The True Cost

The True Cost documents filmmaker Andrew Morgan's efforts to understand the world of fast fashion (with it's "fifty two seasons a year" marked by $5 shirts and $20 pairs of jeans), a world that's only existed for a few decades and has had enormous impacts on people's lives in both high- and low-income economies. It's a well-traveled and wide-ranging film, sometimes so much so that you get a bit lost for it's jumping from one place to another. But the economic systems that connect garment workers in countries like Bangladesh and Cambodia to North American, European, and Asian consumers are complicated, often intentionally obscure, and they affect people and ecosystems all over the globe, so the film's wide angle view makes sense. To covers so much means that the film sometimes jumps quickly from topic to topic, without digging very deeply into any one issue for long (towards the end of the film, for example, its critique of consumerist / materialist capitalism follows logically from all we've seen, but the discussion can't do justice to the complexity of the questions posed). But for a documentary meant to introduce the topic, that's a reasonable directorial choice to make. Beautifully filmed, with passionate, informed, and compassionate interviewees, The True Cost is worth watching.

"The True Cost" is a professionally-done documentary by Andrew Morgan which covers many of the multiple problems caused by America's current clothing gluttony. Going to thirteen separate countries, the viewers visually get a small taste of some of the devastation caused by "Fast Fashion", whether it is drenching of farmlands with pesticides and the resultant birth defects in India to the following of a Bangladesh single mother and garment worker who knew people in the Rana Plaza building collapse which claimed more than 1100 people. Although the topics are,at times, heavy and thought provoking, the overall tone of the documentary is neither gloomy nor preachy. "The True Cost" is an ambitious project that opens your eyes to many of the ills caused by our current economic policies and our addiction to spending. It is a great springboard for further discussions and movie projects. -Jack A

I live in Turkey and there are many "cheap" textile factory in terms of their work conditions and quality of their products. People buy more items than they actually need and this behaviour causes textile industry growing day by day.

Any kind of shoe production costs approximately 2$ - 5$ dollars, Any kind of t-shirt, sweater, shirt costs 1$ - 3$ dollars, Any kind of hat, sock, belt costs 0 - 1$ dollars,

Nike, Adidas, H&M, Zara, Pull & Bear, 21 Forever, Gucci, Berschka ect. doesn't matter where you buy your clothes, they are all produced very cheap and sold for five times more expensive than they worth.

Why do you pay extra money for famous brand logo?

Being minimalist is similar to being vegan & vegetarian and it means sacrificing luxury for the long term benefit.

A primitivist stance in which the losers of their markets (film production, fashion, journalism) gang against what they call "big business". Meaning the workers in poor countries would be far better crouched in the rice paddy under the Sun, than having a wage. Yet somehow, the entitlements on which the Western losers live are NOT to be sent to the poor workers.

This is yet another refined argument for protectionism and closed borders.

This movie is biased. A lot. But that doesn't mean that what it isn't saying is right.

Because it is.

"The True Cost" is a movie about the clothing industry and the costs the fast fashion world we live in today has, with uncontrolled consumerism and a total lack of understanding of the processes behind the clothes we wear.

And the movie does a great job in showing many aspects behind the product you are wearing. It tells the story of many of the workers, and also owners of industries, and brings home many points, from how the workers labor is made cheap, or how they have to work in horrible environments, to the illnesses people get because of the way the industry works or the consequences for the environment.

The movie unashamedly points to out-of-control consumerist capitalist society as the big reason behind what is happening, with people just buying for the sake of it, and society sending constant messages about the need of buying and changing clothes constantly. It is, as said above, a movie that doesn't hide its agenda. But, at the same time, it is absolutely true that the work conditions of the workers of the industry are terrible, that the environment is suffering because of the industry, and that we buy too many things we don't really need.

This is a movie necessary to think a little bit about what's behind the clothing industry, what we don't see/don't want to see, and how we should care about it because we should care about other humans and the world we live in.