We buy too many clothes, and we pay too little for them. $5 t-shirts are killing people

[Liberal_in_LA]

We buy too many clothes, and we pay too little for them.
That's the message of "The True Cost," a new documentary on the perils of the fashion industry, which is being released next week.


The film is a sweeping, heartbreaking and damning survey of the clothing economy. It covers malformed children of pesticide sprayers in India's cotton belt, gruesome shots of the deadly 2013 Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh, Indian rivers frothing with chemicals, and mountains of discarded clothing in Haiti.

"I believe these clothes are produced by our blood," Shima Akhter, a Bangladeshi factory worker, says in the film. "I want the [factory owners] to be aware and look out for us, so that no more mothers lose their kids like that."

Textile waste in a Dhaka, Bangladesh landfill.

The film interviews a factory owner in Bangladesh, who says the constant pressure to produce cheaply is partly responsible for the unsafe conditions.

"Is it really ethical to buy a T-shirt for $5, or a pair of jeans for $20?" asks Livia Firth, creative director at the sustainable businesses consultancy Eco-Age.

http://money.cnn.com/2015/05/22/news/economy/true-cost-clothing/index.html

[uppityperson]

1. We don't need to buy new clothes all the time, can continue to wear the same until they

get old and wear out. Why subscribe to what false fashion dictates and keep consuming? Have a few items rather than many.

[yeoman6987]

4. Oh great now you tell me. I just bought two more board shorts for

the pool this year. I have about 20 pair but I go daily in the summer.

[yeoman6987]

6. Human nature

Trends end and new stuff comes in. I have a lot of clothes but I also go through them every six months and give to goodwill. It would be a shame to convince people to stop buying as the poor ultimately suffer as always.

[uppityperson]

7. A friend is dating someone who never shopped at a second hand store in his life

She took him to goodwill and he is sold on the idea of recycling and reusing clothing now.

[leftofcool]

10. Goodwill=Best place to shop on the planet!

[Liberal_in_LA]

8. they want us to keep shopping but pay more

[Warpy]

27. Fashion? What's that?

I lived in jeans and scrubs too long, recycled the scrubs that were wearable to the thrift shop and wore the ratty ones to death as pajamas.

One thing I've found now that I'm an old broad with hot flashes is that I can no longer wear plastic, meaning cotton blends. That drives the price up a bit but since pure cotton wears so much longer, it all evens out. I would also continue to make a lot of my own stuff if I could get natural fiber fabric locally. I do knit my own sweaters from yarn I've spun.

I also discovered overdyeing when I was living out of a thrift shop. That fugly purple sweater can be quite nice when overdyed black or brown.

Fortunately, I live out west where jeans are about it for the universal uniform. Since denim tends to wear like iron, it's a thrifty way to dress.

[Rolando]

2. Have you ever heard of the Triangle Fire

in Lower Manhattan between 1910 and 1920?

Over a hundred young women, mostly Jewish, died--burned up or jumped to their deaths. The doors were kept locked because the owners were afraid the workers would steal fabric. The elevator didn't work. Pretty awful scene reflecting the greed and lack of control of such operations.

[Liberal_in_LA]

3. yes. it has been discussed on DU

[okaawhatever]

26. There was a fire at a chicken processing plant in Hamlet, NC that killed 25 workers in 1991!!

Their fire doors were locked also. They had problems with workers stealing chickens (so they claimed).

