Fast fashion, 9 awareness documentaries you need to watch

In response to fast fashion -meaning the clothing industry, which is characterized by the very rapid renewal of clothes on sale - sustainable, ethical and responsible initiatives are developing. They are springing up in the UK and around the world, in fact, as energylivenews.com published, a recent survey indicates that more than 41% of the UK shoppers look for eco-friendly products (second-hand items are part of this category). Thus, the concern for the impact they have on the environment, increases.

 However, according to the journalist Lucy Siegle, author and producer of the film “The True Cost”, each year a woman buys on average 30 kilos of clothes while she only wears 30% of her wardrobe. As for the big ready-to-wear chains, they still capture most of the clothing market which is approximately 40%!

Fast fashion is low-priced clothing produced rapidly by mass-market retailers controlled by big global firms. This frenetic change in fashion induces consumers to acquire a new  wardrobe many times per season. Not long ago, two seasons of new trends in clothing was all the offer in a fashionista's year... Today, new products appear on the shelves every two weeks! Each time faster and cheaper. This ephemeral fashion is thus the one that wreaks the greatest havoc on mankind and the planet.

It is obvious that the ideal fashion world -that is to say, being respectful of environmental and social conditions during manufacture- does not yet exist. However, consciences are awakening, investigations multiply and reveal the underside of the environment. We have chosen to share key documentaries with you -with European, Indian, American or Bangladeshi points of view- to better understand the situations and open your eyes. Do not hesitate to share them with your friends too!

Trailer of the documentary film on the social and environmental consequences of fast fashion. Directed by Andrew Morgan in 2015 

This is a shocking documentary that makes the link between demand  -the extremely reduced low prices of certain items- and the resulting disastrous human, environmental, and manufacturing conditions across the planet. It includes the testimonies of Stella Mc Cartney (English fashion designer and daughter of Paul McCartney) and Vandana Shiva (Indian environmentalist writer and feminist activist).

Documentaire Cash Investigation, France 2 in 2015

With regard to French luxury goods, there are two global heavyweights: LVMH and Kering, with sales of 20 and 8 billion euros respectively. Elise Lucet and the "Cash investigation" team, have traced one of the luxury leather sectors to the tanneries of Tuscany just to reveal an untold and not pleasant facet: cascading subcontracting, workers exhausted after many years of hard work and who are, sometimes, even mistreated. The documentary also offers a dive into the accounts of the world's fifth luxury business consortium, the international group Kering, which has for years transferred the majority of its profits to Switzerland in order to pay as few taxes as possible.

Replay of the documentary

We’re captivated by this French video which had a great impact on social networks. Here are some episodes on the subject:

Trailer of the documentary film by Laurent Lunetta and Ariel Wizman. Arte, 2018. 

Faced with a system that has become absurd and dangerous, young designers are mobilising to create a more responsible fashion. Co-authored by Ariel Wizman, a hard-hitting documentary about the beginnings of a new international fashion activist movement, from New York to Tel Aviv, via Amsterdam and Paris.

See the trailer

Arte report. Scenario and realization Cosima Dannoritzer. 2013

The origin of programmed obsolescence, with tights as the first textile product that went from a durable product to a material expressly spun fine enough to make it fragile and create the need to buy.

Indian documentary. In English with English subtitles.
Director: Meghna Gupta. 2016

When westerners throw away their clothes, these garments often make a trip east, crossing oceans to reach India and its industrial centers. In the district of Kutch -to the west of the town of Panipat, in the north of the country- the “clothes recyclers” transform these foreigners´ clothes into huge bundles. Since Western culture is little known -other than through the Discovery Channel- the "recyclers" imagine, rely on rumours and make hypotheses about Western cultures.

Rainbow collective production
In English, with English subtitles. 2015

Life, Death, Oppression and Resistance: 5 years with Bangladeshi women in sweatshops and their fight for a better life.

Marketplace, CBC News. 2018

Fast fashion is a major cause of the global phenomenon of clothing waste. Many of us donate our old clothes to charity or put them in the appropriate containers. You'll be surprised to learn that most of them are often resold or end up in landfills.