The True Cost

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.

"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

"The True Cost" is a documentary by Andrew Morgan which explores the whole network of clothe's production and consume, unlatching the concept of fast fashion and his implications. Approaching the social and envirement impacts, the film shows the true cost of the fashion consume in this age, including the physical and psiquic ills caused by the chlote's production in poor countries without labor laws, ground's contamination caused by the agriculture required for the sector's industry and the social problems related to the economic policies and globalized production chain. The great problem of this film is the attempt to investigate all the issues intrinsic of the fashion cost. When treating multiple questions, the documentary ends up becoming a shallow investigation, without deepening and solidity. This desorganization is allied to a lack of interactions with the viewer and boring interviews, besides not including important social actors of the fashion production.

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.

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.