THE TRUE COST - 'fast fashion' exposed
Who doesn't like to score a too-good-to-be-true deal on practically anything these days? Electronics, kitchen gadgets, groceries, gas – you name it, we North Americans love a world-beating bargain.
Then there's fast food, now a fixture in our culture, which for all its convenience and low cost, has had major repercussions on our health - and kids' health especially. And now there's 'fast fashion'. Never heard of it? If you spend any time in big box stores and shopping malls, you've seen this industry explode over the past decade or so - cheap, plentiful clothing cycled rapidly through large retail outlets. But what may be too good to be true on the bargain fashion front is definitely not great for the hands that sew it, or the environment that takes all its toxic leftovers.
Movie #3 in the 2016 FAST FORWARD eco-film series at the Erin Legion focuses on fast fashion and its many downsides. Called The True Cost, one California critic nailed it by saying fast fashion has become 'a very big problem. An XXL problem.' Most Canadians are aware of at least some of the issues - who can forget the TV images from the tragic collapse of a clothing factory in Bangladesh that killed over 1100 workers in 2013 - but our deeply ingrained consumer cravings make it easier to move past these disasters and red flags to land those 'great buys'.
The much better news? There's an alternative clothing movement that's rising up - goods from local sources made by Canadian hands with a focus not just on fashion, but sustainability too. At the screening of The True Cost, we’ll have two tables featuring locally produced clothing, including the Arthur-based co-op called Upper Canada Fibreshed.
Please join us for The True Cost on Wednesday, March 16 at 7:00 pm (doors open 6:30), Erin Legion. Guelph Solar is this film's sponsor, and will be there once again to share the benefits of putting the sun to work on your roof! As always, admission is free, but donations cheerfully welcomed.
The 2016 FAST FORWARD Eco-Film Series is organized by the Climate Change Action Group of Erin in partnership with Transition Erin. More info: 519-833-4676 • TransitionErin.ca
