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January 2022: Fast Fashion
Selector: Maria Nuccilli
Clothes shopping used to be an occasional event—something that happened a few times a year when the seasons changed or when we outgrew what we had. But about 20 years ago, something changed. Clothes became cheaper, trend cycles sped up, and shopping became a hobby. Enter fast fashion and the global chains that now dominate our high streets and online shopping. But what is fast fashion? And how does it impact people, the planet, and animals?
- via Good on You: What is Fast Fashion?
News, January 2022
- Fast Fashion Manipulates Us Into Consumerism, Says Aja BarberTeen Vogue, November 26, 2021
- Can Clothing Hauls Ever Be Sustainable? by Jasmine WallisELLE Australia, April 19, 2021
- ‘I can only do so much’: we asked fast-fashion shoppers how ethical concerns shape their choicesThe Conversation, December 5, 2021
- Fast Fashion Is Bad For The Environment. For Many Plus-Size Shoppers, It’s The Only Option by Olivia MuenterRefinery29, November 30, 2021
- Fast Fashion is Still a Big Threat to Our Environment — Here’s What Needs to Change by Rachel SilvestriVogue Arabia, June 27, 2021
- Secondhand Fashion Market is Expected to Be More Than Double the Size of Fast Fashion by 2030The Fashion Law, June 23, 2021
- From Dr Martens to Ralph Lauren, Lawsuits Are Starting to Build for $15 Billion Ultra-Fast Fashion Brand SheinThe Fashion Law, June 15, 2021
Journal Articles
- Just Use What You Have: Ethical Fashion Discourse and the Feminisation of Responsibility by Kathleen HortonAustralian Feminist Studies, December 2018
- The Emotional Labor of Surveillance: Digital Control in Fast Fashion Retail by Madison Van OortCritical Sociology, 2018
- The global environmental injustice of fast fashion by Rachel Bick, Erika Halsey and Christine C. EkengaEnvironmental Health, 2018
- Circulating Children, Underwriting Capitalism: Chinese Global Households and Fast Fashion in Italy by Elizabeth L. Krause and Massimo BressanCurrent Anthropology, October 2018
WSU Access ID & Password Required
eBooks, January 2022
Clothing Poverty by ISBN: 9781783600670Publication Date: 2015-02-12WSU Access ID & Password Required
Following a pair of jeans, Clothing Poverty takes the reader on a vivid around-the-world tour to reveal how clothes are manufactured and retailed, bringing to light how fast fashion and clothing recycling are interconnected. Andrew Brooks shows how recycled clothes are traded across continents, uncovers how retailers and international charities are embroiled in commodity chains which perpetuate poverty, and exposes the hidden trade networks which transect the globe.
Fashion Industry 2030 by ISBN: 9788885486959Publication Date: 2019-12-01WSU Access ID & Password Required
Some key data about the future of the fashion industry highlight the need for immediate action. The increase of clothing consumption will generate an increase in the use of resources and generation of waste. On the other hand, the demand of consumers interested in sustainability is increasing, also in luxury. The book investigates the key drivers that are reshaping the fashion industry towards the 4th Industrial Revolution, including traceability and transparency, circularity, collaborative consumption, new technologies, B-corporations.
Fixing Fashion by ISBN: 9780865718005Publication Date: 2015-10-01WSU Access ID & Password Required
With sales of more than five hundred billion US dollars a year, the fashion industry is one of the most important sectors of the global economy, employing millions of men, women, and often children in the developing world. And yet its record is far from pretty. Written by an apparel industry insider, Fixing Fashion argues that the true legacy of Rana Plaza is increased awareness of how cheap, disposable clothing has led time and time again to serious community, environmental, and labor rights abuses.
Looking Behind the Label by ISBN: 9780253016560Publication Date: 2015-05-25WSU Access ID & Password Required
What does it mean when consumers "shop with a conscience" and choose products labeled as fair or sustainable? Does this translate into meaningful changes in global production processes? To what extent are voluntary standards implemented and enforced, and can they really govern global industries? Looking behind the Label presents an informative introduction to global production and ethical consumption, tracing the links between consumers' choices and the practices of multinational producers and retailers.
