Fast fashion is clothing consumpion on steriods. While this relatively new trend offers more styles to choose from at a lower cost, it is causing major environmental and societal problems. Manufacturers are now under increasing pressure to change their "fast" pace of manufacture and marketing.
Planet Aid has followed the fast fashion issue on our blog. We welcome the growing momentum toward reducing runaway consumption and stop clothing waste.
If you are new to the topic, we put togther a group of five short vidoes to help bring you up to speed.
The True Cost
The True Cost asks the question, "who really pays the price for our clothing?" The film highlightgs worker exploitation and the terrible tragedies that have impacted garment factories in places like India. The documentary film was released in 2015, but you can still see it at community showings. Check the True Cost website.
Fashion's Dirty Secrets
In 2018, BBC reporter Stacey Dooley digs into the environmental impacts of the fashion industry in "Fashion's Dirty Secrets." The full documentary is no longer available, but you can still access some of the more fascinating segments. For example, in the above clip Dooley confronts shoppers in Glasgow with the reality of how much water is used to produce cotton garments. In another clip Dooley visits the Aral Sea bed, an area that was left dry due to the demands of textile production.
The Problem With Fast Fashion
In the fall of 2018, TeenVogue put out a short video explaining how clothing production has changed and how we have entered an era of "an obscene amount of clothes." It offers insights and startling anecdotes related to the problem that will shock you.
Fashion's Toxic Threads
The Economist put out a powerful seven-minute video in 2018 showcasing the environmental impact of the clothing industry. Among the shocking facts is that the clothing industry is on track to produce 25 percent of global carbon emissions by 2050!
The video also shines a spotlight on microplastics (or microfibers), which are released into wastewater during laundering. A single domestic washing load can release up to 700,000 microplastic fibers, and these fibers are entering the food chain and are being ingested by animals and humans.
Made In Forests
Made in Forests is a 2018 documentary short produced by UNECE/FAO and United National Television, in partnership with United Nations Development Programme. Film star and environmental activist Michelle Yeoh showcases the disturbing impacts of fast fashion and then shows how clothing manufacturers are creating sustainable clothing from trees.