River East Collegiate - Fast Fashion and You

This video highlights the connections between the fast fashion industry and the violation of human rights and the environment. This video is written, directed and produced by: Jordan Unger Hailey Therrien Avinashpall Singh Rooj Ali Transcript and Credits: CBC Take 3 Video Breakdown and Info School: River East Collegiate Students: Hailey Therrien, Grade 12 Avinashpall Singh, Grade 11 Jordan Unger, Grade 11 Rooj Ali, Grade 10 Teacher: Leigha Jackson Fast Fashion And YOU (How Your Buying Habits Affect Human Rights and the Environment) Intro Meet Bill. “Hi I’m Bill.” Like most of us, Bill doesn’t think too much about his role in the fast fashion industry. What is fast fashion you ask? Fast fashion is cheap, trendy clothing that costs very little to produce so that companies can pump it out mega quick. For example, take this t-shirt Bill’s going to buy. “Your total is five dollars” It only costs around $5, but does it really??? ---Transition Factory scene This is Profit Pete, he sells clothing to people like Bill. He sees that people like his products, so he tells factories to start making more. He is now getting big money, and with big money comes big consequences. ---Transition Facts Fast Fashion is the second largest polluting industry there is. The average Canadian throws 32kg of textiles into landfills every year! 63% of these textiles are made of petrochemicals which can take up to 1000 years to decompose in landfills. Not only does this overproduction of clothing take up space in landfills, it is also environmentally costly. In order to produce just one pair of jeans it can take up to 2,500 gallons of water and produces as much greenhouse gas as driving a car 80 miles! Human Rights If you think that’s bad, just think about who had to make these clothes “Here in developed countries, like Canada and the U.S. workers are guaranteed a minimum wage. But minimum wage is TOO MUCH to pay clothing workers if we still want to keep prices low here, so