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The True Cost — Transcript

by Life Is My Movie Entertainment · 10,902 words · 1,733 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:49[music]
1:07[music]
1:12[music]
1:17this is a story about clothing
1:20it's about the clothes we wear [music]
1:22the people who make these clothes and
1:24the impact that it's having on our world
1:26[music]
1:30it's a story about greed and fear power
1:33[music]
1:33and poverty
1:35it's complex as it extends all the way
1:38around the world but it's also simple
1:41revealing just how connected we are to
1:42the many hearts [music] and hands behind
1:44our clothes
1:50[music]
1:51I came into the story with no background
1:53of fashion at all beginning with nothing
1:55more than a few simple [music] questions
1:58what I've discovered has forever never
1:59changed the way I think about the things
2:01I wear and my hope is that it might just
2:05do [music] the same for you
2:20maybe just start and and say your name
2:22and talk about how this kind of began my
2:25name is Lucy seagull I am a journalist
2:27and broadcaster based in the UK okay and
2:31I have been obsessed consumed with the
2:34environmental and social [music] impacts
2:37of the fashion industry for about a
2:39decade
2:41well I love everything about clothes you
2:43know I love I love the Poetry I love the
2:45fabric I love the colors I love the
2:47textures I love the way that they make
2:49you feel you know they are our chosen
2:52skin well I had the classic [music]
2:57massive closet clothes everywhere
3:00bags [music] constantly coming into my
3:02house you know every day every other day
3:04with some other item in and never had
3:06anything to wear I could never put
3:08together a coherent outfit
3:13we communicate [music] who we are to a
3:15certain extent through clothing and this
3:17is this is again throughout [music]
3:19history you know you have the trends at
3:21court you know again Mar Antoinette
3:23making this huge hats it's always been
3:26it's our personal Communication in
3:28[music] many ways that's what interests
3:30me that it is fundamentally a part of
3:33what um we wish to communicate about
3:36[music] ourselves
3:43and we used to have a system a fashion
3:45system where people [music] would go to
3:46the uh shows so they would do spring
3:48summer awesome winter and those kind of
3:51ran like clockwork for very many years
3:53[music] okay rip that up throw it out
3:55the window that has absolutely nothing
3:57to do with the fashion industry today it
4:00has been reinvented
4:02the shift is moving ruthlessly
4:05um towards
4:08a way of producing which only really
4:13looks after big business [music]
4:15interest
4:18growing up I never gave much thought to
4:20anything other than the price of the
4:21clothes that I bought usually making
4:23choices based on the style or a good
4:25deal
4:27looking back I learned that for a long
4:28time most of clothing was actually made
4:30right here in America
4:32as recently as the 1960s we were still
4:34making 95% of our clothes today we only
4:38make about 3% and the other 97% is
4:41outsourced to developing countries
4:43around the world
4:49I've been in the business for over 9
4:51years now in terms of scale we got about
4:5325,000 people just on G Manufacturing
4:56side we produce one in six dressers sold
4:59in a us
5:02if you actually go to the store and you
5:04Benchmark the price of a a garment over
5:07the last 20 years you will find that
5:09it's actually a deflationary product I
5:12the price has gone down [music] over
5:13time now has our cost gone down
5:15absolutely not okay the cost has gone up
5:19the more production we've outsourced the
5:21cheaper prices have become on the
5:22clothing we buy making way for a whole
5:24new model known as fast fashion almost
5:28overnight transform the way clothing is
5:30bought and sold the newest H&M store on
5:34fth Avenue [music] in Manhattan is the
5:35company's largest ever and just one of
5:37many new stores that's planning around
5:39the country it's all part of a High
5:41Street Revolution fast fashion instead
5:44of two seasons a year we practically
5:46have 52 Seasons a year so we have
5:48something new coming in every week and
5:50fast fashion has created this so that it
5:53can essentially shift more product
6:05we
6:07you can get this Fringe metallic [music]
6:08skirt for $39 at Joe Fresh a brand new
6:11store in town with price tags that might
6:13look a little bit more appealing to
6:14budget conscious Shoppers American
6:16[music] consumers they really have
6:18grasped the fashion part of H&M and we
6:21know from before that American consumers
6:22are very value oriented if you match
6:24these two [music] together with fashion
6:26and value then you have a recipe one
6:28Japanese CL clothing [music] retailer
6:30it's making a Fast and Furious march
6:32here in the US the price has dropped
6:34[music]
6:35the way of making that product has
6:38completely completely changed and you
6:40have to ask yourself at some point where
6:42does it end the global Marketplace is
6:45someplace where we export work to have
6:48happen in whatever conditions we want
6:50and then the products come back to me
6:52cheap enough to throw away without
6:54thinking about it
6:58well globalized production ction
7:00basically means that all of the making
7:02of goods has been outsourced to lowcost
7:05economies particularly where wages are
7:08very low and kept low and what that
7:10means is that those at the top of the
7:12value chain they get to choose where the
7:15products are being made and they get to
7:17switch if for example one Factory says
7:20we can't make it that cheap anymore the
7:22brand will say well we're not going to
7:24come to you anymore we're going to
7:25switch to another place which is cheaper
7:36in the west they using everyday low
7:38price so every day they're hamping me
7:41and I'm hamping my workers this is how
7:43it is they're competing the stores are
7:46competing in there when the stores are
7:47coming to us for order and negotiating
7:50they're telling look that particular
7:52store is selling this shirt with like $5
7:55so I needed to sell it in the $4 so you
7:59better squeeze our price so we are
8:00squeezing then other store is coming and
8:02selling hey they're selling it the $4 so
8:05the Target price is three if you can
8:06meet the three you are getting business
8:08otherwise you are not getting because we
8:11want that business so badly and we don't
8:13have other options okay every time we
8:16are trying to okay survive actually
8:19ultimately something's going to give
8:21either the price of the product has to
8:22go up or manufacturers have to shut down
8:27or cut Corners to make it work cutting
8:30corners and disregarding safety measures
8:32had become an accepted part of doing
8:33business in this [music] new model until
8:35an early morning in April when an event
8:37just outside of DACA Bangladesh brought
8:39a hidden side of fashion to front page
8:41news Well State media in Bangladesh say
8:44an eight-story building has collapsed
8:46near the capital of Daka killing [music]
8:48more than 70 people
9:01rescue workers are racing Against Time
9:04searching through the rubble trying to
9:06find as many survivors as they can
9:10hundreds are dead hundreds more might
9:12still be buried alive after officials in
9:14Bangladesh say [music] Factory owners
9:15ignored and ordered to evacuate some 400
9:19dead hundreds still believe to be
9:21missing garment workers in Bangladesh
9:24paying the price for cheap clothing a
9:26huge crowd has gathered near the
9:28building side many of them [music]
9:30family members looking for loved ones
9:32and they say they can still hear people
9:34screaming from underneath the rubble
9:37crying out for help many are simply
9:40losing hope
10:16anybody who like me had written about
10:21problems in the supply chain
10:23particularly for fast fashion and try to
10:26articulate
10:28how the risk was being [music] carried
10:31by those who are most vulnerable and the
10:34worst paid you Tred to articulate that
10:38but you could never have envisaged that
10:40there would be such a catastrophic
10:42illustration of what you were [music]
10:44trying to say and ra Plaza to me was
10:47like some Horror Story
10:50two weeks after the catastrophe and the
10:52death toll now stands [music] at a
10:54staggering 931
10:56making it the worst garment industry
10:58disaster in history I think one of the
11:01the the most profoundly impressing
11:04things about the Run of Plaza [music]
