Lauren Maenle

Professor Flores

ENG 1201 Online

14 April 2019

Annotated Bibliography

ANASTASIA, LAURA. “The Real Cost of CHEAP FASHION: Many of Our Trendy,

Inexpensive Clothes Are Made in Places like Bangladesh, Where Workers--Including

Children--Toil under Conditions That May Shock You.” New York Times Upfront, vol.

150, no. 1, Sept. 2017, pp. 8–11. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=ehh&AN=125077562&site=eds-live. Accessed on 5 April 2019.

In this Scholastics magazine article, “The Real Cost of Cheap Fashion”, by Laura

Anastasia, the world of fast fashion is vividly described leaving the reader to empathize with the

struggles workers face while also becoming educated on their own oblivious actions. She

explains how the United States has evolved into this way of operating, why garment workers

withstand the conditions they are faced with, the response to the Rana Plaza collapse, and the

environmental toll of textile materials. She also mentions quotes from involved figures, such as

the author of Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion, Elizabeth Cline. While

this article addresses common statistics repeated in other sources, I found it valuable for its

graphics, stories of first hand accounts, and the mentioning of factory fires. Overall, this source

will aid me through the providing of more information of topics I will address in my paper. But, I

also found the structure and flow of it admirable and will use it as inspiration for my own

research paper.
Barrett, E. C. “THE HIGH COSTS OF CHEAP FASHION: Graduate Student Studies the Market

for Ethical Clothing.” Human Ecology, vol. 45, no. 2, Fall 2017, p. 14. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eih&AN=127067381&site=eds-live.

Accessed on 5 April 2019.

In this article, “The High Costs of Cheap Fashion: Graduate Student Studies the Market

for Ethical Clothing”, E.C Barrett gives a synopsis of a research study done by Sarah Portway, a

fourth year PhD student in fiber science and apparel design. She studied consumer-behavior,

interviewing 40 people from the Human Ecology community three times over six months and

interviewed them on how sustainability plays a role in their daily lives / shopping habits. Her

studies revealed that although the people she chose should have been biased towards sustainable

habits, only 5/40 displayed them towards clothing. Barrett goes on to give information from

studies Porter cited, such as how factories dump toxins that harm the environment and society,

the effects of “dead stock”, and the harms of indigo powder for jeans. Barrett concludes by

saying Porter hoped consumers would know enough about the basics of fast fashion to change

their buying habits and suggest to “buy less, buy more enduring and durable clothing, buy from

local clothing stores, and thrift”. I plan to cite the study Porter did in my research paper to show

even the seemingly most educated don’t contribute to the cause. This study and the information

provided is reliable due to Porter’s credibility in her college studies and major.

Claudio, Luz. “Waste Couture: Environmental Impact of the Clothing Industry.” National

Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, U.S. Department of Health and Human

Services, 1 Sept. 2007, ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/full/10.1289/ehp.115-a449. Accessed on 6

In “Waste Couture: Environmental Impact of the Clothing Industry” on Environmental

Health Perspectives, Luz Claudio goes into the details of the full life cycle of clothing. She also

brings to light what is being done to combat the epidemic of fast fashion, such as large brands

making the shift towards using eco-friendly materials. She provided an in depth look on the true

impact that cotton and polyester have on the planet as well as the toxins they produce and how

much water consumption they create. She includes statistics of wages in China, the leading

market for clothing exports in the world, as well as pictures of working conditions. What made

this article unique from the rest was that while she did go into detail on landfills, like many

address, she also gave a lot of information on the other routes clothing can go such as the

statistics of Goodwill and selling clothing to countries overseas. In general, she shed a light on

the efforts being done to reduce the impacts of fast fashion in parallel with the ills of it. This

article provided me an unbiased and reliable perspective, as she has a list of her citations on the

side of the page and has written many other articles based around this topic.

Farley Gordon, Jennifer, and Colleen Hill. Sustainable Fashion : Past, Present, and Future.

London : Bloomsbury, 2015, 2015. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=cat01128a&AN=scc.b1868135&site=eds-live. Accessed on 5 April

2019.

