The True Cost

View on The Global Environmental Justice site

Investigation of fast fashion reveals that while the price of clothing has been decreasing for decades, the human and environmental costs have grown dramatically. It discusses several aspects of the garment industry from production—mainly exploring the life of low wage workers in developing countries—to its after-effects such as river and soil pollution, pesticide contamination, disease and death. Includes interviews with activists and workers. Includes a take action campaign.

Website summary: This is a story about clothing. It’s about the clothes we wear, the people who make them, and the impact the industry is having on our world. The price of clothing has been decreasing for decades, while the human and environmental costs have grown dramatically. The True Cost is a groundbreaking documentary film that pulls back the curtain on the untold story and asks us to consider, who really pays the price for our clothing? Filmed in countries all over the world, from the brightest runways to the darkest slums, and featuring interviews with the world’s leading influencers including Stella McCartney, Livia Firth and Vandana Shiva, The True Cost is an unprecedented project that invites us on an eye opening journey around the world and into the lives of the many people and places behind our clothes.

"This is the very best of all the documentaries I have seen about the fashion industry...The filmmakers show how clothing companies waste the lives of young women in the 'third world.' Their greed also threatens the 'first world' in a way that ultimately threatens the planet. This is a film you must see!" -- Ellen Rosen, Women's Studies Research Center, Brandeis University, Author, Making Sweatshops: The Globalization of the U.S. Apparel Industry