11:06disaster was that news that the workers
11:09had already pointed out to the
11:11management the cracks [music] in the
11:13building had they they'd already pointed
11:15out that the building was structurally
11:17unsafe [music]
11:18and yet they'd been forced back in many
11:21survivors are asking how they could have
11:23been forced to return to work when
11:25management already was aware of the
11:27cracks [music] in the building and
11:28workers concerns on the very day of the
11:30collapse a lot of clothes in American
11:33stores are made in Bangladesh by workers
11:35who earn about $2 a [music] day last
11:38month there a garment Factory collapsed
11:41killing more than 1,000 and a few months
11:44before that a factory fire killed more
11:47than 100 and his bodies [music] are
11:49still being pulled out of the rubble
11:51another Factory in Bangladesh caught
11:53fire early this morning killing eight
11:55more people as story after Story of
11:58clothing Factory disasters kept filling
11:59[music] the news it was now the case
12:01that three of the four worst tragedies
12:04in the history of fashion had all
12:06happened [music] in the last year as the
12:08death toll Rose so did the profits
12:10generated the year following the
12:12disaster at Rana Plaza was the
12:14industry's most profitable of all time
12:17the global fashion industry is now an
12:19almost $3 trillion annual industry
12:22Bangladesh is now the second largest
12:24apparel exporter after China how well
12:28unlike some of its competitors
12:30Bangladeshi manufacturing remains dirt
12:32cheap and unions have limited power the
12:35country cornered the absolute bottom of
12:38the value chain those 1,000 poor girls
12:44lost their life because everybody didn't
12:47bother didn't give damn [ __ ] and they
12:51just wanted the cheap price and a good
12:52profit it shouldn't be like that
12:55everybody should take the responsibility
12:56for those kids
13:03that's how it is
13:05and it might come in coming more sorry
13:08but yeah you know that it's not only the
13:11Press pressure it's something ignoring
13:14other people's life is it's it's not it
13:16should it's not right it's 21st century
13:20it's a global world we are living and we
13:23just ignore other people's life how come
13:26this enormous
13:28acious industry that is generating so
13:32much profit for a handful of people
13:35why is it that it is unable to support
13:39millions of its workers properly why is
13:42it that it is not able to guarantee
13:44their safety we're talking about
13:46essential human rights why is it unable
13:49to guarantee that whilst generating
13:51these tremendous profits is it because
13:53it doesn't work properly that is my
13:55question
13:58Lucy question sounds like the obvious
14:00one but instead of answering it
14:02everywhere I looked I found people who
14:03were constantly justifying the cost
14:06because of the economic benefits being
14:07generated so [music] this low-wage
14:10manufacturing or so-called sweat shops
14:13they're not just the least bad option
14:14workers have today they're part of the
14:16very process that raises living
14:18standards [music] and leads to higher
14:20wages and better working conditions over
14:22time your proximate causes of
14:23development are [music] physical capital
14:26technology and human capital or skills
14:28of the workers when sweat shops come to
14:30these countries they bring all three of
14:32those [music] to these workers and start
14:34getting that process going is it
14:36possible that sweat shops are actually
14:39good yes horrible awful sweat shops the
14:41word itself sweat shop it evokes
14:44terrible images of poor people and
14:46children suffering in third world
14:47countries slaving away in awful
14:50conditions to make products [music]
14:51for us selfish Americans thank you what
14:55does [music] it does it bother me that
14:57people are working in a a factory making
14:59clothes for
15:01[music] Americans or for you know
15:04Europeans or that they're that's how
15:06they're spending their lives
15:09is that what you're [music] kind of
15:10asking me um yeah sure um no I mean you
15:15know they're doing a job uh there are a
15:18lot worse things that they can be doing
15:20it is live television and I will ask you
15:22Define sweat shops yeah I think we have
15:24to be very clear what we're talking
15:26about from the outset so we're talking
15:28about places with very poor working
15:30conditions as us normal Americans would
15:31experience it very low wages by our
15:34standard maybe children working places
15:36that might not obey local labor laws but
15:38there's a key characteristics of the
15:40type of ones I want to talk to you about
15:41tonight [music] Kennedy and that's that
15:42there are places where people choose to
15:44work admittedly from a bad set of other
15:47options well I mean there's nothing
15:49intrinsically dangerous [music]
15:50with sewing clothes so so we're kind of
15:53starting out with [music] you know with
15:55a a relatively safe industry it's not
15:57like coal mining or or natural gas
16:00mining or you know a lot of things that
16:01you can that are much more dangerous so
16:04sweat shops jobs look like horrible
16:06working conditions and wages to anybody
16:09in the west who's wealthy [music] enough
16:10to own a TV and watch your video but we
16:14have to keep in mind that the
16:14Alternatives available for these workers
16:16[music] aren't our own Alternatives
16:18they're much worse than our Alternatives
16:20and they're usually much worse than the
16:22factory job that the worker has low
16:25wages unsafe conditions and Factory
16:27disasters are all excused because of the
16:30needed jobs they create for people with
16:32no Alternatives
16:34this story has become the narrative used
16:36to explain the way the fashion industry
16:38now operates all over the world but
16:41there are those who believe that there
16:42must be a better way of making and
16:44selling clothing that does generate
16:46economic growth but without taking such
16:48an enormous toll so we don't know yet um
16:53how long this embroidery is taking do
16:54you think you could ask chantu just just
16:57roughly how how long that whole panel is
16:59taking cuz I guess we'll see it later on
17:01in the FB price breakdown but it would
17:03be great to know wouldn't it so I'm
17:05safia mini I'm founder and CEO of people
17:08tree and uh people tree is a fair trade
17:11fashion brand that started over 20 years
17:13ago in Japan you were worried that we
17:15had a bit too much Navy what are you
17:17feeling now cuz we did put more black
17:19into ss14 and that has worked really
17:21really well with um Ora's
17:25um designer collaboration have we got
17:27enough black Print in the collection uh
17:30well we've lost that abstract dust print
17:33this one here in the black but I think
17:36this pink be really I think it's one of
17:39those prints that everyone's a bit
17:40nervous of but actually will do well
17:43I think most fashion brands start with a
17:47a concept of a collection or a look um
17:50they don't tend to think uh you know who
17:54is going to make the product and um how
17:57can I ensure that
17:59producers or or suppliers um are going
18:01to eat um so what we what we're trying
18:04to do at people tree is really start
18:05with uh the skills that we have at each
18:08producer group and then design The
18:10Collection up whilst also looking at the
18:12Integrity of the collection in its
18:15aesthetic
18:17I worked originally with freelance
18:19designers [music] and went into
18:21Bangladesh Zimbabwe India Nepal the
18:23Philippines and bit by bit we put
18:26together you know an amazing network of
18:28like-minded fair trade organizations
18:31that [music] put women's development you
18:34the workers Social Development and
18:36environment absolutely essential to
18:37everything they do
18:451 2 3 happy world fair trade day
18:51[cheering]
19:24f
19:28you this
19:34[music]
19:44[applause]
19:51[applause]
19:56[applause]
19:58[cheering]
19:59really really great
20:16that's beautiful fair trade is a
20:19Citizens response to correcting the
20:21social injustice in a international
20:23trading system that is largely
20:25dysfunctional where uh workers and
20:28farmers are not paid um a living wage
20:32and where the environment is is not
20:34considered at all to make the products
20:36that we buy every day
21:07Shima is one of about 40 million garment
21:09Factory workers in the world almost 4
21:12million of these workers are here in