Sewing Hope by ISBN: 9780520966246Publication Date: 2017-10-03WSU Access ID & Password Required
Sewing Hope offers the first account of a bold challenge to apparel-industry sweatshops. The Alta Gracia factory in the Dominican Republic is the anti-sweatshop. It boasts a living wage three times the legal minimum, high health and safety standards, and a legitimate union--all verified by an independent monitor. Sewing Hope invites readers into the apparel industry's sweatshops and the Alta Gracia factory to learn how the anti-sweatshop started, how it overcame challenges, and how the impact of its business model could transform the global industry.
Stitched Up: The Anti-Capitalist Book of Fashion by ISBN: 9780745334561Publication Date: 2014-01-30WSU Access ID & Password Required
Stitched Up delves into the alluring world of fashion to reveal what is behind the clothes we wear. Moving between Karl Lagerfeld and Karl Marx, the book explores consumerism, class and advertising to reveal the interests which benefit from exploitation. Tansy E. Hoskins dissects fashion's vampiric relationship with the planet and with our bodies to uncover what makes it so damaging. Stitched Up provides a unique critical examination of contemporary culture and the distorting priorities of capitalism.
Strategizing Against Sweatshops by ISBN: 9781439918234Publication Date: 2020-01-24WSU Access ID & Password Required
For the past few decades, the U.S. anti-sweatshop movement was bolstered by actions from American college students. United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) effectively advanced the cause of workers' rights in sweatshops around the world. Strategizing against Sweatshops chronicles the evolution of student activism and presents an innovative model of how college campuses are a critical site for the advancement of global social justice. Strategizing against Sweatshops exemplifies how organizations and actors cooperate across a movement to formulate a coherent strategy responsive to the conditions in their social environment.
Unmaking the Global Sweatshop by ISBN: 9780812294316Publication Date: 2017-07-31WSU Access ID & Password Required
Unmaking the Global Sweatshop gathers the work of leading anthropologists and ethnographers studying the global garment industry's impact on workers' well-being and examines the relationship between the politics of labor and initiatives to protect workers' health and safety.
Tight Knit by ISBN: 9780226557915Publication Date: 2018-08-17WSU Access ID & Password Required
The coveted "Made in Italy" label calls to mind visions of nimble-fingered Italian tailors lovingly sewing elegant, high-end clothing. The phrase evokes a sense of authenticity, heritage, and rustic charm. Yet, as Elizabeth L. Krause uncovers in Tight Knit, Chinese migrants are the ones sewing "Made in Italy" labels into low-cost items for a thriving fast-fashion industry--all the while adding new patterns to the social fabric of Italy's iconic industry. Krause offers a revelatory look into how families involved in the fashion industry are coping with globalization based on longterm research in Prato, the historic hub of textile production in the heart of metropolitan Tuscany.
Books in Print, January 2022
Consumed by ISBN: 9781538709849Publication Date: 2021-10-05In Consumed, Barber calls for change within an industry that regularly overreaches with abandon, creating real imbalances in the environment and the lives of those who do the work--often in unsafe conditions for very low pay--and the billionaires who receive the most profit. A story told in two parts, Barber exposes the endemic injustices in our consumer industries and the uncomfortable history of the textile industry, one which brokered slavery, racism, and today's wealth inequality. Once the layers are peeled back, Barber invites you to participate in unlearning, to understand the truth behind why we consume in the way that we do, to confront the uncomfortable feeling that we are never quite enough and why we fill that void with consumption rather than compassion.
Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion by ISBN: 9781591844617Publication Date: 2012-06-14Elizabeth Cline argues that our rapid cycle of consumption isn't just erasing our sense of style and causing massive harm to the environment and human rights-it's also bad for our souls. Cline documents her own transformation from fast-fashion addict to conscientious shopper. Cline looks at the impact here and abroad of America's drastic increase in inexpensive clothing imports, and also shows how consumers can vote with their dollars to grow the sustainable clothing industry.