From Wiki:

The Hamlet chicken processing plant fire was an industrial fire in Hamlet, North Carolina, at the Imperial Foods processing plant on September 3, 1991, resulting from a failure in a hydraulic line. 25 workers were killed and 55 injured in the fire, trapped behind locked fire doors. In 11 years of operation, the plant had never received a safety inspection.[1] Investigators believe a safety inspection might have prevented the disaster.[2] (Twenty-five people died and 54 suffered injuries or aftereffects such as burns, blindness, respiratory disease from smoke inhalation, neurological damage and post traumatic stress disorder.[1][7] Of the dead, 18 were female and 7 were male.[2] Many still suffer or died early from their injuries, and some are addicted to their medications or to alcohol.[3])

A federal investigation was launched. Owner Emmett Roe received a 20-year prison sentence, of which he served only four years. The company received the highest fine in the history of North Carolina,[3] which was less than the federal minimum. As a result, the federal government took over enforcement of much of North Carolina's worker safety laws.[4] Survivors and victims' families accused the fire service and city of Hamlet of racism, leading to two monuments to the tragedy being erected. The plant was never reopened.

The fire was North Carolina's worst industrial disaster.[5] Higher fatalities occurred at the 1947 Texas City disaster, the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, and the 1860 Pemberton Mill collapse.[6] Some mining disasters have been worse: 53 miners died in 1925 in North Carolina in the Coal Glen mine disaster.

Adding insult to injury, here was the local emergency response:
The response came under heavy criticism. Fire Chief Fuller, in charge of the emergency response, refused help several times from the Dobbins Heights fire department, five minutes away from the plant. The Dobbins Heights Fire Department was composed of African-American volunteers and most of the workers were also black, and there were allegations of racial prejudice from the Fire Chief. Fuller has defended his decision, saying at the time he refused assistance he did not realize the doors were locked, adding "In a fire like this you need good, seasoned people." Witnesses have also said that there were only two oxygen tanks on site to help smoke-inhalation victims.[7]

Continued at Link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamlet_chicken_processing_plant_fire

[Depaysement]

28. 1911

Mostly Jewish and Italian women.

The doors were locked to keep the workers from taking breaks not approved by their bosses, who were Jewish immigrants and escaped unharmed. The elevator did work for a while and the elevator operators saved many lives.

The ILGWU, in its infancy when this occured grew out of this tragedy. It led the fight for humane working conditions for a century to come and still does to this day.

[Eleanors38]

5. All my clothes are purchased used. No longer part of my budget.

It is virtually impossible to avoid being part of the 'wage-slave' system, but buying used gets you much closer to it. Appliances, cars, clothes, even most meat (hunting), records, books, etc.

[alphafemale]

19. And it benefits local charities.

I generally do NOT do the GW Boutique.

Some exploitation stories about them.

But favor local thrifts.

[liberal_at_heart]

9. With the economy the way it is many of us wear our clothes until they are torn up and then

go to a discount store or thrift store to buy more. I would love to be able to pay more so that others can have higher wages, but I simply can't. We must demand higher wages here so that we can afford to pay more so that others can have higher wages in other places. We also need to oppose unfair trade deals that make corporations billions and do nothing for their workers.

[BrotherIvan]

11. There are a lot of small companies who produce GREAT stuff in the US

It's not the cheapest, but it often will last so much longer and fit better. Also check out sellers on Etsy (some of them aren't handmade anymore so do your research) as they have cool stuff too. We have to stop our addiction to cheap goods.

My girlfriend had to buy a baby gift and it was so hard trying to find anything not made by foreign slave labor. She said, "It it was my baby, I couldn't bear the thought that another child made her gift." So she found some gorgeous stuff made in the US that she said was even more beautiful in person than she could have expected and was a great bargain for the quality and really not much more than the big brand crap. It can be done, but it's not easy.

Everyone talks about how we should buy Made in USA, but nobody does it. They claim it's because they can't afford it but buy stuff from WalMart and Target by the truckload.

http://articles.latimes.com/2013/jun/12/business/la-fi-la-manufacturing-bangladesh-20130612

[Liberal_in_LA]

21. She said, "It it was my baby, I couldn't bear the thought that another child made her gift."

Great point of view

[BrotherIvan]

24. Oops, she's smarter than me and did say "If"

Doh.

