'The True Cost' Of What We Purchase- This Documentary Is Uncovering It

I am SO excited about this documentary that will (hopefully) soon be released, The True Cost.

Director Andrew Morgan sets out to uncover the lies of Fast Fashion and sweatshop labour.

If you have 4 minutes, PLEASE watch the trailer at the end of this post.

Here are some of my favourite quotes from the teaser:

"With the events at Rana Plaza [the garment factory collapse], it was now the case that 3 of the 4 worst tragedies in the history of the global apparel industry had happened in the last year."

This hurts my heart. How do we allow this to continue? I posted on the Rana Plaza collapse here and here.

"People have a preference to remain ignorant. So even though they actually CARE about something like sweatshop labour- they actually will make an effort NOT to know about it."

I completely agree with that last quote. The more people learn, the more they struggle with the choices that they chose to make in the area of consumption.

"This consumption of goods is a response to our DISCONNECT between the product being created by a PERSON."

Agree. Completely. It's easier to believe that our clothes are being manufactured in a factory by machines, or something....over "THERE".... It gets tougher to purchase inexpensive clothing when we realize how it came to be, and how it affected (negatively) the life of another human being.

"Instead of 2 seasons a year- we practically have 52 seasons a year. So, we have something coming in every week. And Fast Fashion has created this so that it can essentially shift more product."

This is, to me, the biggest problem with the apparel industry. We want the 'newest of the new', but we can't pay what it's worth, so we get it cheap by sacrificing other people's health, safety and lifestyle. Fast Fashion is described here by Wikipedia. I posted on the benefits of the Slow Fashion Movement here.

"Fast Fashion is about producing with little regard for the workers that make it and little regard for the environment from which it came from."

Absolutely- this business model is absolutely unsustainable for the earth and it's citizens.

"I think we as Citizens of the World have a responsibility to CARE who is making these products and what we're putting them through by demanding these prices."

Couldn't agree more.

Please, please, PLEASE watch the trailer here:

And please friends, CARE about where your clothing comes from. RESEARCH which companies run ethically, and support them. SUPPORT locally-owned shops and owners where you live. Or, choose to shop second-hand, as I do.

There is a TRUE COST of the clothing that we consume here in North America- and we are not the ones paying it....

Be thankful for what we have and be aware of how our choices affect other people on the other side of the earth.

Peace.