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The True Cost is a powerful documentary made in 2015 by Andrew Morgan that takes a look at the disastrous social and environmental effects of fast fashion. “The phrase "fast fashion" refers to low-cost clothing collections that mimic current luxury fashion trends” (Joy, 173). The Merriam Webster online dictionary definition of fast fashion is: “an approach to the design, creation, and marketing of clothing fashions that emphasizes making fashion trends quickly and cheaply available to consumers”. This film shares with us the behind the scenes untold story of fast fashion from the unethical sweat shops that over work people, including young children, in deplorable and unsafe conditions while only earning a few cents an hour to the negative environmental …show more content…
I believe this because of Westerners desires of being part of and stay a part of trends in the constant change of fashion and that encourages consumers to keep purchasing these cheap mass-produced items, consequently impacting the effects of unethical labor practices in the manufacturing of these textiles as well as the need to use harmful resources such as synthetics and pesticides to keep up with demand and all the waste, including the discard of the millions of no longer wanted clothing articles, that it …show more content…
Conglomerates do this because most developing countries are struggling and so are lax on laws. Because of this many factories do not offer labor contract to the workers, which limit workers benefits such as safety equipment, and allow for the factories to get away with having extremely poor standards and regulations if any at all. This forces the employees to work in deplorable conditions with unethical labor issues such as unstable factories, long hours, child labor, withheld wages naming just a few, (Lambert, 88-89). It is estimated “…that 168 million children aged 5 to 17 are engaged in child labour. Some 120 million among them are below the age of 14…” (Child Labour). Not only has the use of factories in developing countries caused or increased these societal issues, but has also largely increased the negative impact manufactured goods have on the
When you go to the mall to pick up a pair of jeans or a shirt, do you think about where they came from? How they were made? Who made them? Most consumers are unaware of where their clothes are coming from. All the consumer is responsible for is buying the clothing from the store and most likely have little to no knowledge about how it was manufactured, transported, or even who made the clothing item and the amount of intensive labor that went into producing it (Timmerman, 3). In my paper, I will utilize the book Where Am I Wearing? by Kelsey Timmerman and the textbook Cultural Anthropology: A Toolkit for a Global Age by Kenneth J. Guest to examine globalization in the context of the clothing industry.
In China, Kelsey Timmerman spent time with a couple who worked at the Teva factory, traveled to the countryside to meet the couple’s son, insert name, who hasn’t seen his parents in three years due to his parents working long hours and it being expensive to take a train ride. In the US, the author visited one of a few clothing factories in the US to talk to the workers about his shorts, and the decrease of American garment factories. Timmerman wants the consumer to be more engaged and more thoughtful when mindlessly buying clothes. By researching how well the brands you want to buy from monitor their factories and what their code of ethics details, you can make a sound decision on if this is where you would want to buy your clothes. The author writes about brands that improve employers lives like SoleRebels, a shoe company who employs workers and gives them health insurance, school funds for their children, and six months of maternity leave. Brands like soleRebels that give workers benefits most factory workers have never even heard of help improve the lives of garment workers and future generations. From reading this book, Timmerman wants us to be more educated about the lives of garment workers, bridge the gap between consumers and manufacturers, and be a more engaged and mindful consumer when purchasing our
For centuries, machines have fueled the functioning of our society by being the foundations of business and labor. This all started in Britain, due to the island’s abundant natural resources of coal and the country’s booming cotton industry. Although the Industrial Revolution sparked a successful economy, it lowered the quality of life for many people. Because of the Industrial Revolution, children had to labor in the factories, poor people felt they were not treated properly by the factory owners, and living spaces were polluted and taken away for the purposes of mechanization. Children were expected to work in factories in order to help provide for their families; this meant that their childhoods were taken away from them, as they had to work more than ten hours a day in the factories.
In this documentary, we see mostly women working for factories as garment workers and the main mangers or higher office holders are men. This could be because of discrimination in education, and not having a fair opportunity in the work place, or other gaps in the global and developing countries perspective. In addition, the governments do not have policies passed to protect their workers; this could be because of corruption, the government wants to make money and the industries are putting them in hard positions that they do not place many policies to protect garment workers. The developing countries are competing with other countries that the industries could go to for cheaper labor and manufacture. This increases struggle, and poverty especially, as we saw in the documentary, for women and children.