Fashionopolis by ISBN: 9780735224018Publication Date: 2019-09-03Historically, the apparel trade has exploited labor, the environment, and intellectual property--and in the last three decades, with the simultaneous unfurling of fast fashion, globalization, and the tech revolution, those abuses have multiplied exponentially, primarily out of view. We are in dire need of an entirely new human-scale model. Journalist Dana Thomas has traveled the globe to discover the visionary designers and companies who are propelling the industry toward that more positive future by reclaiming traditional craft and launching cutting-edge sustainable technologies to produce better fashion.
Global Perspectives on Sustainable Fashion by ISBN: 9781350058132Publication Date: 2019-02-21Global Perspectives on Sustainable Fashion showcases the global fashion industry's efforts to reduce the negative impacts associated with fashion production and consumption. Illustrated throughout with infographics, photographs and diagrams of creative works, eighteen essays focus on six regions, examining sustainable fashion in the context of local, cultural and environmental concerns. Also included are 18 regional 'Spotlight' sections highlighting the differences and similarities across regions by concentrating on examples of best practice, design innovation and impact on the community.
A Practical Guide to Sustainable Fashion by ISBN: 9782940496143Publication Date: 2014-01-30Packed with full-color images from contributors such as Vivienne Westwood, Stella McCartney, Edun and People Tree, A Practical Guide to Sustainable Fashion offers an overview of the following topics– garment design; sourcing and selecting fabrics and techniques; pattern making and toiling; garment construction; distribution; clothing care and maintenance; reuse and re-manufacture; and material recycling; and it also covers the following sustainable design approaches- design for empathy; using mono materials; zero waste techniques; design for durability; engaging with local communities; design for need; reducing laundering; design for repair; upcycling; and design for closed-loop systems.
Infographic
How much does a worker make on a $30 shirt? Based on costs in European market, 2020.
- Retail: $17.70 (59%)
- Profit to brand: $3.60 (12%)
- Material Cost: $3.55 (12%)
- Transport costs: $2.40 (8%)
- Bangladesh factory profit: $1.15 (4%)
- Factory overheads: $0.25 (0.9%)
- Pay to worker: $0.18 (0.6%)
Websites, January 2022
- Fashion RevolutionFashion Revolution was founded in the wake of the Rana Plaza disaster in 2013. Since then, we have grown to become the world’s largest fashion activism movement, mobilising citizens, brands and policymakers through research, education and advocacy.
- Via Fashion Revolution - Fashion Transparency Index 2021This is the sixth annual edition of the Fashion Transparency Index. This year, 250 of the world’s largest fashion brands and retailers were reviewed and ranked according to what information they disclose about their social and environmental policies, practices and impacts, in their operations and supply chain.
- Good On YouHow do you know if "sustainable fashion" is really, well, sustainable? With an app and website, Good On You lets you quickly assess brands' track records. Each brand receives a rating out of five, from 'We Avoid' (1) to 'Great' (5), and individual scores for its impact on people, the planet, and animals.
- Fashion CheckerGlobal fashion brands make grand promises about the wages they pay garment workers. But what do their supply chains really look like? Find out with Fashion Checker.
- Clean Clothes CampaignThe Clean Clothes Campaign is the garment industry's largest alliance of labour unions and non-governmental organizations. The civil society campaign focuses on the improvement of working conditions in the garment and sportswear industries.
YouTube, January 2022
Podcasts, January 2022
TikTok, January 2022
- The OR Foundation - @theorispresent
Nonprofit organization
Too much clothing. Not enough justice. Too often a consumer. So rarely a human. Time for reckoning, recovery & reparations! - Remake - @remakeourworld
Nonprofit organization
We’re turning fashion into a force for good.
Join our global movement to #wearyourvalues
#PayUp #PayHer - Eco-Sytlist - @yourecostylist
Your Guide to Ethical + Stylish Clothing.
Why do you #dresslikeyougiveadamn?
Powered by @remakeourworld
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