In November, the Diversity Leadership team and the Ignatian Global Scholars (IGS) helped the school participate in “SLOWvember”, which refers to slowing down your actions related to ethical purchasing.

“It’s important all the time to really be intentional and think about where your money goes,” Director of Diversity & Inclusion Dr. Drae Cox said. “I think in our society and in our culture, things get so fast-paced that we don’t always think about what we’re actually buying.”

This year’s focus was on the garment industry and exploring its ethicality, particularly in other countries.

“It’s all about realizing the clothes that we buy, oftentimes there is a cost that is being paid by workers in other countries, migrant workers, or workers having to work in unsafe conditions,” Dr. Cox said. “So that’s what SLOWvember is all about. That is why we’re participating as a school.”

Dr. Cox, with the Diversity Leadership team, started a four-week initiative to follow. The first week of November started by spreading awareness by having more announcements, bringing awareness to the garment industry, and facts about the clothes we buy.

The team hosted a polo/quarter zip swap during week two to promote recycling and upcycling of clothing within the school.

“And if you bring in something that you don’t use, somebody can use it, then maybe you could take something else that somebody else isn’t using,” Dr. Cox said. “All with the intention of let’s not spend money on clothes. How can we use what’s already in our community?”

During week three, students looked at the tags of their clothes and were able to place a pin on a map of where their clothes were manufactured. The goal was to see visually where their clothes come from and if they should continue to buy clothes from there.

The last week of SLOWvember, the Diversity Leadership team and IGS broke out into teams and worked with Campus Ministry to make a video for 3-MinThursday Theology.

“Whenever you’re looking and buying clothes, think, do you actually need this?” Dr. Cox said. “Is purchasing this potentially contributing to a harmful work environment somewhere else? Or should you maybe look at a different manufacturer?”

Catholic Ethical Purchasing Alliance (CEPA), who created SLOWvember, reposted the video created on their LinkedIn site.

“This holiday week, we’ll all be hyper-pressured to buy-buy-buy,” CEPA’s post said. “Our SlowVember campaign is still underway, and the excellent students at De Smet Jesuit High School demonstrate what an impact ethical purchasing can have on individuals and a whole community!”

The initiative that goes against consumerism and fast fashion just so happens to end on Black Friday, created out of the root that SLOWvember is fighting.

“It’s timely that it is this time of year that we’re slowing down,” Dr. Cox said. “So I hope the idea around [SLOWvember] is something that we can continue. A lot of the people really like the Polo swap concept, so I hope that is something we can continue to do as a school. It may look different in the future, but I think we can continue to do things like this.”

Going into the Christmas season, where consuming is glorified, Dr. Cox drives home the point of slowing down before purchasing.

“Just the practice of, where do my clothes come from, and where’s the money that I’m spending going,” Dr. Cox said. “I think that’s a good practice to do in general, not just at this time of year.”