School Library Journal Review
Gr 10 Up-This advocacy documentary addresses the true cost of the ever-cheaper clothing merchandise offered to Americans. Fast fashion, clothing designs made quickly and cheaply to mass-market retailers, results in increasing degradation to those who work in the garment industries of the poorest nations of the world. Salaries of less than $3 per day, environmental catastrophes, chemical poisoning, child labor, and unsafe working conditions are among the major problems besetting the millions of people, mostly women, who make clothing. Andrew Morgan, the writer and director of this eye-opening work, is an investigative journalist who aims to make consumers aware of the human cost of their cheap jeans. This wide-ranging film covers a Texas organic cotton farmer and the owner of a fair trade garment business, as well as apologists for the industry who feel that work in a sweat shop, no matter the conditions, is better than no work at all. But the heart of the film is in seeing the actual conditions in Bangladesh and Cambodia. Some of the footage, particularly of a factory collapse in Bangladesh that took 1,000 lives, is shocking and disturbing. The information presented is thought provoking, and the director clearly argues that the problem lies with capitalism, consumerism, and the profit-at-all-cost mentality, though Morgan gives little in the way of solutions other than rejecting the cheap fashion offered. VERDICT Very valuable for lessons about economics, the environment, and international relations if follow-up discussions incorporate possible areas of change.-Eva Elisabeth VonAncken, formerly Trinity-Pawling Library, Pawling, NY © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Library Journal Review
Narrative and documentary filmmaker Morgan also wrote this exploration of a mostly unknown side of clothing-the impact of fashion on people and the planet, focusing particularly on "fast fashion," whereby designs move from the catwalk to retailers (e.g., the Gap, H&M, and Express) quickly in order to capture trends from events such as Fashion Week. The film travels around the world and includes interviews with leading fashion influencers such as Stella McCartney, Livia Firth, and Vandana Shiva, as well as exposes such aspects of the fashion industry as cotton production, the impact on the environment, and working conditions in factories, though few solutions are tendered. VERDICT An insightful look at an unfamiliar aspect of fashion. Of interest to larger collections and fans of apparel.-Denise A. Garofalo, Mount Saint Mary Coll. Lib., Newburgh, NY © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