Fashion is everything to society and the media. The fashion industry has transformed into a necessity in the life of people. Everyone wants to look good, feel fabulous and feel as if we belong with everyone else. The envy and desire to wear certain things and look a certain way all come, from wearing the latest fashion handbags, accessories, dresses, shoes, and the list goes on. But, when is considering fashion into an individual’s life going too far to the extreme? Many do not consider the whereabouts of fashion materials and how the environment is affected by the mere existence of certain garments. Some may believe these objects grow on trees. But that is clearly not the case. Even though it would be nice. The fashion industry as a whole, has been notorious from green issues caused by their lack of sensitivity to the environment, conspicuous and unnecessary consumption of materials, encouraging an “throw-away” society and image issues that support women and young adults to look a certain way to feel “beautiful.” This is an issue that has increased over the past decades. Not just women, but men also feel the uncontrollable need to do whatever it takes to look like the celebrities they see on television and on the runways. The thought that the materials to make those desired items may have caused the life of animals or the destruction of mother nature does not come into mind. Countless people are concerned about conserving planet Earth and keeping it healthy. The fashion world has been targeted for many corruptions.
Globalization and industrialization contribute to the existence of sweatshops, which are where garments are made cheaply, because they are moving production and consumption of those cheap goods. Industrialization has enabled for global distribution, to exchange those goods around the world. They can also set apart the circumstances of consumption and production, which Western countries as mass consumers, are protected from of producers in less developed countries. These factories are usually located in less developed countries and face worker exploitation and changes in social structures. Technological innovation allows for machines to take the place of workers and do all the dirty work instead of workers doing hours of hard work by hand.
Big clothing lines are commonly accused of encouraging sweatshop factories in third world
There is a body of research on “eco-fashion” by David Lipke. In his research paper “The greening of men’s wear; Fashion marketers are aligning their products and practices with the current eco-boom.”, he claimed that eco-fashion is...
These concerns typically include the rights of the children, the responsibility of the parents and employers, and the well-being and safety of the children. In Stefan Spath’s “The Virtues of Sweatshops,” it is made very clear that he, like many others, feel that the general public is highly misinformed on what sweatshops are and what they actually contribute to their respective communities. In the eyes of someone from a developed country, sweatshops and child labor that takes place in them seem primitive and are interpreted as simply a means by which companies can spend less money on employers. He states that when labor unions claim that companies which establish operations in developing nations create unemployment in America, they aren’t really explaining the whole story. The author claims that those who are adamantly protest sweatshops are only telling half the story with a claim like this. He points out in this part that the American people can rest assured that high skilled jobs will not be taken over to developing countries because “– high-skilled jobs require a level of worker education and skills that poorer countries cannot
In order to produce goods, companies need to hire workers. Most of the time, due to cheaper labor, companies use workers from overseas. They use factories without researching what the conditions at those factories are. They do not care as long as they get their product made in the cheapest way possible. Most of the time at these factories, the workers are mistreated and sometimes they employ children.
We want consumers to stop buying into fast fashion, to take a stance against a broken industry. Then to put their money where their mouth is, and start purchasing second-hand and sustainable options. We will convey the message by connecting the dots for consumers to show them how their clothing is truly made. Using pathos within the imagery the campaign will conduct consumers to these conclusions.
The textile manufacturing industry is one of the biggest industries in the world that is currently worth nearly three thousand trillion dollars. The industry is constantly growing with the wants from consumers around the world. In order to meet and satisfy these wants from customer, “Development in the textile and clothing industry has focused on technological and cost aspects. Emphasis has been placed on keeping the price of the final product low and increasing efficiency in production.” (Niinimaki & Hassi, 2010, p. 1876) At the same time, with this expansion of the textile manufacturing industry and its consumption, pollution, climate change, fossil fuel and raw material depletion, and water pollution and shortage are constantly occurring
This article is about the overall impacts of fast fashion. The particular section referenced discusses possible solutions and alternatives to fast fashion. It talks about how it is possible to produce environmentally friendly clothing through the use of organic cotton, bamboo, hemp, and other fiber crops that require less pesticides, water, and other inputs. It goes on to share how certain brands are beginning to implement the model of sustainable clothing. The point of this article is to introduce readers to the topic of fast fashion, give background, and show readers what they
Fashion in the 21st century is a big business, as its production employs millions of people and generates billions of dollars in revenue. Fashion has for the past century been, and is still today, used as an indicator of social change and progress, as it changes with the social norms of the society and the political changes of the world (Finkelstein 3). Works Cited Finkelstein, Joanne. A.S.A. & Co. Fashion: An Introduction to Fashion. New York: New York University Press, 1998.
In conclusion, although fast fashion has become a rising trend because of consumer awareness the drawbacks of fast fashion is also on the rise because of augmented realization around climate change, resource deficiency, financial circumstances, the slow-fashion crusade, and ill-fated accidents like the Rana Plaza collapse in Bangladesh that happened in October of 2013, as well as hard-hitting, visually awkward movements from organizations such as Greenpeace. The more people start to become more conscious about the disadvantages of Fast Fashion this is one trend that will soon