Documentaries To Watch After You’ve Watched Stacey Dooley Investigates: Fashion’s Dirty Secrets

A few months ago my Twitter and Instagram exploded as everyone who saw Stacey Dooley Investigates: Fashion’s Dirty Secrets started questioning the clothing hanging in their closet or even clothes they wanted to buy. Though a few bits of the documentary are questionable (if BBC is looking for a fact checker: hiiii) I am happy it has opened some eyes and led to new conversations.

I do feel guilty about being so easy with booking a flight, buying a chilled plastic bottle of water or just being a basic white girl in certain countries so at home I try to compensate as much as possible and one of those ways is by buying clothes that are ideally produced in ethical environments and as sustainable as possible. Now I am probably in the top 10 least fashionable people and I’ve never seen myself as a shopaholic, but I do love beautifully crafted garments and I want to make ethical choices so I’ve started educating myself on this topic as much as possible and minimalised fast fashion buys. I think I’ve done a good job as only 5/19 clothing items I bought this year are not from ethically produced/sustainable brands or not second hand/vintage (pat on the shoulder)

Fast Fashion Documentaries To Watch

You’ve seen Fashion’s Dirty Secrets and then you probably saw The True Cost on Netflix. But what’s next? If one of your 2019 resolutions is buying less or going for the green road then I can highly recommend the below documentaries.

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Full Episode Fashion Documentary – Sweatshop

It was after seeing this Norwegian documentary that I decided to try to buy my clothes as ethically and sustainably produced as possible. This film shows the lives of sweatshop workers in Cambodia through the eyes of three Norwegians students and whose perspective is forever altered after a few days of living, working, and speaking with fellow human beings who spend most of their lives working long hours up to 7 days a week for only a few pounds a day in sweatshops.

Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj

On Netflix, Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj has devoted an episode to fast fashion and how our desire to look good is taking an environmental toll, as well as how brands are greenwashing us with labels like H&M Conscious and Zara Join Life. It goes through a lot of stats in 30 minutes, but all in form of jokes and infographics, so more likely to hit our brains quicker and stay there

Marketplace: How donated clothes are sorted and reused

What happens to clothes which charity shops can’t sell? Or to the clothes you donate? It’s a common misconception that old clothes donated are sent to developing countries as good will. No, instead they get sold to those countries, where they end up on the markets or landfill … because they are low quality and hard to sell. This insightful documentary guides you through what happens to donated clothes that Canada sells to Kenya.

The Price of Free

In-between all the Christmas movies I watched The Price Of Free and cried my eyes out  as it’s just heartbreaking to see how cruel the world is if you are born on the wrong continent. The documentary follows Nobel Peace Laureate Kailash Satyarthi’s journey to liberate every child slave in factories. Though this is not only limited to fashion factories it’s a must watch.

Unravel

And to close off with one with a bit different tone. This 13-minute documentary gives a much-needed look into what happens when people in the West throw their clothes away and the Indian recyclers turn the huge bales of clothes into yarns.  The garment recyclers don’t understand where so many, practically unworn clothes come from? Is it water shortage in the West? Or is it because we don’t like washing our clothes?