Fast Cheap Fashion Lucy Siegle Summary

Bob Jeffcott’s article, “Sweat, Fire and Ethics” examines the problems surrounding the clothing industry and examines the world of sweatshops and the exploitation of women and girls around the world. Jeffcott writes regarding the harsh working conditions workers inhabit and what consumers can achieve to try and make a difference. His central focus is to educate consumers on the rampant problem of unsafe working conditions that goes on behind the scenes of major brands in today’s society. While Jeffcott successfully gets his point across by using historical examples to educate readers, emotionally drawing readers in, and presenting sensible solutions that consumers can do in order to support.

The True Cost is a documentary that was filmed with the hope of educating consumers regarding the global impact that ‘fast fashion’ has on our society. Director Andrew Morgan provides the link between our clothes and the people who make them; careful to bridge the gap between the factory workers and how our high demand for fashion can affect their life. In fact, we seldom consider consumptionism (to consume, use or spend with little regard) and globalized production (when goods are made in another country for low wages) while shopping, but we should. Projects such as this documentary, shed light on the untold stories behind what appears to be a glamorous and trillion dollar business. Unfortunately, those who are impacted the most are the workers

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

Clothing is important because it’s a way to reflect our preferences, personality, culture, individuality, and uniqueness. People often use clothing to enhance their appearance and to impress other people but the reality is that clothing is a basic human need for the body and the mind, as it sometimes can influence our performance or boost our confidence. However, it is also important to know where and how our clothes are made, sold, and distributed to our favorite clothing stores. According to the article “Why America Stopped Making its Own Clothes”, in 1960, about 95 percent of the clothes sold were made in the United States. An average American person bought less than 25 garments each year, and an average American household spent around $497 in

One essential point of this documentary is to explore the life of the low-wage workers in the garment factories in the developing countries. The film also explains the effects of consumerism within the clothing industry and how that relates to the pollution around the world. The story line begins with an incident where a garment factory building in Bangladesh collapsed and over a thousand workers were killed. Not only does this do a great job to set the scene for the rest of the story line, but it also sets the mood for the documentary. Next, they go on to explain an important key point in the story and that is consumerism.

Over the last century the Americans’ views on the importance and relevance of clothing has changed very much. In the article The High Price of Cheap Fashion Smith states, “In the 1920’s average middle-class woman owned nine outfits, rotating them until they wore out.” Also stated in the article, “most americans bought new clothes two or times a year.” Also later in the article Smith stated, since the 1920’s U.S. consumption of clothes has doubled: today americans buy an average 68 garments and eight pairs of shoes year.

Fast fashion is a term used for the mindset of consumers that fashion is something that we need to buy over and over again, very often, for very cheap. Fast fashion may seem like a good thing to the average consumer, but there are many consequences to it that people don’t know about. Ninety-five percent of fashion sold in America is made in factories overseas, where there are no labor laws in place. The garment workers in the factories are only paid an average of $2 a day. The owners of the factories cut corners on safety, leading to fires and other disasters, resulting in the loss of life. There are also no environmental laws, so the rivers and lakes that people depend on for clean water have become polluted by the chemicals used in leather factories, shoe making, and dyeing fabric. The negative effects of fast fashion vastly outweigh the positive effects of it.

The other thing is people tended to pretending have money to spend on that fancy stuff, but really they don’t have that kind of money to spend. When they go for new cloth shopping, catch up with the newest

Rachael Cassar’s clothes are very unique and eco-friendly. Her clothes are all made out of 90% recycled materials. She transforms them into something edgy, spectacular and creative. She is one of the most forward thinking designers of all time. Rachael says that in order for eco-fashion to ‘succeed’, designers need to replace cheaply made fashion with equally appealing sustainable items. This is good to the environment. Sustainable clothes are important because it reviews what we use to manufacture them in the first place (eg. soak them in chemicals). Eco-fashion is much better for the environment, people and animals. Rachael Cassar’s work on eco-fashion is truly exceptional.

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.

It’s become easier than ever to turn a blind eye in order to enjoy a cheaply made, materialistic pleasure. However, keeping an extra dollar in your pocket may be costing someone their life. Unethical fashion, an umbrella term to describe ethical design, production, retail, and purchasing, is a growing problem in today’s society. With the increasing demand for cheap and affordable clothing, the background of fair trade and sweatshops is often overlooked, as well as the disregard for the waste that goes back into the environment. Consumers benefit from lower prices but at the cost of unsafe conditions, poor wages, and environmental damages. In order to address this problem and inform the masses on the source of their products, brands should accept responsibility for educating consumers, and non-governmental organizations and government legislation should add fashion sustainability to their agenda. Although the problem may be oceans away, it is a fundamental issue that we still need to address.

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

In this day and age, the metaphorical pastor of American culture no longer preaches patience. This is due, in part, to our rapid economic development, boosting the U.S. into the fifth stage of Rostow's model for economic development; the Age of Mass Consumption (this model entails that a country begins in poverty, introduces varying levels of industry, becomes economically self-sufficient, and, in the final stage, outsources all industry to developing countries). The Age of Mass Consumption is just as deadly as it sounds, incurring insatiable demand for cheap labor, and therefore a wasteful popular mindset. And so ensues consumerism, the love child of social media and cheap manufacturing. Consumerism bears it’s own dangerous children, including but not limited to genetically modified organisms, pesticides, Costco, smartphones, wireless Internet, Netflix, and fast fashion. The vast majority of Americans will recognize the aforementioned phenomenon of pop culture, except perhaps "fast fashion". For those unfamiliar with this phrase, used by fashion retailers, refers to clothing that is designed to emulate current trends, but cost significantly less. However, the four-dollar t-shirt you buy at H&M or Calvin Klein has a global cost that far exceeds four dollars. Like the meaning of

There are a large amount of social and environmental problems within the global apparel industry.

For almost twenty years now, people have been relying on fast fashion, a fairly new notion, which