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scavengercat's review against another edition
3.0
Not a lot I didn’t already know, but good reminders. I wish it gave more solutions other than just sewing your own clothes.
tophat8855's review against another edition
3.0
I think by now most of this is well-known and in the American consciousness. But maybe that’s due to the circles I hang out in?
naznin4nelson's review against another edition
4.0
Loved this book! It did a great job of explaining the current state of the clothing industry. I don't come from a fashion background, or a business background, but I found the topic fascinating. It has made me believe that I need to be a more conscious buyer of clothing, even without any fashion sense, I can be more responsible. I went into two boutiques the other day and actually asked where they get their fabric from. This from a person whose main boutique has been Target :-)
seeceeread's review against another edition
Loving most clothes sold today would be like loving a fast food sandwich.
We open with Cline emptying her closets. Mountains of clothes that she doesn't like before her, she starts to ask how she got here. She used to frequent the local consignment shop for vintage finds and chameleon curate a "look" for each day. By the time she's writing, she realizes that she enters a lot of spaces in the same duds as a handful others: same striped tee, same crappy jeans, same gaudy baubles, same, same, same. And it's all falling apart.
She digs into the pressure manufacturers feel to produce new garments for consumption – not once a season, like an erstwhile fashion magazine, but monthly, weekly, even daily. To keep up with breakneck trends and keep shoppers coming back, they've turned to quantity as the only viable business strategy. As a result, labor costs are driven down to a fraction of dignity and production is outsourced to wherever workers can be minimally compensated.
After visiting the ghost garment district of New York, threadbare sewing operations in Los Angeles, Chinese workers' dorms and a slipshod, two-man Bangladeshi factory ... she realizes that quality, ethical, fashionable clothing is not and cannot be cheap. Cline tries her hand at learning to sew alterations, as well as leveraging tailors and cobblers for mending. She ends by cozying up to local and small vendors whose labor practices don't hurt her feelings, and whose products are designed to last.
This feels longer than necessary; some great, punchy sentences are buried in too many details and examples. It's also repetitive and takes too long to reach the obvious conclusion. But perhaps that's my reading 12 years later ... maybe this was groundbreaking at its publication and feels staid now because so many others have taken up the mantle. At the same time, I'd be surprised if many of the stats have actually changed. For example, Cline noted, "Americans buy an average of 64 pieces of clothing a year." And a 2023 Smart Asset report suggests that number is stagnant. So we've perhaps learned more, but constant advertising still significantly sways the collective.
I am inspired to revisit everything in my wardrobe with staying power: A red wool coat tagged as a product of International Ladies' Garment Workers Union. Luxurious suede boots. Dramatic paperbag waisted dark denim. A black leather skirt I got in a vintage shop in Germany that predates the fall of the wall. My grandfather’s sweater ...
vv3roninika's review against another edition
It was too much straight forward information without much explanation and examples so it was uneasy to read and focus. I tried so hard because i like the concept and the topics but it just isnt my style of writing.
alexisrt's review against another edition
4.0
Right now I'm wearing a pair of $150 shoes that were made in America (which I happen to buy because I have hard to fit feet). In 2013 America, I am the exception. 20 or more years ago, however, I wouldn't have been, as Elizabeth Cline shows. In inflation adjusted money, the price of clothes has dropped dramatically and our expectations for clothing have changed alongside. We now buy cheaper clothes in larger quantities.
The drop in price and the rise of fast fashion has come at a cost, however. We have come to expect clothes that are cheap in quality as well as in price. They are made under time pressure in foreign factories with poorly paid workers, from cheaper fabrics, in quickly run off collections ripped off from other manufacturers. The mid-market fashions many of us grew up in are now hard to find or completely nonexistent: the lines that purport to be mid-market are now made cheaply as well. At the high end, while some pieces reflect a genuine increase in labor, materials, and design, others retail for far greater markups as a demonstration of affluence and the importance of labels.
Cline does a nice job of demonstrating the costs--both in clothes and to the workers who make them--of our modern attitude to fashion. She is short on suggestions, however, aside from promotion of ethical fashion initiatives. The book is predominantly focused on standard sized women's wear. As with fashion in general, plus (where we pay 3x or more the price for equally poorly made clothing--no Zara for us) is ignored. A few mentions are made of suits, but men and children get short shrift; the examples are continually of dresses, skirts, and blouses.
As always with discussion of ethical fashion, I left with a small amount of personal frustration, but the issues addressed are relevant for all.
The drop in price and the rise of fast fashion has come at a cost, however. We have come to expect clothes that are cheap in quality as well as in price. They are made under time pressure in foreign factories with poorly paid workers, from cheaper fabrics, in quickly run off collections ripped off from other manufacturers. The mid-market fashions many of us grew up in are now hard to find or completely nonexistent: the lines that purport to be mid-market are now made cheaply as well. At the high end, while some pieces reflect a genuine increase in labor, materials, and design, others retail for far greater markups as a demonstration of affluence and the importance of labels.