[Historic NY]

12. Whats a $5.00 t-shirt because I've never seen one even in Walmart...

[DawgHouse]

13. Sure, they have them for 4.97 at Walmart.

Just google 4.97 t shirt Walmart and you'll see plenty.

[oberliner]

32. $3.58 on the Walmart website

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Fruit-of-the-Loom-Men-s-Short-Sleeve-Tee/42887799

[Historic NY]

38. Not available for pickup with in 50 miles of me....

"This item is not available for pickup or at any of the Walmarts within 50 miles of your location."

so that explains why I've never seen one.

[hobbit709]

14. $5 t-shirt? Haven't seen one of those in 20 years. At least not in the ones I buy.

[oberliner]

31. Walmart has them for $3.58 on their website

It's identified as a best seller.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Fruit-of-the-Loom-Men-s-Short-Sleeve-Tee/42887799

[hobbit709]

33. I only wear 100% cotton and I really try to avoid Wally World.

And I prefer pocket Ts.

[oberliner]

34. Walmart has those for $6.00

Here ya go:

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Hanes-Men-s-Nano-T-Short-Sleeve-Pocket-Tee/33441619

Just curious, where do you get your t-shirts and about how much do you pay?

[hobbit709]

37. I get them through a friend of mine in the screen printing and tie-dye business

They cost me about $12 each but they're 5XL

[LiberalElite]

15. This reminds me of an old TV commercial -

I'm ashamed to admit that at that time, it made me cringe as clueless me thought it was corny. I realize now with hindsight that they were obviously trying to save their jobs. Anyone seen a union label lately?

[Brickbat]

16. Still options, if you want them.

http://www.unionlabel.com/

[LiberalElite]

17. Thanks! I do buy

New Balance and Okabashis already. Will look thru this some more.

[MannyGoldstein]

18. Thanks for that link!

Very helpful!

[Depaysement]

30. I have bought before

Not "fashionable" but old throwback, "guys" rough and tumble t-shirts. I like them.

[Rex]

20. Is it really ethical to treat a human like a machine and pay them 10 cents an hour?

Force them to live in a hovel or a corner in a cold room? To deny them medical care, because they are replaceable? Good luck convincing the Owners that we are anything but human capital. Been tried and all they do is scoff and say how lucky we should feel to merely exist.

Wal-Mart...yuck, the devil himself.

[LittleBlue]

22. It's a double-edged sword

If we didn't need them to manufacture our goods cheaply, then Asia wouldn't develop the way it has. These are the normal growing pains of any country going from an agrarian society to a manufacturing-based modern economy.

The alternative is Sub-Saharan Africa, which gets virtually no investment outside of raw materials extraction, and as a consequence is stuck in a state of absolute poverty.

[joshcryer]

23. The American consumer won't allow for expensive clothing.

Short of tariffs it's not going away, unfortunately.

[SoCalDem]

25. It always cracks me up when people on house hunters freak out at the closet sizes in older homes

People used to have their Sunday clothes (0ne set), their work clothes (maybe 2 or 3 sets)

Kids had school clothes an a couple of sets of play clothes.. ONE pair of shoes & maybe a hand me down pair to play in..

That was IT..

Shopping was not a hobby..

Many clothes were made by Mom or Grandma out of remnants..

My dear aunt told me how my Grandmother tore apart my grandfather's overcoat to remake it for her when she started high school (circa 1920)..My grandfather somehow had two coats so she took the good one & went to work on it

[Liberal_in_LA]

39. yes, I would come home from school.and change into my "play" clothes.

Didn't have as many as kids do today

[Travis_0004]

29. Thats why I only wear this shirt

[vinny9698]

35. The only new clothes my family buys are socks and underwear

We shop at all the thrift stores, especially the Sally or its real name Salvation Army.
Especially kids clothes, since they outgrow them so fast, months sometimes, so the clothes are in great shape.
The best bargain are brand names, Osh Kosh, etc.

[NaturalHigh]

36. That's why I try to buy American.