
It’s not often that I watch a documentary that moves me to a point of re-considering my life choices, but I was in tears by the end of The True Cost and knew I wanted to do something to spread awareness about the true cost that fast fashion has on the developing world.
If you haven’t watched the documentary yet, you need to make sure you check it out on Netflix – it’s thought provoking, eye-opening and very moving.
Before watching, I’d always been conscious of what I do with my clothes when I’m finished with them; donating to charity, passing on to family or more recently, saving them to upcycle into a new garment to sell on my Etsy store My Fashion Faux Pas (which I have admittedly neglected over the last few months). However, I never really gave too much thought to where I was purchasing from – I now dread to think about the conditions of the factories where the likes of Shein, Romwe and some of the sellers on Wish make their clothes – but it’s definitely something that I’m going to be thinking about in the future.
I’m not going to go too in depth about the show as I think the message that comes across in the documentary is put across in a much more eloquent and moving way than I could ever portray in a simple blog post, but some of the key points I took away were;
- Fast fashion leads to more pressure being put on factories in developing countries to create more clothing than is sustainable in standard working hours
- The pressure to produce at low costs has a huge impact on how much the workers in these factories get paid – we’re talking mere pennies per item which are then marked up when they’re sold in store
- That mass production of clothing has a huge impact on the environments and people living in the surrounding areas of the factories, not just how the materials are sourced
I’ve spent the last couple of years really considering a lot of what I’m buying, not because I’m being conscious about where my clothes are coming from, but because I want to invest in my wardrobe and not have to continue throwing things away when they’ve not worn very well.
So, off the back of watching this documentary; I’m going to be doing some more online shopping review posts of sustainable and ethical fashion companies; I’ll be clearing out my wardrobe and using EVERYTHING to re-create something new (after giving family first dibs of course); and I’ll be shunning a hell of a lot of high street stores.
I’ve got a lot of research to do (I won’t stop shopping altogether – do you think I’m mad?!) and I’m sure there are plenty of ethical companies out there, we just have to find them!
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I’m very interested in this documentary now! You never really know what’s behind the company, I do wonder about Primark a lot too and what their ethics are like due to the prices. Very interested to see some ethical company reviews Gaby and some more fab garments!!
Alice Xx
Thanks lovely!! After some more reading after I wrote this, I think they’ve been a lot more open about their manufacturers, but I haven’t read too much into it so can’t say whether they’re that terrible – but watch this space! Definitely worth a watch! ❤️❤️
I think I need to check out this documentary, I’ve heard some people talking about it and ditching the major high street retailers. Keep us up to date with any new clothing brands you find x
Definitely do!! Some of it’s quite hard to watch, but I’ll deffo be doing some more research to share! ❤️
I need to watch this – I have added it to my ever growing Netflix list! Looking forward to reading your future posts on this topic too Gaby 🙂 xo
Char | http://www.charslittleblog.co.uk
Yes definitely go and watch it – it’s a bit of a tear jerker at times, but so eye opening! I can’t wait to start doing some more posts about it! ❤️❤️
Will be giving this a watch (with tissues at the ready) thanks for sharing it! I love a documentary recommendation
Tissues definitely need to be around! I love a good documentary too! ❤️❤️
I definitely need to give this documentary a watch, I do love a good Netflix documentary and it sounds like something I probably really need to learn more about. I’m doing a big clear out soon as I’m possibly moving house so perhaps I need to follow your influence and start thinking about using more ethical brands. I can’t wait to see how you progress with this! x
Alice // http://www.accordingtoalicex.com
Perfect timing for a clear out then!! And you could have it on in the background too! Deffo need to spend some more time researching now! ❤️❤️