Must-see Fashion Documentaries

RIVERBLUE (2017)

RiverBlue travels around the world to raise awareness about the clothing industry’s hidden production chain, specifically denim and leather, and it’s dire effects on our earth’s waterways, as well as the families and individuals living in surrounding communities. While most documentaries focus on the humanitarian crisis caused by fashion, RiverBlue analyzes the environmental aspect of the supply chain. The film points to the world's largest retailers as being contributors to Earth’s pollution. RiverBlue sheds light on the initiatives some brands are taking to improve their business models and reduce their negative impacts on the environment.

“It is really important for people to realize, environmentally, everything is interconnected and when you see toxins from an Asian textile mill showing up in the tissue of a North American polar bear you realize these are issues we should all care about, regardless of where we live.”

MACHINES (2016)

Machines is a dark and eerie documentary that takes you through some of the most mundane and dangerous roles of garment workers in Gujarat, India. The film makes it’s way through a garment factory and documents the extremely poor and dehumanizing working conditions, and the physical and mental hardship the employees endure from direct exposure to harmful chemicals and extreme work schedules. Protesting for better working conditions could mean running the risk of missing out on pay, having no food, getting fired, or even getting murdered. With no simple way out, workers continue to persist in the cycle of poverty.

“Poverty is harassment.”

THE TRUE COST (2015)

The True Cost explores some of the biggest humanitarian issues in garment factories. The documentary sheds light on some of the conditions garment workers are facing everyday. From lack of pay, exploitation of vulnerable populations, disinvestment in infrastructure, and inhumane working conditions, garment workers have deeply suffered from our world's obsession with cheap clothing. These factors continue to build up over time and have led to tragedies like the Dhaka Factory collapse in 2013, which killed over 1,100 and injured around 2,500 people. This is considered the most devastating incident in the history of the garment industry. The film exposes how the interplay between greed from major global corporations and complete lack of respect for human life contributes to the true cost of clothing, beyond the price tags we see in stores.

“ The average American throws away 82 pounds of textile waste per year.”

UNRAVEL (2012)

Do you ever wonder where your discarded clothes end up? Every year, over 100,000 tons of unwanted clothes from Western countries are transported overseas, into third-world countries to be hand-sorted through and eventually, recycled into yarn or other textiles. A woman working in a clothing recycling facility in Panipat, India for over 15 years, shares the factory’s recycling process and her assumptions on Western life based on the amount of clothing that travels through her factory on a daily basis.

“Everyone here says that the clothes come over because there’s a water shortage in the West. Water is just as expensive as clothes are for these people. That’s why they wear their clothes a couple of times, and then throw them away.”

THE MACHINISTS (2010)

Following the stories of women, men, and families in Bangladesh, The Machinists provides us a humanistic view of just how oppressive the garment industry is. Garment workers absorb the highest costs from the fashion industry, enduring poor working conditions, unethical treatment, strenuous work schedules, and inadequate pay - disparately impacting their families, health and well-being, and hindering their chances of getting out of poverty. For so many, the wages earned in garment factories is considered a bare minimum to be able to get by. The reliance the garment workers have on their jobs is not by choice, but necessity.

“Today at work the needle from my machine got stuck in my finger. When it happened I went to the management. Some factories have their own doctor to deal with these things. But not my factory. They gave me a plaster and told me to rub machine oil into the cut. This is their “cure”. It hurts so much now. I asked why they have no doctor and they yelled at me.”