The true cost of the fashion industry is fairly
unknown. Many don’t know that the fashion industry is the 2nd most
harming industry to the environment, after oil. I didn’t know this until I
watched The True Cost – a documentary highlighting the negative elements within
garment production, directed by Andrew Morgan.
“Greed and fear, power over poverty”
Watching The True Cost gave me an insight
into areas of the fashion industry that we will call the ‘dark side’. For
example, the Indian city of Punjab is the largest user of pesticides in India, which they use on the
cotton crop. Effects of the large pesticide use include cancer and “physical
retardation”, yet many people can’t afford treatment. This isn’t just a case of
“don’t use so many pesticides” however, because when a farmer can’t produce the
right amount of cotton, the companies can buy the land off of the farmers
leaving them jobless. This results in over 250,000 farmers taking their own
lives each year. That’s 1 farmer every 30 minutes. I know this is a lot to take
in, but this was only the start of my journey through discovering the ‘dark
side’ of the fashion industry.
It’s hard to comprehend how many deaths
happen in order to make your outfit. In 2013, the Rana Plaza in Bangladesh
collapsed after factory owners ignored cracks in the building pointed out by
workers. 1,129 people died. They were manufacturing clothes for Primark. In the
same year, factory fires killed over 100 people. Imagine that being a member of
your family, or one of your friends.
Long story short, this is basically because
we, the consumers, want cheaper prices, and the only way our favourite brands
can satisfy our needs and make a profit at the same time is by finding cheap
labour in developing countries. Workers are only paid $2 a day for a 12 hour
working day. Maybe it’s time we changed our spending habits.
Georgia.xo
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