This is a time when clothes are purchased en masse, yet fashion is an industry that manages to avoid the scrutiny faced by agriculture and big oil in terms of pollution. Shopping for clothing is a buying decision where little seems to matter more than how you look. And if you look better than you did, you expect to feel better too.
At least for many among us that seems to be the case in this, the age of “fast fashion” – Where the item is always cheap and low-quality enough to throw away guilt-free. If clothing is about self-expression and communicating who we are, one would expect others to care more about how their clothes get made.
So what’s really behind these mass brands brought to us by sexy models and smooth marketing campaigns? That’s what director Andrew Morgan is chasing in his documentary THE TRUE COST, which premiered at Cannes Film Festival earlier this year. Just as the title says, the cameras peer into the darker recesses of the fashion industry to expose the toxic pollution and human suffering linked to more than a few of the world’s largest retail brands.
Viewers should expect to witness the harsh toll fashion has taken on the planet and millions of its people, from laborers in Bangladesh to cotton farmers in Texas. Combined, their stories tell of an industry in desperate need of consumer awareness and positive change.
Before you go on a buying spree, first make a little time for the film to catch interviews with ethical fashion leaders Stella McCartney, Livia Firth and Vandana Shiva. You’ll never shop the same way again.
+ Learn more about sustainability and supply chains in fashion