21:13Bangladesh working in almost 5,000
21:16factories making clothing for major
21:17Western Brands
21:21over 85% of these workers are women and
21:24with a minimum wage of less than $3 a
21:26day they are among the lowest paid
21:28garment workers in the world
21:43[music]
22:01May NAD
22:12[music]
22:21[music]
22:29[music]
22:36the workers
22:38must not have any kind of distrust on
22:42their owns
22:44if they have
22:46there will not be any good working
22:49atmosphere in the factory they must
22:52respect our owner is paying us as per
22:56rule
22:58if they do not have this kind of
22:59confidence you won't get the result
23:56it's estimated that one in every six
23:58people alive in the world today work in
24:01some part of the global fashion industry
24:03making it the most labor dependent
24:05industry on Earth most of this work is
24:08done by people like Shima who have no
24:11voice in the larger [music] supply chain
24:13but to fully understand the impact that
24:15fashion is having on our world we have
24:17to go back to where it all begins
24:25my grandparents settled out here in the
24:2620s and so this is a part of my Heritage
24:29people ask why I'm an organic cotton
24:30Farm it's because I don't know any
24:32better my granddaddy was an old German
24:34farmer that felt like we should respect
24:36the land we're stewards of the land and
24:38we respect the life that's in the land
24:42you're actually sitting in uh the high
24:44plains of Texas and there's 3.6 million
24:47Acres of cotton grown in this region
24:49we're literally the biggest Cotton Patch
24:51in the world in just the past 10 years
24:5480% of that is now GMO genetically
24:57modified cotton most of it is uh Roundup
25:00Ready meaning that instead of the
25:02farmers spot spraying weeds occasionally
25:05in their field or hiring laborers to
25:08walk the field and eliminate the Weeds
25:10now they're spraying whole Fields cotton
25:13produces the fiber that's responsible
25:15for most of the clothing worn by the
25:16world today and as our appetite for
25:19fashion grows the cotton plant itself is
25:21being re-engineered to keep up there's
25:23been this big drive towards the
25:25industrialization of agriculture the
25:28intensification of Agriculture so
25:30instead of the old forms of farming
25:32which were very much in tune with nature
25:35they were they were linked to the cycles
25:37of the natural year and the seasons what
25:40you see now is an intensification where
25:42the land is almost reconsidered as if it
25:45was a factory
25:47what you've created is this general
25:49practice of we treat millions of Acres
25:53the same we put a dose of chemical on it
25:56all and that's when you get these big
25:59ecological effects that nobody has a
26:02grasp of what's really happening
26:06nature tends to heal itself in small
26:08Pockets
26:10but when you get this big broad approach
26:16we really don't know what's going on for
26:18us it's not reducing the amount of
26:21pesticides and chemicals that are going
26:22on the Cotton that's one of the big
26:24sales it reduces that not in our area
26:26where we are spraying
26:28millions and millions of acres and
26:30dollars of Roundup across the entire
26:33South Plains what kind of impact is that
26:35having on our soil with residual
26:38residuals that left at the microbacteria
26:40level what kind of impact is that having
26:42on the people in our communities where's
26:44the cost on that
26:50Monsanto [music] is proud to be the
26:51industry leader in agricultural
26:53Innovation because of what these
26:54agricultural [music] advancements can do
26:56to help you double deals for the future
26:58needs of the world we're dedicated
27:01[music] to the future of Agriculture and
27:03providing Farmers with innovations that
27:05help them produce more and conserve more
27:08while improving [music] the lives of
27:09people around the world together we can
27:13face the [music] challenges of the Next
27:14Generation
27:17and Beyond
27:29after the wars where all these redundant
27:32factories that made War chemicals
27:34explosives
27:35uh were lying around um
27:40the Western countries thought that it
27:43would be a good idea to Market them to
27:45the third world after all the same
27:47industry that makes explosives makes
27:49[music] nitrogen fertilizers
27:51and they started to push nitrogen
27:53fertilizers
27:54from the ' 50s onwards [music]
27:56after we became independent
27:58but the nitrogen fertilizers don't do
28:02very well with Native crops there's a
28:05problem of lodging so the whole system
28:09then organized itself to redesign the
28:11plant in order to take on more chemicals
28:15BT cotton is a cotton in [music] which a
28:17gene has been added from a bacteria to
28:21produce a [music] toxin but the BT
28:23cotton
28:25which is supposed to control a pest
28:28has been offered
28:30because it's a way for companies to own
28:33the seed by patenting these genetically
28:35modified plants Monsanto has become the
28:38[music] largest seed in Chemical
28:39Corporation in history I wanted to speak
28:42with someone who had worked with the
28:43company and I got word that a former
28:45managing director [music] for India was
28:47willing to talk one of my close friends
28:49who was in the research division working
28:51on this modified crops
28:53he came to my hotel for a drink
28:57we sitting having a drink and after a
28:59few drinks he told me hey we going to
29:02change type of business you're doing in
29:04India
29:06said what do you mean we going to get
29:09into seeds bus and we going to make seed
29:13business all crops so that we have the
29:16Monopoly on seeds
29:18and every Farm come to us to buy seeds
29:21every time
29:24that rang aell in my mind
29:27if four Farmers to go to Monsanto to buy
29:29seeds every time
29:32and such expensive seeds at the time
29:35there's no idea of BT at all for me
29:37Gally mod was not in my mind
29:40even seed Monopoly is something very bad
29:44so farmers get into debt when they get
29:46the seed because of the high cost
29:48177,000 more they get into deeper debt
29:51because it doesn't deliver on the
29:53promise of controlling pests so they
29:55have to buy more pesticides
29:57the tragedy with chemicals whether it's
30:00fertilizers or pesticides is that they
30:02are what has been called eological
30:04narcotics the more you use them the more
30:06you need to use them for a while the
30:08yield of the single commodity climbs and
30:10then it starts to decline because you
30:11have contaminated
30:13the soil
30:22most of India's cotton is grown in the
30:23punjob region which has quickly become
30:26the largest user of pesticides in India
30:30Dr prit Paul Singh has been studying the
30:32effects of these chemicals on human
30:34health and his reports show a dramatic
30:36rise in the number of birth defects
30:38Cancers and mental illness here in the
30:41region
30:43you can go in every village you will see
30:45that uh hundreds of patients are
30:48suffering [music] with the cancer 72
30:518080 80 kids in every village will find
30:54the facing the severe Mard and physical
30:57handicap
31:13company fertilizer pesticides they are
31:15totally refusing the after effect of the
31:19pesticide and fertilizer and this is the
31:21you can say classical symptoms of the
31:24toxicity in one Village there is 6 AED
31:28kids like this this war so it will be
31:31very uh dangerous phenomena uh in in the
31:35Punjab [music]
31:37and P pupils farmers and lab there is
31:41small farmers and lab Maxim the labor Ms
31:44so they can't afford now treatment
31:46ultimately they have accept to the death
31:48of their kids and they are waiting the
31:51death of their kids mother is waiting
31:53for the death of this boy
31:56companies that make the GM seeds and
31:59make the chemicals are the same
32:01companies [music] and they're also the
32:02same companies that make the medicines
32:04which they're not patenting so you get
32:06cancer they're more profits for them
32:08it's a win win win win win as for nature
32:11and people it's a lose lose lose lose
32:13lose it's the day [music]
32:15those agents of these companies come to
32:17the farmer and say you owe me this much
32:20you haven't paid back now your land is
32:22my land that day the farmer will go into
32:25his field drink a bottle of pesticide
32:29and end his life and every Widow I've
32:32talked to said and the neighbors [music]
32:33came and said they first found my
32:34husband lying in the field
32:38in the last 16 years there have been
