Andrew Morgan The True Cost

This papers purpose is to teach fashion heavy consumers on the real price of fast fashion and how buying it affects the environment. This type of audience can be anyone who partakes in the buying of well-known cheap retail stores that have a large audience of being fast and obtainable. These consumers should have the information on how fast fashion effects are environment so it could possibly alter their buying habits to be eco-friendlier but buying either less or more sustainable clothing instead of the cheap alternatives. This audience should care about this purpose because this will affect the world now and for future generations as their environment is being mistreated because of these fast

Credibility statement: A university of Georgia professor gave an hour-long ted talk talking about her experiences of working and traveling to different countries seeing the fast fashion industry at first hands. She now teaches about fashion sustainability and the cycles of the fast fashion market.

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

Faux fur that slips through the fingers, eye­catching sequins, a crisp, clean coat that exudes an air of professionalism around those who don it. Faces streaked with grime and sweat, mountains of fabric scraps, and large industrial complexes shrouded in plumes of smoke and pollution. By exploiting footage capturing such evocative imagery, Andrew Morgan illustrates in their documentary film, ​The True Cost​, that these stark contrasts are simply two sides of the same coin for an industry that willingly cuts corners at its workers’ expense in order to snatch up every last coin. Fast fashion, which is analogous to factory farming or intensive agriculture in the food industry, is a method by which the production of clothing is executed on a massive scale and at a

The condition of Australian fashion retailers have been under-serviced and underwhelmed when it comes to fashion choice, especially in affordable variety (Wells 2013). There are only numerous fashion labels are available to dress 23 million people. In addition, the price cannot be compared to international brands’; the volumes produced by big international retailers like Zara and H&M are to service global market, unlike Sportsgirl or Country Road who produce much smaller volumes.

Every morning, many women begin planning their outfits even before they stroll out of bed. . Will it be a red or pink top, casual or dressy, jeans or sweatpants? These are just few of the countless decisions to be made that morning. Do they ever stop for a second to reflect on how these clothes were even made? Throughout our recorded history, businesses in many production-based industries faced challenges to meet their supply and demand needs. In the book The Travels of a T-shirt in The Global Economy, the author Pietra Rivoli does a great job with bringing her readers along with her on her little journey that evolved after her single purchase of a T- shirt from a local Walgreens. Upon purchasing the T-shirt she wanted to dig deeper and see where did it all began. Due to her devoted soul she began traveling the world from West Texas to China and even all the way to Africa. This one product was the motive behind her understanding of the entire international trading system and globalization debate that now thousands of individuals are benefiting from. We have

The event I chose for my appraisal was Andrew Morgan’s documentary, The True Cost. In ninety minutes, Andrew Morgan’s documentary showed the story of the clothes we wear, the people who made these clothes, and the impact it’s having on the world, through the lenses of fast fashion. A clothing commodity chain analysis was used to show the link between the people making the clothes and the consumers who are buying these products. Furthermore, the analysis was used to show the truth behind the fast fashion industry’s low-costs, worker exploitation. The fashion industry, through globalization, encouraged the idea of consumerism and materialism.

The True Cost is a very effective documentary, the film was released in 2015 and was written and directed by Andrew Morgan. The film was produced by Michael Ross and the distributing company was ‘Life Is My Movie Entertainment’. The purpose of this documentary is to bring the public’s attention to the untold horrors of the clothing industry. The film explains the whole process from the very beginning in the cotton fields and to the very end with the products in the consumer’s hands. The producer explores the horrible effects the industry has on the environment and the workers in the garment factories where their daily wage is only around $3.00 per day.

Through gaining an empathic understanding as to why certain people consume regularly at Primark, I can conclude that the brand relationship is fast and disposal fashion at low price. As it is shown from Martin and Bush, cited by Morgan and Birtwistle (2009), young customers are the group who concerned trends the most. This infers that interviewers deem fashion to be of importance to their lifestyles especially among teenagers. These fashion-hungry customers might be heavily influenced by the fashion press and media as well as want to purchase the items in new trends as they appear. However, with limited pocket money, they are appealed by the “cheap chic”. Primark offers a solution to allow them pursuit the latest fashion without spending much money. According to McAfee et al.,

2. Richard M. Johns (2006). The Apparel Industry. 2nd ed. UK, London: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.. 1-124.

Fuelling 21st century culture is the economics and marketing of the first world. The desire to consume is the notion of creating a persona through visual identity. Representation ‘in the physical sense is presenting oneself’, (Williams, R. 1978, p.266) it’s realised that consumption is complicated because it’s dictated by individual taste. Humanity resembles chameleons, in the present day we are exposed and adaptable to fast fashion. Mass produced high-street clothing imitates couture fashion. At factional prices, cheaper quality alternatives are obtainable to the working class, therefore trends are quickly outdated and

In today’s society, fashion rules the teen and young adult generations. Billions of dollars are spent each year on designer brands such as Gucci, Louis Vuitton, and Off-White. At the same time that these large amounts of money are being spent of materialistic aspects of fashion, people in third world countries are struggling greatly. Instead of money being spent on expensive clothing, it could serve a greater purpose by being donated to countries who are in dire need. Absurd amounts of money in first world countries are spent on designer brands, while third world countries struggle to even get their hands on any clothing.

The 21st century saw a rising alarm about the intricate relationships between people, places and commodities and it is crucial to discuss the framework of commodity chains in order to study the gaps in the connection between consumers and producers. The globalization of the fashion industry is mainly driven by international retailers (Gereffi, Humphrey & Sturgeon, 2005: 79) and extends to every part of the world, leaving the Global South to suffer for the needs of the people of the North. These companies ignite globalization and majorly contribute to the increase in manufacturing jobs from the West. As pioneers of fast fashion, many major companies have a variety of ways in which they source across the globe.

We communicate who we are through fashion. Fashion is poetic through textures, color, design, and expression which signifies how connected we are to our clothes. Consumers rely on fashions “status quo” to appeal to their need to buy the best from the best retail markets, yet still have an unawareness of a “don’t ask, don’t tell “oblivion towards production of these expensive marvels. The target of the pursuit of possession marketed by popular brands will make people focus more on materialistic value instead of the reinvention of the fashion market in how our clothes are really made. That pair of jeans you saw in a Black Friday sale advertisement, or a crew neck long sleeve shirt on sale at H & M caught your eye because to you, its worth the bargain, but to the person who made this item for you, it wasn’t worth their demise. The ill-informed consumers of the fashion industry are unknowingly supportive to the abusive labor practices of exploited sweatshop workers on the production of our clothing while glorifying expensive brands made from the hands of penniless workers. The focus of this paper is to be the voice of those workers, who make these pleasantries with literally their own blood, sweat, and tears that us consumers take for granted, while shedding some much needed light on the nefarious acts on sweatshop workers.

From the food that we eat to the laces that tie up our shoes, all branded products are produced for consumer enjoyment. However, consumers often don’t recognize how they are being manufactured. Jackson uses pathos to reveal the process of producing name brand clothing. Jackson questions, “Would you spend $20 for a stylish Gap T-shirt if you knew it was made by teen-age girls in El Salvador forced to work 18 hours a day in a sweatshop for about 16 cents a shirt?”(pg.388). Here, Jackson makes readers feel sorrowful for wearing the Gap clothing line by revealing the early age and gender of workers, the extreme daily work hours, and the unfair wages. The emotional effect this brings causes the readers to sympathize with the El Salvador workers and become more reluctant to purchase Gap clothing.