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A review by alannajane
Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion by Elizabeth L. Cline
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.