32:40more than 250,000
32:42recorded farmer suicides in India
32:46that's about one farmer every 30 minutes
32:49and it's the largest recorded wave of
32:51suicides in history
33:00as it becomes clear just how much of an
33:02impact fashion is having on our world
33:04there is an increasing amount of
33:05research to suggest that it's also
33:07having a growing effect on us the people
33:10buying these clothes what we now know 20
33:13years later and hundreds of studies
33:15later is that the more that people are
33:17focused on those materialistic values
33:19the more that they say that money and
33:22image and status and possessions are
33:25important to them the less happy they
33:27are the more depressed they are the more
33:29anxious they are we know that all of
33:31these kinds of psychological problems
33:33tend to go up as materialistic values go
33:37up now that's really at odds with the
33:40thousands of messages that we receive
33:43every day from uh advertisements
33:45suggesting that materialism and the
33:48pursuit of possessions and owning stuff
33:50is what's going to make us happy it's
33:52important to understand that advertising
33:54is a species or a category or of
33:57propaganda
33:59we think of propaganda as a totalitarian
34:02thing very Grim loudspeakers [music]
34:04you know chanting crowds and so on we
34:07think of Hitler we always think of of it
34:10as a [music] foreign thing okay but it's
34:11actually as American as apple pie
34:18well the reason that advertising works
34:20is because the smart advertisers at
34:22least [music] are trying to tie the
34:25consumption of their product to a a
34:29message that suggests [music] that your
34:31needs will be satisfied by consuming
34:34this thing it wants you to believe that
34:37you'll look wonderful in that thing but
34:39then to put it on and feel like n you
34:41look kind of fat in it you don't look
34:43that good in it you're sorry you bought
34:44it but there's another one you can buy
34:46[music] I'm here for the next the next
34:50guy I'll be a guard in [music] the next
34:54life don't you
34:57me now
35:01I know you want this I'm more than maker
35:06the shit's [music] creater this name
35:09won't fade away [music] don't you
35:15so think of all of the car commercials
35:17you see that show um well I've really
35:20made it now [music] I'm a competent
35:22person because I'm driving this BMW or
35:25this Audi or think of all the shampoo
35:27commercials you've seen [music] where
35:29the person now has beautiful flowing
35:31hair and is loved and appreciated by the
35:34people around them the basic message
35:36[music] is the same the way to solve the
35:38problems of your life we all have
35:40problems in our life the way to solve
35:43the problem in your life is through
35:44[music] consumption hey you guys today
35:47I'm coming to you guys with a clothing
35:49haul I went shopping a couple days ago
35:51and literally went insane and bought so
35:54many things my my spam I don't know
35:57[music] where is literally blown up by
35:59you guys saying you guys wanted a haul
36:01so here it is [music] okie dokie so
36:04first off I have some things that I got
36:06from H&M so then I went to Forever 21 it
36:09wasn't even a question it was just like
36:11fate I just had to get it like if it
36:13could levitate towards me it would have
36:15levitated I got [music] this skirt
36:18bright yellow and it was $ 850 it's a
36:22jean button-up thing and I just love
36:27this I just loved it loved it loved it
36:28it's a gray knit sweater and it has pink
36:30hearts all over it I live I love tie-dye
36:33things like tie-dye things are [music]
36:35literally the bomb doet it has a little
36:37yingying sign on the front of it I just
36:39love these so [music] much and it's just
36:41this really pretty light blue sweater I
36:44don't even know if I'm going to wear
36:45this now that I [music] got it cuz I
36:46don't know if I like it that much I need
36:48to stop
36:56I Tred to understand better why people
36:58doesn't realize that they're becoming
37:00poorer and poorer and I as myself okay
37:03but what has change inp of when I was
37:05[music] young and fashion is something
37:07that has dramatically changed I was able
37:10to buy one two t-shirt 40- shirt for
37:13example a year now I mean also my my
37:16children they used to buy every every
37:18party I mean they buy a T-shirt and so I
37:20understood that the fast fashion is
37:22something totally new if you have
37:24noticed the price has decreased [music]
37:27in the last years and it has follow the
37:31middle class disappearing so all the
37:34things that people really need are very
37:37cost are very costly like uh home like
37:40study like uh life insurance on the
37:43other side there is a source of
37:45consolation
37:48um part of their life I can
37:52uh buy a t-shirt two t-shirt a party or
37:55eventually a day day although I'm very
37:59poor and I've got lost I've lost all the
38:01things I really needed today we
38:03purchased over 80 billion pieces of new
38:05clothing each year that's 400% [music]
38:08more than the amount we bought just two
38:10decades ago the way we buy clothes has
38:12changed so much so fast that few people
38:15have actually stepped back to understand
38:17the origin of this new model or the
38:19consequence of such an [music]
38:20unprecedented increase in consumption
38:23there's um
38:25an article in printer in
38:27uh which is the leading advertising
38:28[music] trade Journal of of of its day
38:31uh by a very famous copywriter named
38:34Ernest Elmo caulin a grand old man of of
38:37[music] uh the art of writing
38:38advertising copy there was an article
38:40called consumptionism in
38:44that article [music] he says there are
38:45there are two kinds of products okay
38:48they're the kind that you use
38:52like washing machines cars and so on
38:55things that you buy and used for a long
38:57time
38:59and then there are the things [music]
39:00that you use up like chewing gum and
39:03cigarettes other perishables
39:06he said uh consumptionism is all about
39:09getting people to treat the things they
39:11use as the things they use up with their
39:15Innovative buy 1 get three free pricing
39:18a suit from Joseph A Bank is effectively
39:20cheaper than paper towels and now they
39:23come in these easy to ous dispensers
39:27with four suits for the price of a
39:29modest dinner I can feel good about
39:31throwing them away when I'm done
39:36you just have to look at landfill and
39:39you can see in landfill that the amount
39:40[music] of clothes and textiles being
39:42chucked away has been increasing
39:44steadily over the last 10 years um as
39:47the sort of dirty shadow of the fast
39:49fashion [music] industry
39:53as we get sort of closer [music] and
39:55closer to species degradation to uh
39:59trashing our last remaining pristine
40:01Wilderness we seem hellbent on producing
40:04more and more disposable [music] stuff
40:05it makes no sense fashion should never
40:09and can never [music] be thought of as a
40:11disposable product I think after any big
40:14change in any industry it takes a while
40:16to sort of [music] to feel and smell the
40:19dirt that comes out of something um that
40:21is that is polluting so I think now
40:24[music] there is a change because you
40:27can't deny that the fast [music] fashion
40:29industry is having a massive impact in
40:32developing countries the average
40:34American throws away 82 lbs of textile
40:37waste [music]
40:37each year adding up to more than 11
40:40million tons of textile waste from the
40:42us alone most of this waste is
40:45non-biodegradable meaning it sits in
40:47landfills for 200 years or more while
40:49releasing harmful gases into the air the
40:53sheer amount of cheap clothing even even
40:56though people feel perhaps somehow
41:00um that they're offsetting by giving to
41:02charity [music]
41:02you know the Journey of a t-shirt
41:05donated to charity is unpalatable
41:07[music] in itself
41:12Pepe um it is a disease in Haiti and not
41:16only in Haiti I think I can know in any
41:18third world country that you're visiting
41:19like you know it's a problem it's a huge
41:22problem p a bunch of clothes
41:26most of them came from the states
41:30people will go and buy a box full of
41:33clothes they don't even know what they
41:34buying those are clothes people donate
41:38to charity and charity cannot sell them
41:40on their trip store or whatever they
41:44pack them ship them to those Third
41:47Country and most of them end up here
41:49turns out that only about 10% of the
