Clothing poverty : the hidden world of fast fashion and second-hand clothes / Andrew Brooks

Livre

Brooks, Andrew Richard. Auteur

Edited by Zed Books - 2019

Takes the reader on an around-the-world tour to reveal how clothes are manufactured and retailed, bringing to light how fast fashion and recycling are interconnected. Brooks shows how recycled clothes are traded across continents, uncovers how retailers and international charities are embroiled in commodity chains which perpetuate poverty, and exposes the hidden trade networks which transect the globe. In this edition, Brooks retraces his steps to look at the fashion industry today, and considers how, if at all, the industry has changed in response to mounting consumer pressure for more ethical clothing. Stitching together narratives, from Mozambican markets, Nigerian smugglers and Chinese factories to London’s vintage clothing scene, TOMS shoes and Vivienne Westwood’s ethical fashion lines, Brooks uncovers the many hidden sides of fashion.

Chapter one. A biography of jean. Jeans: a social history. Designing denim. Growing cotton. Ginning, spinning and weaving. Manufacturing jeans. Advertising and retail. Today's jeans systems of provision. Theorizing production and consumption. Chapter two. Clothes and capital. Bra wars. Crises of capitalism. The origins of clothes and uneven development. Clothing in ancient society. Protected trade in the feudal era. Capitalism and the Industrial Revolution. Capital and colonial expansion. Capitalism adapts in the twentieth century. The multi-fiber arrangement and the growth of fast fashion. Chapter three. The shadow world of used clothing. Clothing in Papua New Guinea. Second-hand clothing in historical contexts. Waste and clothing consumption. Second-hand clothing charities in the UK. The commercial trade in second-hand clothing. Oxfam Wastesaver: processing clothes for export. The second-hand and new clothing trades in global context. Chapter four. Cotton is the mother of poverty. Africa and global markets. Cotton in colonial Mozambique. Cotton and structural adjustment in Côte d'Ivoire. Economic liberalization and cotton subsidies. Chapter five. Made in China and Africa. Chinese economic expansion. African attempts at industrial modernization. China's new investments in Africa. Casualization and labor abuses at Mulungushi Textiles. Discipline and profit. Labor discontent and the closure of Mulungushi Textiles. Chapter six. Second-hand Africa. Super Bowl's other winners. Second-hand clothes in Africa. Used-clothing assignments. Nigeria: economic turmoil. Used clothing imports and the decline of African clothing industries. Chapter seven. Persistent poverty. Growth without development in Mozambique. Second-hand clothing imports and wholesale. Work in the second-hand clothing sector. The unusual case of Humana-ADPP. Shopping for second-hand clothes in Mozambique. Chapter eight. Old clothes and new looks. The M65 US military field jacket. Vintage fashion in cool cities. Japanese jeans. Used-clothing markets in the global South. Upcycling. Chapter nine. Ethical clothing myths and realities. Toms Shoes. Ethical consumption in theory and practice. Valuing Fairtrade clothes. Vivienne Westwood and political consumption. Marketing 'Made with Love in Nairobi'. Ethical recycling and new cycles of consumption. Sustainable fashion. Perspectives on ethical consumption. Chapter ten. Fast-fashion systems. Fast fashion and the environment. Consuming fast fashion. Fast-fashion and second-hand clothes in the global South. Closed-loop fast fashion. What should be done with fast fashion?.

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