owned brands by smaller fashion designers (which also can be considered part of the luxury market) are taking more steps towards an ethical way of producing goods! And I ended up choosing Burberry to be featured in this special episode because, last year, the brand was boycotted in China for refusing to use cotton from Xinjiang due to worries about the labor used in the cotton fields (which I thought was a pretty nice thing for them to do), as it's also part of a group that acquires resources ethically and also gives incentive to smaller farmers/producers.

WELL this was my uncalled rant about fashion and luxury brands just because of a minor comment made by a character in this special episode X,D! I know that the poor guys like many of us can't always afford to consume goods that are more ethically produced (due to them being more expensive), but I still wanted to talk about this thing regardless!

LOVE U ALL!!