41:51clothes that we donate actually get sold
41:53in local thrift stores and as we're
41:55going through our clothing faster and
41:57faster now more of it is being dumped
41:59into developing countries like Haiti as
42:02the amount of secondhand clothing coming
42:04into Haiti has increased the local
42:06clothing industry here has disappeared
42:09once a proud local tailoring sector
42:11Haiti now produces mostly cheap t-shirts
42:14for export to America
42:46so I'll tell people stop buying things
42:49that is not good that is Con like you
42:52know $10 you're going to go on a on a
42:54bar you're going out today you just go
42:57to a store and buy yourself a dress for
42:58$10 because I can know it cost $10 I
43:00don't to throw it away and tomorrow
43:03you're going to do the same thing over
43:04and over and over again
43:08as awareness of Fashion's impact on our
43:09world is growing there are key leaders
43:11in the industry who are beginning to
43:13question the impacts of a model built on
43:15careless production and endless
43:17consumption a Patagonia we hate the word
43:22consumers
43:23it's we've got to find a better word we
43:26we prefer uh customers and we prefer
43:29also customers who recognize the impact
43:32of their consumption [music]
43:34they recognize that uh as consumers
43:37they're part of the problem uh [music]
43:39we are hopeful that we can encourage our
43:42customers to join us in [music] in
43:44really questioning consumption because
43:47without a reduction in consumption we
43:49don't feel that we'll really
43:50collectively find a solution to the
43:53problems we face that are collectively
43:56year by year uh resulting in the
43:59continued decline of the uh health of
44:01our planet
44:03I mean the fashion [music] industry just
44:05needs to think it needs to just stop and
44:07sort of look at how it's been working in
44:10a conventional way and just sort of
44:12question it challenge [music] it you
44:13know and that's for me as a designer
44:15that's the most exciting thing that I do
44:17now more exciting than saying oh I love
44:20this color this season or this is the
44:22silhouette or the hemline for me way way
44:26bigger Challenge and excitement is
44:27actually looking at my industry and
44:29saying you know what I'm going to try
44:30and do it in a way that is not as
44:32harmful to the planet
44:35business through [music] advertising has
44:37uh has pulled Society uh along into
44:40[music]
44:41this belief that uh happiness is based
44:44on stuff that uh true happiness can only
44:47be achieved with [music] uh you know an
44:50annual seasonal weekly daily increasing
44:54the amount of stuff you [music] bring
44:55into your life that that we want to
44:57encourage our customers to to think
44:59twice about those assumptions to [music]
45:01understand where they came from and
45:04through that understanding to know that
45:05uh we can all together you we can change
45:07[music] how this is done the customer
45:09has to know that they're in charge
45:11without them we don't have jobs you know
45:13and that is really important so you
45:15don't have to buy into it [music] if you
45:17don't like it you don't have to buy into
45:19it
45:23I love the embroidery shantu
45:28the embroider is really nice don't you
45:29think we should have the embroidery on
45:31both sides I think we should definitely
45:33add the embroidery here as well I think
45:36it looks a bit mean to have it just on
45:37the front so let's have it on the sides
45:39too
45:41it won't add much cost it's not so dense
45:44is it
45:50swallows is a fair trade fashion
45:53business but it's also a development
45:55Society
45:56so it helps more than 3,000 people in
45:59this Village
46:02I come here every 4 months um we we call
46:04them production trips and um and we're
46:07working with the producers trying to
46:08find out you know what are the barriers
46:10to making a great product and to to
46:12getting it to the market and we're also
46:15doing Fair tray capacity building so
46:17looking at you know what what are the
46:19obstacles to delivering more social
46:21benefit or improving you know the
46:23Environmental Protection in the in these
46:25areas
46:26for me this this is about partnering
46:28this is about finding Creative Solutions
46:30together with them with the team here um
46:33and really listening to what their
46:34problems are and finding a way that that
46:36works together
46:47I want to invite um the best employee
46:51here at swallows I want to invite one
46:54women one female representative from
46:57swallows to come to London in Autumn or
47:01next spring and I would like you to
47:03think who would be that best
47:05representative
47:07but I want you to know who your
47:08customers are and I want you to really
47:11understand the market place and come
47:12back and tell all your friends
47:37[applause]
47:41either if she does it single thread
47:43single stitch then maybe she needs to do
47:45more densely more concentrated
48:01so
48:03she continues for a bit we're going to
48:05go up to the sample room now for ss15
48:08can she come and show us the next one
48:10that she does yeah
48:17I kind of hope that people tree wouldn't
48:18be necessary and I hoped that you know
48:22we would have a trading system that
48:23looked after people's rights and the
48:26environments and but the more and more
48:29involved I got in developing and working
48:31[music] closely with Partners the more
48:34you know dirt and and filth I discovered
48:37about how trading practices you know
48:39undermine everything that we believe in
48:40and everything I know [music] most
48:43people believe and value um
48:47I don't know people you [music] just
48:48really grew organically it grew from um
48:51a really great collection of people that
48:53feel passionately that there's a
48:54different way of of of working of living
48:57of consuming [music]
48:59of you know interacting with people a a
49:01humane way um and [music] uh you know I
49:05mean I I didn't necessarily feel that
49:07there'd be a thousand shops selling
49:08people tree today um and I see there
49:12there's [music] so much more that we
49:12need to do so I think it's not just
49:14about you know creating jobs for the
49:167,000 people that work for people tree
49:18it's [music] also about being a catalyst
49:20for change you know within the industry
49:21and showing proving the model works
49:35yeah when we were first in organic I
49:37think there was only two or three of us
49:38at the time [music] we formed the Texas
49:40organic cotton marketing cooperative and
49:42the deal was they'd grow it and I'd sell
49:44it so started going to like Jacob Javits
49:47and having this whole deal cotton plants
49:49and everything and of yeah we're we've
49:51got organic cotton and people would just
49:53look at us like we were absolutely crazy
49:58many times consumers become aware of
50:00organic milk or they have an allergy and
50:03so interestingly enough cotton and what
50:06they put on their body even though the
50:07Skin's the largest organ on your body
50:09isn't even on their radar screen because
50:11they're not getting the connection of oh
50:13I eat this Organic Apple therefore I'm
50:16not directly ingesting pesticides or
50:19chemicals or whatever the case may be
50:21but they don't get that direct
50:22connection with clothing and so you have
50:24to start looking that in that bigger
50:25Community scope that it is about our air
50:28it's about our world it's about our
50:29planet it's about our people and so it
50:32is that awareness of you may not feel
50:35that you're having the direct impact by
50:37buying this organic shirt
50:39but the impact you're having is in the
50:42bigger picture in the World At [music]
50:43Large and especially in the community
50:45where the Cotton's grown
50:59as the hard freeze comes as organic
51:02farmers we wait for that freeze [music]
51:04CU that literally defoliates uh takes
51:06the leaves off the plant so that when we
51:09Harvest we're the bowls open that are
51:12mature and it leaves the cotton here and
51:14you can see it kind of comes out in
51:16sections so this uh machine that's
51:19coming is called the cotton stripper and
51:21it's called a cotton stripper because it
51:23literally comes along and strips
51:26uh use kind of fingers and it literally
51:27strips all of the B bowls off of this
51:31this plant so when you look over there
51:33you can see the arice has been there and
51:35and it's taken all the plants off
51:48I think one of the problems that we have
