The True Cost Documentary

‘This is a story about clothing. It’s about the clothes we wear, the people who make these clothes, and the impact it’s having on our world. It’s a story about greed and fear; power and poverty.’

Told from the perspective of someone with no background in the clothing industry – a normal consumer like you and me – The True Cost is groundbreaking. Numerous people I have spoken to who feel passionately about changing the way they and others shop cite this documentary as the turning point. It pulls the wool away from our eyes and lays bare what is really sacrificed for the high street clothes in most of our wardrobes.

And what is sacrificed? Human rights. Our environment. And we – consumers – are the ones driving it all. The True Cost understands that for most of us, our greatest flaw is ignorance when it comes to fast fashion, but this documentary exists to make sure that that is no longer an excuse. I am sharing some of the stories told in the documentary here, but I really encourage you to watch this documentary to get a real understanding of the problems in the modern fashion industry in just 90 minutes.

We meet designers like Stella McCartney, factory owners, auditors, journalists, cotton growers, garment workers, and not least consumers – everyone who is touched by, and who has an influence over, fast fashion. We dissect every part of the fast fashion cycle. The documentary begins by contrasting consumers going mad for Black Friday, with the Rana Plaza disaster. 1,138 garment workers died when a factory in Bangladesh collapsed in 2013, as workers were forced into a knowingly unsafe building. Owners notoriously favoured getting orders out over basic safety and employee protection. We meet people who were there and who lost their families and their livelihood. And as if that wasn’t devastating enough? The year following the Rana Plaza disaster was the most profitable of all time for the fast fashion industry.

‘They didn’t give a damn shit – they just wanted a cheap price. Everyone must take responsibility for those deaths [at Rana Plaza]. It’s not just the price pressure. It’s ignoring other people’s lives. This is the 21st century, it’s a global world we live in, and we just ignore other people’s lives.’

Arif Jebtik, Garment Factory Owner

We also meet Shima Akhter who lives and works as a garment worker in Dhaka. She gives us an invaluable insight into what it is like to work in these factories, and we hear her stories of being physically beaten with chairs and scissors by managers when she lead a group of workers to demand basic rights and safety.

We are then introduced to the cotton industry. We meet LaRhea Pepper, an American cotton farmer, who has had to live with the consequences of the toxic chemicals used on cotton, as her partner passed away at 47 from a brain tumour. It is almost certain that his death was directly linked to the chemicals surrounding him in his youth.

We then meet Monsanto, and the terrible story of the farmer suicide epidemic in India.

For them it’s a win, win, win, win, win. For nature and people, it’s a lose, lose, lose, lose, lose.

Vandana Shiva, Activist

A former MD for India at the company spoke about the impact Monsanto, a multi-million dollar company that has completely redesigned the seed industry. It created and owns the bt cotton seed, a genetically modified cotton plant that produces toxins that act as a pesticide. The former MD spoke about what this meant for farmers. Taking this together with Vandana Shiva’s account, we piece together a bleak story. Promised a high yield, a farmer goes to Monsanto to buy expensive bt cotton seeds. The farmer must go into debt to do so, but the promise of a return justifies the decision. However even more fertilizer is required to encourage the cotton to grow, and by consequence, more debt. The soil and environment is saturated with chemicals, and the number of birth defects and cancer cases in high-concentration cotton farming regions like the Punjab rockets. The farmer whose seeds have not delivered on their promise of a high yield is now drowning in debt. His debt collector reclaims his land; he has lost everything. In this state, he goes into his field and takes his own life by drinking a bottle of the very chemicals he believed so desperately would encourage his cotton to grow.

‘In the last 16 years, there have been more than 250,000 recorded farmer suicides in India – 1 farmer every 30 minutes, and it is the largest recorded wave of suicides in history.’

After the conversation has passed to the negative impact fast fashion has on the consumer, and the terrible consequences of ‘disposable’ fashion when it comes to waste, things do, fortunately, start to look up. We return to LaRhea, who helped to form the Texas Organic Cotton Association, and and we hear from thought leaders paving new ways of doing fashion, including the founder of People Tree, who I wrote about not so long ago.

But the reality is never sugar coated. We return to the disturbing footage of Black Friday mobs and consumer obsession on social media. We return to Shima, who has to leave her child in another’s care so that she can continue to work in dire conditions in Dhaka, and who feels every pain of every abused Bangladeshi garment worker.

‘People have no idea how difficult it is for us to make the clothing. They only buy it and wear it. I believe these clothes are produced by our blood… I don’t want anyone wearing anything that is produced by our blood.’

Shima Akhter

These are just a few of the stories and moments of The True Cost that I found particularly striking and that I wanted to share on this blog. The documentary is available on Netflix and Prime. Even though it might be difficult to watch, if everyone gave up just an hour and a half of their time to allow this documentary to have its full impact, it might just be able to change the world.

The True Cost was co-produced by Lucy Siegle, author of To Die For, which you can read about here.