Fashionopolis Why What We Wear Matters

The author created a disillusioning yet inspiring piece of work on the topic of fast fashion. By presenting shocking and worth-knowing facts on the textile industry, Dana Thomas manages to captivate the readers easily. Supported by studies and interviews with various people, Thomas created a highly informative but at the same time smoothly written book. The eye-catching cover and illustration are impressively showing the (negative) impacts of the fast fashion industry at one sight – on our environment and humans living in it or as employees. Nowadays, we often have the impression to know “a lot”. To quote Thomas: “We imagine ourselves as more learned, more egalitarian, more humane than our predecessors. More woke. That by procuring $5 tees and $20 jeans by the sackful, we aren’t causing grievous harm. We might even be creating good jobs on the other side of the world for those in need. Having visited many offshore factories and spoken with dozens of workers, I can assure you this is not reality” (p. 11). Still, we learn that there are reasons to “remain hopeful” – even if there might not be a global movement yet. As consumers, we play a major role in the game that Thomas calls “Fashionopolis”. This book should function as a wake-up call to not be casual about our clothes anymore but to care about the “troubles that come with a global, opaque supply chain” (p. 12). Moreover, we learn about Fashion tycoons and the story behind stores such as Zara and so on. Thomas goes on to explain to us how, for example, sweatshops in Los Angeles look like, what the NAFTA agreement triggered, or how resource-intensive the fashion industry is. Additionally, we learn about alternatives to fast fashion, or what is being done to “push back” on the current model. Thomas aptly writes: “The revolution is not only going to be born from the makers. We all have to step up. Buy less. Wash our clothes differently. Repair or upcycle them more. Consider the impact of the material they are made of. Consider the supply chain that produces them. Consider the tenets of the company that created and distributed them. We need to fashion a personal style that does more good for the world than ill” (p. 290). Overall, I highly recommend reading “Fashionopolis”: presenting not only many worthwhile and to me unknown facts and history, but it also inspires me to change one’s behavior while presenting some interesting alternatives.