"This is a story about clothes." So begins The True Cost — the 2015 doco by Andrew Morgan that tackles the phenomenon of fast fashion, and what it's doing to our environment.
It's a pretty confronting concept — where in the past a new item of clothing was eyed up, saved for and used until it wore out, today consumers are buying ten items for the same price online. "I don't even know if I like it anymore," one fashion vlogger admits as she holds her new purchase up to the camera.
Once biffed, textiles take 200 years to break down, and in the meantime, factories and intense cotton cropping add toxicity to the earth and slowly poison our environment. Footage from the runways of global fashion weeks and textile slum factories in India, the doco was funded by Kickstarter, and is a humbling and frightening call to action.
The Sustainability Trust will host speakers from Kowtow, Little Yellow Bird, Bones Style Club and The Formary for a short Q&A after the screening, as well as some drinks and nibbles.