over dressed the shockingly high cost of cheap fashion

We are caught in a cycle of consumption and waste that is unsettling at best and unsatisfying at its core.”Ĭline writes, “ Textiles have always had an unflattering environmental footprint, but the more pressing problem is the terrifying scale at which they are now being produced” – and the volume in which they’re being dumped in landfills. As Cline writes in her introduction, “ We’ve gone from making good use of the clothes we own to buying things we’ll never or barely wear.

Though this used to be the case, it isn’t anymore. In short, she argues that it’s really not a good thing that we can buy a shirt for $4: consumers, garment workers, and the environment would all be better off if we made and bought less clothing, but made it well and took care of it.

Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion by Elizabeth Cline (2012) examines the state of “fast fashion” today, traces its evolution, and explores its impact on the garment industry, the planet, and our closets. It surprised my friends and family when I started talking about this book, because I am not really interested in clothes – I’m certainly not “fashionable” – so why would I read a book about fashion? The truth is that I heard about this book a few times from different sources (NPR, etc.), and when I picked it up, I realized that Cline had several convincing points to make about the current state of cheap fashion. Another version of this piece can be found on the Robbins Library blog as “Sew what? Fashion and its snags”

Over dressed the shockingly high cost of cheap fashion