51:50in the current model is it's all about
51:51the profit and it doesn't take into
51:54[music] consideration
51:56at Co this cost at what cost the cost of
51:58polluting the water [music] the cost of
52:00Labor the cost of bars on the window
52:03that people die when a fire breaks out
52:04in the factory the cost of farmers that
52:07don't have [music] access to education
52:09and health care and so we haven't really
52:12factored in what the true cost is
52:20kpur is situated along river ganga
52:24which is the holiest River and it's also
52:28very important for 800 million Hindus
52:32and also it serves as Lifeline of North
52:36India so this river is being polluted
52:39and killed by the leather factories of
52:41kour
52:45with growing demand for materials like
52:47cheap leather kour is now the leather
52:49export capital of India
53:01every day here more than 50 million lers
53:04of toxic waste water pour out of the
53:06local tanneries heavy chemicals used to
53:08treat the leather like chromium 6 flow
53:10into local farming and [music] even
53:12drinking water
53:14in places like kour far from the eyes of
53:17the world major Western brands are able
53:19to Source cheap materials while avoiding
53:21all accountability for the growing cost
53:23to human health and the en en
53:36people in that area
53:39are in the tight grip of tary pollution
53:41[music]
53:42the local environment is contaminated
53:45soil is contaminated the only drinking
53:49water source groundw is contaminated
53:52with chromium
53:54agriculture cultural produce even
53:56vegetables and salad items are produced
54:01there People's Health are affected
54:05people have different kinds of dermal
54:07problems
54:09skin rashes boils pules even numbness in
54:13the limbs people have [music]
54:15stomach ailments maybe they have cancers
54:18also
54:53ch
54:59you can have the best of materials
55:01moving into the highend fashioned Market
55:04in Milan or Paris or London but there
55:08has been so much of work which has gone
55:11behind it and so much of chemicals has
55:13gone into it the fluence have been
55:15discharged into so many rivers but we
55:17are only looking at that point of time
55:20into the finished product we need to
55:22[music] step back and think about it
55:28fashion today is the number two most
55:30polluting industry on Earth second only
55:33to the oil industry the alarming thing
55:36is that not only is fashion using a huge
55:38amount of natural resources and creating
55:40staggering environmental impacts these
55:42natural resources and this [music]
55:43impact is often not even measured
55:46because they've been so abundant these
55:48resources
55:50uh it's been assumed that they're going
55:51to be there forever uh so I think
55:54[music] uh business has not accounted
55:55for them because uh it's only since the
55:581950s
56:00that we've really had this industrial uh
56:03expansion at such a rate that we started
56:05to see exponential [music]
56:07growth and exponential use of Natural
56:10Resources the first economy on which Our
56:13Lives rest is Nature's economy Nature
56:15has an economy that economy is huge it's
56:19not counted
56:21then we have people's economy women
56:22working weers working Farmers growing
56:25and that was made invisible through this
56:28construct first in the depression and
56:30then during the War years of the number
56:33called the GDP the gross domestic
56:35product [music] which measures only that
56:40which is traded [music] and has become a
56:42commodity a lot of the resources that we
56:45use to U make our clothing are not
56:49accounted for [music] in the the cost of
56:52producing those clothes uh so when it
56:54has has uh water uh that's used to
56:57[music] produce clothing land that's
57:00used to grow the fiber uh chemicals that
57:04uh are used [music] to to die uh those
57:07things uh all are inputs um and as
57:12inputs they cost something uh [music]
57:15and they also give outputs in some cases
57:18good outputs the clothing themselves uh
57:21jobs but in other cases bad outputs like
57:24harmful chemicals or greenhouse gas
57:27emissions and those things have costs as
57:29well
57:54foreign
58:00fore
58:04spech foreign
58:07speech foreign for
58:14speee
58:21for
58:31the same low wages that have made places
58:33like Bangladesh so attractive for Brands
58:35to do business have left millions of
58:37workers here working incredibly long
58:39hours unable to afford to keep their
58:41children with them even in the city's
58:43worst slums in order to give their
58:46children an education and the chance of
58:48a better future than life in the
58:49factories many garment workers here like
58:52Shima are leaving their children to be
58:54raised by family or friends in villages
58:57outside the city only getting to see
58:59them once or twice a year
59:45spee
59:48speech forign speech
59:52speech
59:54fore
1:00:02spech
1:00:18speee
1:00:22speech
1:00:24for
1:00:34foreign fore
1:00:38for
1:00:54foree
1:01:03fore
1:01:06spee foree
1:01:15foree
1:01:24fore
1:01:33speeech
1:01:42speech
1:01:44speech
1:01:46spee for
1:01:54for
1:02:01[music]
1:02:20you know we are actually profiting from
1:02:23their um need to work to use them as
1:02:27slaves and I'm not saying that we don't
1:02:30you know we need to give them work but
1:02:32it has they have to be treated with the
1:02:35same respect that we [music] treat our
1:02:38children our friends they're not
1:02:40different from us Livia fth has been
1:02:43calling for major change in [music] the
1:02:44fashion industry she made Headlines by
1:02:46starting something called The Green
1:02:48carpet challenge urging celebrities and
1:02:50top designers to take part [music] in
1:02:51more mindful forms of fashion she runs a
1:02:54sustainability consulting firm called
1:02:56Eco and had just been invited to speak
1:02:58at a conference on the future of fashion
1:03:00if First fashion didn't exist
1:03:03we wouldn't need to have a summit in
1:03:05Copenhagen to try and clean the mess of
1:03:08environmental destruction social justice
1:03:10destruction that he has been caused in
1:03:13the last 15 to 20 years of his existence
1:03:16fast fashion wants to produce fast so
1:03:19the Garment worker has to produce faster
1:03:23and cheap so the government worker is
1:03:25the only point of the supply chain where
1:03:28the margin has squeezed
1:03:30and you have this huge you know
1:03:33companies going to the factory in
1:03:35Bangladesh place an order for 1.5
1:03:37million jeans for you know 30 cents each
1:03:4150 cents each how can you make it
1:03:43ethical I don't know
1:03:46but also from the consumer point of view
1:03:49is it really Democratic to buy a t-shirt
1:03:51for $5 a pair of jeans for $20
1:03:55or are they taking us for a r
1:03:58because they're making us believe that
1:04:00we are rich or wealthy because we can
1:04:02buy a lot but in fact they're making us
1:04:05poorer and the only person who is
1:04:08becoming richer is the owner of the fast
1:04:11fashion Branch so that makes me a little
1:04:13bit angry [applause]
1:04:21[applause]
1:04:22you spoke about a commitment to
1:04:27try and and promise a basic living wage
1:04:31what does that mean uh how do you define
1:04:34a fair living wage in Bangladesh
1:04:37you know um
1:04:40what does that mean and I have a pilot
1:04:42project in three factories and by 2018
1:04:4615% of your factories are going to have
1:04:48that it's not good enough it's not it's
1:04:52very clear for us that what a living
1:04:53wage is is something that the workers
1:04:56should say and that's Incorporated
1:04:59that's Incorporated in our way of
1:05:01working how much and that's not for us
1:05:04to say a sum but we do an assessment all
1:05:07the time to make sure that it covers the
1:05:11basic needs of the workers so it's I I
1:05:14can show you that later on H&M has
1:05:17mastered the model of fast fashion
1:05:19becoming the second largest clothing
1:05:21Corporation in history with annual
1:05:23revenue of more than $18 billion
1:05:26they are now one of the largest
1:05:28producers of clothing in both Bangladesh
1:05:30and Cambodia sadly along with every
1:05:33other major retailer I asked they
1:05:35declined all interview requests [music]
1:05:37for this film
1:05:49[cheering]
1:05:53and C Cambodia garment workers have had
1:05:55enough recently taken to the streets to
1:05:58demand a minimum wage increase in the
1:06:00country
1:06:02[cheering]
1:06:06as protest continued workers were met
1:06:08with violent crackdowns as police began