Cline does a nice job of demonstrating the costs--both in clothes and to the workers who make them--of our modern attitude to fashion. She is short on suggestions, however, aside from promotion of ethical fashion initiatives. The book is predominantly focused on standard sized women's wear. As with fashion in general, plus (where we pay 3x or more the price for equally poorly made clothing--no Zara for us) is ignored. A few mentions are made of suits, but men and children get short shrift; the examples are continually of dresses, skirts, and blouses.
As always with discussion of ethical fashion, I left with a small amount of personal frustration, but the issues addressed are relevant for all.
alittleoverdue's review against another edition
3.0
Eye-opening book. It's an insightful look at the fashion industry beyond just what you thought you knew about sweatshop labor. However the book petered out at the end into personal story and didn't offer any ideas for solutions, action steps to take, or resources to help consumers shape a more responsible fashion industy.
alannajane's review against another edition
3.0
The subject matter of this book is INCREDIBLY important. Seven years after publication, despite increases in the Slow Fashion movement, cheap/fast fashion still has a stronghold on western culture. This book’s message is still absolutely necessary. Unfortunately, I found the audiobook itself a complete slog to get through.
I really appreciate how this author did such in-depth research, including her travels to several international and overseas countries to see for herself how the fast fashion industry impacts the factory workers and environment. I also appreciate how many different sorts of people that she interviewed and met with to gain a clearer picture of the devastating effects cheap fashion has on the world.
That said, I felt like the first half or two-thirds of the book should have been edited down to at least half the length. I felt like the same thing was being said over and over and over again. Perhaps this is because I am already dedicated to slow fashion, thrifting, mending and sewing my own clothing? Possible. But I still think that the text could have been made so much more compelling and interesting by being concise.
Further, I feel that while the author paid great attention to the effects of fast fashion on underpaid and overworked factory employees, the effects on the American economy of sourcing overseas, and dwindling quality, there was a relative dearth of information on environmental impacts from production. If topics like fabric production pollutants, the environmental impacts of clothing dyes and/or natural versus unnatural textile manufacture, land/water/oil/etc usage per textile type was discussed, this book could have been the same length but much more interesting.
I would have also liked to see specific call-to-action points for readers to follow. Some ideas are quietly interwoven into the last (best) chapter, but not necessarily in any revolutionary or compelling way. I also don’t like that the author seems to advocate for getting rid of the majority of what readers own and replacing it immediately with better options, rather than simply decluttering and then slowly, mindfully, environmentally caring for what we already have and only filling in wardrobe gaps - as needed - with better options.
I REALLY wanted to love this book because the subject matter is so close to my heart. Sadly, the writing style was so boring and in need of editing that only willpower got me through to the end.
I really appreciate how this author did such in-depth research, including her travels to several international and overseas countries to see for herself how the fast fashion industry impacts the factory workers and environment. I also appreciate how many different sorts of people that she interviewed and met with to gain a clearer picture of the devastating effects cheap fashion has on the world.
That said, I felt like the first half or two-thirds of the book should have been edited down to at least half the length. I felt like the same thing was being said over and over and over again. Perhaps this is because I am already dedicated to slow fashion, thrifting, mending and sewing my own clothing? Possible. But I still think that the text could have been made so much more compelling and interesting by being concise.
Further, I feel that while the author paid great attention to the effects of fast fashion on underpaid and overworked factory employees, the effects on the American economy of sourcing overseas, and dwindling quality, there was a relative dearth of information on environmental impacts from production. If topics like fabric production pollutants, the environmental impacts of clothing dyes and/or natural versus unnatural textile manufacture, land/water/oil/etc usage per textile type was discussed, this book could have been the same length but much more interesting.
I would have also liked to see specific call-to-action points for readers to follow. Some ideas are quietly interwoven into the last (best) chapter, but not necessarily in any revolutionary or compelling way. I also don’t like that the author seems to advocate for getting rid of the majority of what readers own and replacing it immediately with better options, rather than simply decluttering and then slowly, mindfully, environmentally caring for what we already have and only filling in wardrobe gaps - as needed - with better options.
I REALLY wanted to love this book because the subject matter is so close to my heart. Sadly, the writing style was so boring and in need of editing that only willpower got me through to the end.
missbryden's review against another edition
3.0
Assessing this particular subject and content is probably hard almost 10 years after publication, as most of the concepts I am already familiar with as having learned something of since 2012, and I don't remember enough of the broad understanding of this subject at the time to know if it was particularly groundbreaking. I do think some of the in-depth detail was good to broaden my surface understanding, and it's all still important - I don't think we've progressed much since.
I don't think the writing was particularly good. I found the occasional spelling errors and odd grammar, but what especially stood out were what seemed to me inconsistent citations. Only some of the personal conversations or emails seemed to be cited, most citations were only if it was a book or other published document being quoted. A source would be referenced by last name as if the reader should now be familiar from previous mentioning but I would go back in the previous couple pages or citation list and couldn't easily find the source.
I don't think the writing was particularly good. I found the occasional spelling errors and odd grammar, but what especially stood out were what seemed to me inconsistent citations. Only some of the personal conversations or emails seemed to be cited, most citations were only if it was a book or other published document being quoted. A source would be referenced by last name as if the reader should now be familiar from previous mentioning but I would go back in the previous couple pages or citation list and couldn't easily find the source.