Fashion film The True Cost goes in depth with a behind-the-scenes look at retail practices.
As the new academic year came upon us, many students started or continued their college experience with a fresh set of threads they copped online or from a store. What’s important to understand about expanding wardrobes, buying new clothes and getting rid of the old ones is the environmental and economic impact that reverberates down the chain of the global fashion industry.
For one of my lectures this semester, we watched The True Cost, an eye-opening documentary directed by Andrew Morgan about the fashion industry and the wasteful and burdening practices that companies implement in order to make a profit.
In the 1960s, the United States manufactured 95 percent of its clothes. Today, that number is only 3 percent, while the remaining 97 percent is outsourced to other countries with poor working conditions.
I know "the sweatshops-are-bad-and-we-know-it" routine is worn out, and we’ve all heard it. Not only are the workers treated poorly in dangerous, abusive conditions with an unfair wage, but the burden that companies place on the environment is dangerous, as well.
The fashion industry is the No. 2 polluting industry behind oil. In places such as Kanpur, India, the leather export capital of the world, chemicals such as chromium permeate in the ground and in the water supply, poisoning crops and the people in the city. Serious health problems run rampant in cities like this, and these problems are completely avoidable with sustainable and clean practices, which can easily be paid for by the top-dog fashion companies.
Not only is there a strain on the environment, but there’s a strain on our wallets. Typical years consisting of two clothing lines have been pushed aside for “fast fashion” seasons, which average at approximately 52 seasons per year. Consumers will then tend to purchase the new release of styles and clothing lines more frequently than before. Although the prices may be cheaper than they use to be, the purchases add up. Now, the older, but still functional, pieces of clothing end up in the trash.
It’s almost impossible to find a fashion company that uses sustainable and ethical practices. One way that we can reduce the waste is to mend or repair our clothes instead of relentlessly replacing them. As a consumer base, we can decrease the amount of unsustainable clothes we buy and increase our sustainable spending until the global fashion industry changes its practices.
Courtney Mihocik is a junior studying journalism. Email her at cm674912@ohio.edu or find her on Twitter at @CourtneyMiho.