In the book Sustainable Fashion: Past, Present, and Future by Jennifer Farley Gordon

and Colleen Hill, the world of fashion is dissected from its roots beginning as early as the 18th

century, looking at exactly how it has become what it is today and what inventions and economic

changes have pushed it to become so. The book is broken down into chapters addressing the
progressions of recycling clothing, the value and quality of craftsmanship, the usage of natural to

synthetic fibers, the creation of dyes and destruction they cause, labor practices, and the usage of

animals. The authors highlight the revolutionary changes that changed the industry in each

aspect, such as how the value of clothing declined as people transitioned from tailoring clothing

to the individual and expecting longevity from it to the easy access to ready-made apparel that

was desirable to seek trends and to the consumer’s wallet. Also, the technological advancements

and impacts from the spinning jenny to the Jacquard loom to the sewing machine. Garment

factories in the US during the 18th century are described, addressing the conditions and child

labor, then the transition to production overseas into the late 19th century. I plan on using this

detailed information to depict how drastically the US has changed in its production of clothing

and labor practices through reminding the reader where we started from just a mere couple

hundred years ago. This text appeals to students in the fashion or textile field, but can be

applicable to the public interested in the topic as well. Towards the end, interviews with

colleagues and important figures in the field are included as well as both citations and a

bibliography, showing its reputability.

Gwozdz, Wencke, et al. “An Environmental Perspective on Clothing Consumption: Consumer

Segments and Their Behavioral Patterns.” Sustainability (2071-1050), vol. 9, no. 5, May

2017, p. 762. EBSCOhost, doi:10.3390/su9050762. Accessed on 5 April 2019.

In this article “An Environmental Perspective on Clothing Consumption: Consumer

Segments and Their Behavioral Patterns” by Wencke Gwozdz, a study is conducted to evaluate

and depict consumption behavior from 4617 people ranging in age, gender, wealth status, and

location. The online survey given ask questions such as how many items of clothing they had
bought in the last month, the average of how much each costed, brands, how long they usually

kept clothing, how long they wore clothing before washing it, where they discarded clothing, etc.

The results reveal a multitude of aspects, such as the US and Germany being similar in spending

habits and t-shirts being less likely to receive a second life, being thrown away. The information

presented will help me with logos in my paper, providing lots of statistics. I can also pull facts

from the introduction to the study, which provided extensive background to fashion’s impacts on

the environment and economy. The author of this study provides full details on how their study

was conducted from the beginning to the conclusion. They also include a statement at the end,

declaring there is no conflict of interest within.

The True Cost. Directed by Andrew Morgan, Life Is My Movie Entertainment, 2015. Netflix,

www.netflix.com/title/80045667. Accessed on 6 April 2019.

The True Cost, a 2015 Netflix documentary directed by Andrew Morgan, addresses the

unseen world behind the clothing industry. They delve into how this rapidly growing industry has

changed in the past 15-20 years globally through the processes and realities of sweatshops in

developing countries, working conditions, tactics behind large corporations, the ills in cotton

production, and pollution to the land and water sources. They document current lives of people

who experience this industry day to day, such as a young garment worker in Bangladesh named

Shima, while also citing broad facts and statistics from studies. Morgan reveals the harsh realities

of where our clothing comes from to an audience mostly centered in the Western world - people

who are most likely uneducated consumers. I will use the first hand accounts from the people as

well as the facts mentioned to support my statements as well as help in subdividing my topic into

cohesive supporting points.

World.” Bear Market, 23 June 2018, bearmarketreview.wordpress.com/2018/06/23/fast-

fashion-in-a-better-light-its-benefits-on-the-economy-and-across-the-world/. Accessed on

6 April 2019.

Emily Parrish explains fast fashion in a brighter light within her blog entry on Bear

Market, “Fast Fashion In a Better Light: Its Benefits on the Economy and Across the World”.

She discusses the facts she has discover and explains what she feels are common misconceptions

activists may overlook. Her main conclusion is that fast fashion is necessary for the complex,

prosperous, growing economy we live in and that garment workers in developing countries in

return receive a job with a growing monthly wage. She includes her research findings on how

efforts are being and have been made to increase garment workers’ wages with statistical data to

back it up. Blog posts do leave lots of room to present invalid information as facts, but this is not

the case here as she includes all of her citations at the bottom of the post and includes quotations

throughout. While the information she provides opposes the perspective of my research topic, I

will still address these views to increase my validity and reliability.