1:06:10to open fire with live rounds
1:06:33a woman has been killed and several
1:06:35people injured in clashes between
1:06:36clothes Factory workers and Riot police
1:06:39in Cambodia
1:07:03foree
1:07:13for two days Cambodia was a Battleground
1:07:18the city of the police the paratroopers
1:07:22were brought in
1:07:24as if there were war on the street of
1:07:29why because workers in the textile
1:07:32industry continue to demand a minimum
1:07:35wage of at least $160
1:07:41for
1:07:44speech
1:07:46foreign
1:07:49speeech
1:07:51foreign
1:07:53for
1:07:55spe speech foreign fore
1:08:01speech foreign spee speech
1:08:06fore speech foreign
1:08:16today is the funeral
1:08:18of uh a factory worker he was beaten to
1:08:24death he had uh suffered a lot before
1:08:29his death uh this morning and he had
1:08:34done nothing wrong he among his uh
1:08:38fellow workers
1:08:41wanted to have a better living
1:08:44conditions
1:08:47[singing]
1:08:54[singing]
1:09:11we will continue his fight
1:09:15so that all Cambodian workers
1:09:21will have de living conditions
1:09:25thank you sir
1:09:35the Cambodian government like other
1:09:37developing countries are desperate for
1:09:39the business that multinational
1:09:41retailers bring
1:09:43because of the constant threat that
1:09:44these Brands will relocate production to
1:09:46other lowcost countries the government
1:09:48holds down wages routinely avoiding
1:09:51enforcement of local labor laws but
1:09:53because the major brands do not
1:09:55officially employ the workers or [music]
1:09:56own any of the factories they produce in
1:09:59they're able to profit hugely all while
1:10:02remaining free of responsibility for the
1:10:04effects of poverty wages Factory
1:10:06disasters and the ongoing violent
1:10:08treatment of workers the whole system
1:10:12begins to feel like a perfectly
1:10:13engineered nightmare for the workers
1:10:15trapped inside of it
1:10:19you cannot fool us and exploit of human
1:10:23resources exploit our workers the
1:10:26workers will continue to rise up I call
1:10:29on the international Brands to put that
1:10:33struggle into
1:10:37Dollars into pounds into Euros
1:10:42it translates into human capital it
1:10:46translates into
1:10:48social responsibility or these big
1:10:50corporations it translates into economic
1:10:54Justice when everything is concentrated
1:10:57on making profits for the big
1:10:59corporations what you see is that human
1:11:01rights the environment workers rights
1:11:04get lost altogether you see that workers
1:11:06are increasingly exploited because the
1:11:09price [music]
1:11:09of everything is pushed down and down
1:11:11and down just to satisfy the this
1:11:14impulse to accumulate capital and that's
1:11:17profoundly problematic because [music]
1:11:18it leads to the mass impoverishment of
1:11:21hundreds of millions of people around
1:11:23the world
1:11:25if you write to any of these companies
1:11:28they'll send you their code of conduct
1:11:29and it's beautiful and it says oh yes we
1:11:33take responsibility for the conditions
1:11:35under which our product is made you know
1:11:37the product that you buy all the
1:11:39factories where we produce we require
1:11:41them to respect the minimum wage laws
1:11:44you know all of the laws of the country
1:11:46to respect women not to hire children uh
1:11:50no forced labor
1:11:53um no no excessive overtime hours all
1:11:55that stuff um but when we submitted a
1:12:01Bill in Congress a few years ago or
1:12:03worked with worked with people to do
1:12:05that we called it the the decent working
1:12:08conditions and Fair competition act the
1:12:10companies responded in one voice oh no
1:12:13that would be an impediment to free
1:12:15trade we can't we can't have rules we
1:12:17can't have we can't have that they want
1:12:20to keep it with voluntary codes of
1:12:22conduct now they you know they've fought
1:12:24for and they've won laws to protect
1:12:27their stuff and their interests but you
1:12:30know what about the workers the workers
1:12:32are left with voluntary codes of conduct
1:12:34and what we see in case after case after
1:12:38case is that those voluntary codes of
1:12:40conduct are not worth the paper that
1:12:42they're written on we need to
1:12:44acknowledge particularly in the fashion
1:12:46industry that human capital is part of
1:12:49this miraculous formula
1:12:51without human capital without cheap
1:12:54labor cheap female labor it would not be
1:12:58generating the profits that it is
1:13:01that needs to be acknowledged it needs
1:13:03to be dealt with and those people need
1:13:05to be rewarded instead of exploited
1:13:08where is their peace of the pie that's
1:13:10what we constantly have to ask ourselves
1:13:12are those buyers immoral or do they just
1:13:15don't or they immoral the system they're
1:13:17working for and the system that allows
1:13:19companies to do this is amoral the
1:13:21individuals concerned are simply product
1:13:23that system and having to drive it
1:13:24through to its logical conclusion what
1:13:26we need to do is change the way those
1:13:28companies operate
1:13:30operating within a system that only
1:13:32measures profit companies have little
1:13:34incentive to do anything other than to
1:13:36make this quarter better than the last
1:13:39no matter what damage is caused along
1:13:41the way as corporations that make up the
1:13:43global fashion industry Major Brands as
1:13:46well as seed and chemical companies are
1:13:48growing today to reach unprecedented
1:13:50Global size and power this mandate for
1:13:53profit at all cost is beginning to stand
1:13:55[music] in direct opposition to the
1:13:57values that we share
1:13:59Richard wolf is an economist who after
1:14:02graduating from Harvard Stanford and
1:14:04Yale became convinced that the real
1:14:06problem is [music] within this system
1:14:08itself so America became a peculiar
1:14:12country you could criticize the
1:14:14education system to make the schools
1:14:16better you could criticize the
1:14:17transportation system to make that work
1:14:19better you could CR but you couldn't
1:14:21criticize the economic system system
1:14:24that got a free pass you couldn't
1:14:26criticize just you know and if you don't
1:14:28criticize something for 50 years it rots
1:14:32it goes to seed but one of the ways a
1:14:34healthy Society works is it subjects its
1:14:37component systems to criticism so that
1:14:40we can debate it and hopefully fix it or
1:14:42improve [music] it or do better
1:14:44capitalism couldn't be questioned
1:14:47capitalism is the reason the fashion
1:14:48industry looks as it does today it's the
1:14:51reason why workers in Bangladesh are
1:14:54paid so little because [music] if you're
1:14:55operating in a capitalist system the
1:14:58main thing you have to do is [music]
1:14:59create profit and you have to create
1:15:02more profit than your competitors and
1:15:04this is what drives companies to push
1:15:07wages down and down and down like they
1:15:10don't like companies don't go like
1:15:12fashion retailers don't go to places
1:15:15like Bangladesh [music] for any other
1:15:17reason except they can get the cheapest
1:15:20labor possible like there's no um
1:15:22collect rights in Bangladesh there's no
1:15:24Trade union rights there's a very very
1:15:26low minimum wage there's no like
1:15:28maternity benefits there's no pensions
1:15:30that is why the fashion industry is in
1:15:32Bangladesh because it can reap the
1:15:34biggest profits out of [music] those
1:15:36people that are that are making the
1:15:37clothes for them before you can solve a
1:15:39problem you have to admit you got one
1:15:42and before we're going to fix an
1:15:43economic [music] system that's working
1:15:45this way and producing such tensions and
1:15:48inequalities and [music] strains on our
1:15:50community we have to face the real scope
1:15:53of the problem we have and that's
1:15:55[music] with the system as a whole and
1:15:58at the very least we have to open up a
1:16:00national debate about [music] it and at
1:16:02the most I think we have to think long
1:16:05and hard about alternative systems
1:16:07[music] that might work better for the
1:16:08environment the great threat is that
1:16:11Capital must continue to expand [music]
1:16:14infinitely in order to survive it it
1:16:17can't have any limits on its expansion
1:16:19and [music] its growth the natural world
1:16:21clearly does have limits there very
1:16:23defined limits to how much the world can
1:16:26sustain in terms of production in terms
