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Documentary: The True Cost

Documentary: The True Cost

Posted on September 11, 2017February 10, 2025

The past I bought a new sweater. At least, it was new to me, because I bought it at a secondhand shop. I’ve had a love for secondhand clothing for most of my life. My mom took me with her to thrift shops and to secondhand fairs too. It is a bit of a search, but when you find something it’s often unique. The love for secondhand clothing that I got from my mom was enough reason for me to buy secondhand, but when I saw the documentary The True Cost another 100 reasons were added.

The True Cost

The True Cost is a documentary about fast fashion (or what most people consider normal fashion). Fast fashion is cheap and fast fashion (fast because there is a new collection almost every week). The documentary The True Cost gives you an insight on what happens before those fast, cheap clothes come to you. And unfortunately, there’s not just one problem. We’re talking about the destruction of the environment (and therefore creating a toxic, unhealthy environment for people), child labor, wages lower than a living-wage, poor working conditions and more. It’s not a happy documentary, but one every consumer of clothing should see. It broke my heart.

Most Brands

Back in the days, I used to think that only the extremely cheap stores would contribute to this problem. Unfortunately, that is not true at all. All fast fashion brands work this way. H&M, Zara, ONLY, Gucci and more. Not just the cheap fashion brand, almost all brands. Even the luxurious ones like Gucci. The bottom line is: if the brand doesn’t have any certifications for sustainability, it’s not a sustainable brand. We need to check for organic, fair trade and sustainability certifications.

A lot of people still buy fast fashion because they think they’re enabling the people who make the clothes. ‘At least they have job’, they say. But they’ll still have a job if we choose sustainable and fair clothes. And not only will they have a job then, they’ll have an actual life too. A fair living wage, good working conditions, free time and everything else we have. Freedom. You choose a better world if you make a fair, sustainable purchase.

Sustainable and Fair Fashion

Of course you don’t have to choose secondhand clothing if you don’t want to. It’s the most sustainable option, but it’s not the only one. The other options is to buy sustainable and fair new clothing. Via Good On You you can check clothing brands easily, if you don’t know where to start. You just type in a brand and you see their score, easy! They’re rated on sustainability, how animal-friendly they work, fair trade and they all check this by official certifications. It’s an amazing source! We shouldn’t buy fast fashion ever again.

Sustainable and fair fashion is more expensive, yes. Of course it is! People get paid more and the planet is treated with respect. That takes more effort and money. But the key for us consumers is also to buy less. When you buy sustainable and fair you buy quality. This way you have to buy less and so that leaves more money for those more expensive items. But the key is to own less in general too. We can only wear so many clothes and we shouldn’t want a different outfit every single day of the year. Less is more. So, the question is: who do you want the pay the true cost? You, with the money you earned in a fair way. Or someone else in a foreign country, who pays with their life?

Want to know more about fast fashion and what’s wrong with it? I wrote more about that in this post.

Yours sincerely,
Romee

14 thoughts on “Documentary: The True Cost”

  1. セレネ says:
    September 11, 2017 at 8:18 am

    Ik maak zelf wat ik kan, als je alleen de stof koopt, dan ben je tenminste zelf degene die de arbeid verricht (en het scheelt weer een lading kleding verschepen). En het is dan natuurlijk helemaal uniek :p En het gaat vaak langer mee. Als ik kleding niet meer draag, breng ik het wel naar de kringloopwinkel.

    Reply
    1. Romee Hoeksma says:
      September 15, 2017 at 12:44 pm

      Erg creatief! Gaaf

      Reply
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  3. Cindy says:
    September 14, 2017 at 12:49 pm

    Ik heb de documentaire nog niet gezien. Ik denk dat beter niet doe of shoppen gaat nog een grotere ramp voor me worden. Ik probeer vooral kledij te kopen bij winkels die werken met kleine ateliers. Dat zijn dan vaak alternatievere stijlen, maar ik hou wel van die bonte kleuren. Die merken vind je niet terug op rank a brand. Zij richten zich voornamelijk op grote textielfabrieken en zijn niet in alle landen vertegenwoordigt.

    Reply
    1. Romee Hoeksma says:
      September 15, 2017 at 12:47 pm

      Dat klopt zeker, ook altijd goed om lokale ondernemers te steunen! Zelf ben ik meer van de basics met aanvullend wat kleine kleurtintjes. Shoppen is bij mij geen ramp geworden door de documentaire, je kan in winkels waar je geen kleding koopt nog altijd inspiratie opdoen voor nieuwe combinaties met je eigen kleding! Ik ben best wel eens te vinden in een Zara, ik koop er alleen nagenoeg nooit iets.

      Reply
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ABOUT ME

 

when a teen goes green

Hi! My name is Romee and I live an eco-positive life. An eco-positive lifestyle is a lifestyle with more positive than negative impact on beautiful planet earth. Compared to most people, I live extremely sustainable. I don’t fly, eat meat or animal products, buy only secondhand clothing, etc. On the other hand, I try to help others as much as I can by donating a big chunk of my income, donating plasma, donating poop (yes!), volunteering, etc. On this blog you can read all about my lifestyle with only positive impact. I also have a Dutch Youtube channel (@duurzaamleven) and Dutch Instagram (@duurzaamlevenro). If you have specific questions for me, feel free to ask me anything.

Yours sincerely,
Romee (she/her)

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