Did you hear about Amy Seiffert in Toledo, OH who wore the same dress everyday for six months? Now wait before you say, ooooh gross. She wore the same dress for six months for a much larger purpose than simply saving time figuring out what to wear each day or saving money.
So, here's the purpose of this particular fashion statement. Seiffert learned that her hometown of Toledo ranked 4th in the U.S. in the number of arrests, investigations and rescues of underage victims of sex trafficking. So Seiffert decided to do something about it. The money she would have otherwise spent on clothing over the six months was donated to The Daughter Project, a local organization building a shelter for girls rescued from sex trafficking.
Modern-day slavery indeed exists and comes in many shapes and sizes. Not all forms of abuse are considered slavery, but CNN's definition of slavery is as follows,“Slavery occurs when one person completely controls another person, using violence or the threat of violence to maintain that control, exploits them economically, pays them nothing and they cannot walk away.” Human trafficking, as defined in the U.N. Trafficking Protocol is "the recruitment, transport, transfer, harboring or receipt of a person by such means as threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, or fraud or deception for the purpose of exploitation." According to the International Labor Organization's estimates, there are at least 10 million slaves in the world right now, but other researchers believe there may be as many as 30 million slaves worldwide. 50% of these slaves are children, and 70% are females.
Something tells me you might be considering one less dress purchase, or maybe Target has a cute knock-off of that dress you've been eying...but you don't have to wear the same dress everyday to make a difference. Click here to read more about CNN's Freedom Project, Seiffert's story, the many others who are working hard to end modern-day slavery and how you can help.
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