1:16:28of trade in terms of [music] transport
1:16:30and distribution and it's quite clear
1:16:32that we've already overstepped a lot of
1:16:34those limits which [music] is why you're
1:16:36seeing such stress in the natural world
1:16:38at the moment the system we live in
1:16:41isn't one that most people want to live
1:16:43in I think it's a system that makes most
1:16:45people very unhappy [music] and I don't
1:16:47think people want to live on a slowly
1:16:49dying planet or to be exploiting um you
1:16:51know their neighbors so
1:16:53I think I think we need huge systemic
1:16:56change if you don't change the system
1:16:59you're leaving intact the decision
1:17:03making of these Enterprises which means
1:17:06a small group of Executives and
1:17:08shareholders are going to be working in
1:17:10the same system subject to the same
1:17:12pattern of rewards and punishments which
1:17:15will sooner or later make them reimpose
1:17:18there or elsewhere the very conditions
1:17:21you're fighting against so stop stop
1:17:23this stuff about improving their
1:17:25conditions deal with a system or else
1:17:28you're not serious our economic system
1:17:31is one of consumer capitalism and that's
1:17:34why the government needs to have
1:17:37consumption at very high levels um and
1:17:40why of course the corporations do and
1:17:42why at some level most people then buy
1:17:44into it you know I can't tell you the
1:17:46number of people I talk to who say well
1:17:49but if we became less materialistic our
1:17:51economy would tank well they're right in
1:17:55some level because our economy is based
1:17:58on materialism it's based on these kinds
1:18:02of values that's what it needs in order
1:18:05to survive that's part of the fuel that
1:18:07it needs
1:18:09the problem is that comes at a really
1:18:11high price black Frid here can we
1:18:14[music]
1:18:18Black Friday shopping Mania is still
1:18:20playing out tonight at malls Across
1:18:21America in some places across this
1:18:23country tonight it's as if someone
1:18:25announced we in danger of running out of
1:18:27stuff and those who need stuff had
1:18:29better go out and buy it now cuz it's
1:18:31going away forever Walmart doing more
1:18:33than 10 million transactions in the
1:18:36first 4 hours of the frenzy a record
1:18:3815,000 people at Macy's in New York City
1:18:41Shoppers hung tough Black Friday will be
1:18:44the single largest day of the retail
1:18:46year certainly in the case of Macy's
1:18:48we'll do more business on this day uh
1:18:50than on any other uh day of the year
1:18:52here Nation this orgy of Christmas
1:18:55shopping proves America is back we are
1:18:58once again yes [cheering]
1:19:01oh yes [applause]
1:19:04we are once again spending money we
1:19:07don't have on things we don't need to
1:19:09give to people we don't like [cheering]
1:19:13yeah USA USA USA USA
1:19:22[music]
1:19:24oh my god
1:19:28I've kept my grip so tight [music]
1:19:33I won't let anyone get [singing] in my
1:19:36way I want beautiful [music]
1:19:39things golden rings golden rings [music]
1:19:44and I get what I want
1:19:49I live just to get what I [music] want
1:19:52and I want want it
1:19:56I want it [music and singing] all
1:20:02and now
1:20:05[music] I want it
1:20:11and I you [music] to get
1:20:14how how you [music] to get
1:20:19cuz I
1:20:22I want to [music] know
1:21:11foreign
1:21:14speech
1:21:31for
1:21:33speee
1:21:44for
1:22:01speech
1:22:08speee
1:22:15spee
1:22:22[music]
1:22:22fore
1:22:25foreign spe
1:22:28foreign
1:22:33[music]
1:22:45[music]
1:22:52I grew up on a [music] farm merried a
1:22:54guy that grew up on a farm and uh those
1:22:57of us living on the farm and pl you know
1:22:59live there it needs to [music] be safe
1:23:01for us too and and the new chemicals
1:23:03that were coming out and the intensity
1:23:05of the use [music] was just continuing
1:23:07to increase and um
1:23:11and then in 2005
1:23:13[music] um Terry started having some
1:23:17loss ofine motor skills and this and
1:23:18that and come to find [music] out he had
1:23:20a gleo blastoma multi Army stage forward
1:23:23brain tumor
1:23:25and uh [music] at the prime age of 47
1:23:28years old and uh he died at the age of
1:23:3150 they gave us six months we had two
1:23:33and a half years and the brain surgeon
1:23:36uh that worked on him we've you know
1:23:38Leck [music]
1:23:39is got huge cancer clinics and uh a hub
1:23:43medical Hub uh we didn't have to go
1:23:45someplace [music] else to have a brain
1:23:46tumor surgery we were're able to stay
1:23:48right here because he does so many of
1:23:50them he said that these kind of t tumors
1:23:52are found in men age 45 [music] to 65
1:23:55that work in the agricultural industry
1:23:58or the oil field and so while I don't
1:24:01have a Smoking Gun in the blood test
1:24:03that say [music] the use of uh cotton
1:24:07chemicals and agricultural chemicals
1:24:09directly led to my husband's death
1:24:10[music]
1:24:11there's just too many linkages with his
1:24:13father's death growing up on a
1:24:15chemically intensive Farm [music] we
1:24:16live in the middle of 3.6 million Acres
1:24:18of of cotton that use a lot of chemicals
1:24:21and so at that point in time
1:24:25organic is was [music] no longer
1:24:26important to me
1:24:28it was imperative it's imperative that
1:24:31we change agriculture it's imperative
1:24:33[music]
1:24:33if we're talking about the long-term
1:24:35sustainability and well-being of Our
1:24:37Lives on this planet and our children's
1:24:39lives on the planet [music] that we have
1:24:42to change
1:25:06this is the beginning of a turning point
1:25:08not just for you know a responsible way
1:25:10of doing fashion but for a new way of
1:25:12doing capitalism for a new way of doing
1:25:13economics
1:25:15I'm I'm sure that we we will see a
1:25:19significant change over the next 10
1:25:21years um whether it's in time or not is
1:25:24another question
1:25:27if you know Martin Luther King Jr at a
1:25:29speech in a Brooklyn church he said that
1:25:31what what America needed was a
1:25:33revolution of values it needed to stop
1:25:36treating people like things needed to
1:25:39stop treating people in ways that were
1:25:42just about [music] profit but instead to
1:25:44treat people in a real and human way my
1:25:49God we can do better than this if if
1:25:52what we want is to spread as I would
1:25:55[music] argue we do spread industry
1:25:57around the world not concentrated in one
1:26:00place let it let the benefits be shared
1:26:04globally then let's do that in an
1:26:07orderly reasonable careful way we need
1:26:11to recognize [music] that capital is
1:26:13just money money is a means and people
1:26:16should be accountable for [music] how
1:26:17it's used we need to celebrate the
1:26:21creative power
1:26:22of human beings and we need to talk of
1:26:24creative work we must stop talking about
1:26:26Labor we need to look at the land as not
1:26:31a commodity
1:26:32to be speculated on and traded [music]
1:26:35but as the very basis of our life as
1:26:37Mother Earth if you change all consumers
1:26:40into activists all consumers asking
1:26:43[music] ethical questions all consumers
1:26:45asking quite simple questions about
1:26:48where their clothes are from all
1:26:49consumers saying [music] I'm sorry it's
1:26:51not acceptable for someone to die in the
1:26:54course of a working day we can't just
1:26:55roll over and say yes have [music] it do
1:26:57what you like it's too important it's
1:26:59too significant in industry it's has too
1:27:02much impact and [music] effect on
1:27:04millions of people worldwide and common
1:27:06resources
1:27:14will we continue to search for happiness
1:27:16and the consumption [music] of things
1:27:19will we be satisfied with a system that
1:27:21makes us feel rich
1:27:22while leaving our world so desperately
1:27:24poor will we continue to turn a blind
1:27:27eye to the lives of those behind our
1:27:29clothes [music] or will this be a
1:27:30turning point a new chapter in our story
1:27:33when together we begin to make a real
1:27:36change as we remember [music] that
1:27:38everything we wear was touched by human
1:27:41hands
1:27:42in the midst of all the challenges
1:27:44facing us today for all the problems
1:27:46[music] that feel bigger than us and
1:27:48beyond our control maybe we could start
1:27:51here with clothing
1:30:45[music]
1:30:56[music]
1:31:15[music]
1:31:29for
1:31:43[music]
1:31:52[music]
1:32:00[music]
1:32:07[music]

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