Fixing Fashion (rethinking The Way We Make, Market And Buy Our Clothes)

By (author) Lavergne Michael
Short description/annotation
Is global fashion a wolf in sheep''s clothing? An industry insider takes a hard look at the apparel trade.
Description
With sales of more than five hundred billion US dollars a year, the fashion industry is one of the most important sectors of the global economy, employing millions of men, women, and often children in the developing world. And yet its record is far from pretty. The collapse of Bangladesh''s Rana Plaza with some thirty-five hundred desperately underpaid garment workers inside was a shocking example of what can go wrong when manufacturers ruthlessly cut costs while turning a blind eye to labor rights and workplace safety. Written by an apparel industry insider, Fixing Fashion argues that the true legacy of Rana Plaza is increased awareness of how cheap, disposable clothing has led time and time again to serious community, environmental, and labor rights abuses. Ethical supply chain professional Michael Lavergne explores: The birth of the global apparel trade, from colonialism and slavery to today''s neoliberal trade agenda How the infamous race to the bottom has led to some of the worst social and environmental excesses in the global apparel industry The rise of a new breed of entrepreneurs and stakeholders driving change and transparency across international supply chains By taking a hard look at the very real impacts of our consumer culture''s addiction to disposable fashion, Fixing Fashion challenges each of us to take full responsibility for understanding the hidden cost of our clothes. Michael Lavergne is an ethical supply chain professional committed to sustainable fashion industry and the protection of labor, environmental and human rights in the developing world.
Table of contents

Foreword by Carry Somers

Introduction
Chapter 1: Manchester to Mumbai
Chapter 2: To Make and Market
Chapter 3: Alphabet Soup
Chapter 4: Unsustainable
Chapter 5: Aid for Trade
Chapter 6: Redefining Fashion

Notes
Acknowledgments
Index
About the Author

Review quote
A rare insider''s globetrotting tour of the ethically challenged, complex, contradictory, and maddening global fashion industry. If you''ve ever wondered how an industry with so much potential to do so much good could permit thousands of vulnerable workers to needlessly die at Rona Plaza in Bangladesh, read Michael Lavergne''s highly personal wakeup call. --Dr. David Doorey Professor of Labour Law and Supply Chain Governance, York University, Toronto Fixing Fashion offers brilliant insight into all that is broken in the apparel industry. Michael Lavergne''s brave and honest telling of what really goes on behind the scenes is an eye-opener that fuels the impetus for change. His thorough political and historical depiction that spans centuries --from the roots of global trade, the gross exploitation of textile workers and the Industrial revolution, to the rise of cotton, the role of advertising and consumption and all the scandals and headlines -- makes for a powerfully evocative narrative that is crucial to solving the many problems facing the fashion industry. In order to fix what is broken, we must first learn how it came to be broken. ---Kelly Drennan, Founding Executive Director, Fashion Takes Action A must-read for for every designer and apparel executive who does not yet have full transparency in their supply chain. Fixing Fashion outlines how exploitation has been entrenched in the apparel industry for over a century. Lavergne then uses this historical context to map opportunities for longterm change, including a long list of change makers who are redefining fashion. ---Kate Black, author, Magnifeco: Your Head-to-Toe guide to Ethical Fashion and Non-toxic Beauty Fixing Fashion is a fascinating personal and historical journey through the complex web of cloth