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To Die For: Is Fashion Wearing Out the World?
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Product Description
An expose on the fashion industry written by the Observer's 'Ethical Living' columnist, examining the inhumane and environmentally devastating story behind the clothes we so casually buy and wear.
Coming at a time when the global financial crisis and contracting of consumer spending is ushering in a new epoch for the fashion industry, To Die For offers a very plausible vision of how green could really be the new black.
Taking particular issue with our current mania for both big-name labels and cheap fashion, To Die For sets an agenda for the urgent changes that can and need to be made by both the industry and the consumer. Far from outlining a future of drab, ethical clothing, Lucy Siegle believes that it is indeed possible to be an 'ethical fashionista', simply by being aware of how and where (and by whom) clothing is manufactured.
The global banking crisis has put the consumer at a crossroads: when money is tight should we embrace cheap fast fashion to prop up an already engorged wardrobe, or should we reject this as the ultimate false economy and advocate a return to real fashion, bolstered by the principles of individualism and style pedigree?
In this impassioned book, Siegle analyses the global epidemic of unsustainable fashion, taking stock of our economic health and moral accountabilities to expose the pitfalls of fast fashion. Refocusing the debate squarely back on the importance of basic consumer rights, Siegle reveals the truth behind cut price, bulk fashion and the importance of your purchasing decisions, advocating the case for a new sustainable design era where we are assured of value for money: ethically, morally and in real terms.
About the Author
Lucy Siegle is the author of ‘Green Living in the Urban Jungle’ and contributing writer on ‘A Good Life’. From a strong journalistic background, she is a specialist in ecological and ethical lifestyle matters. As well as writing her weekly ‘Observer’ column, she is an environmental columnist for ‘Marie Claire’ and a regular contributor to ‘Grazia’, the ‘Guardian’, the ‘New Statesman’, ‘Elle’ and ‘New Consumer’ magazine, and a frequent commentator on television and radio, regularly appearing on BBC One’s ‘The One Show’.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is one of those books which turns out to be a lifesaver. In my case, it was an antedote for the serious problem of no longer being able to enjoy shopping for clothes.
It's no fun spending hours finding that perfect item, only to find that it looks like a rag after three wears. And it's no fun buying something for £5 when it's obvious that it took hours to make and that the person who made it got paid pennies. Like most people out there who love clothes I tried not to think too much about the human cost of what's available on the high street, but hiding from the truth rarely makes us happy, and isn't that what fashion is supposed to be about?
This book has given me hope via the concept of The Curated Wardrobe. Siegle suggests that opening our wardrobes will be a lot more fulfilling if they contain a collection of important pieces, each considered carefully before being included and and each being worthy of being preserved and treasured. `Curating your clothes' she says, `is a bulwark against filling your closet with impulse bought fashion junk'. And if, like me, you don't have a lot of money to spend (and you're not convinced that so called designer pieces are actually any better in terms of quality or provenance), she offers lots of practical ideas for getting started on building your collection.
Yes, the first half of the book is a hard hitting expose of the nasty goings on behind the scenes of the fast fashion world - and yes it's shocking. Some of the awful truths in there will be lodged in my brain forever. But it's a brilliantly researched, totally convincing and unputdownable read. Siegle has a clear and compelling style and I can guarantee that after reading it you'll be buzzing with a new enthusiasm for developing a wardrobe which makes you feel good and doesn't cost the earth or the wellbeing of the people who produced it.
It's no fun spending hours finding that perfect item, only to find that it looks like a rag after three wears. And it's no fun buying something for £5 when it's obvious that it took hours to make and that the person who made it got paid pennies. Like most people out there who love clothes I tried not to think too much about the human cost of what's available on the high street, but hiding from the truth rarely makes us happy, and isn't that what fashion is supposed to be about?
This book has given me hope via the concept of The Curated Wardrobe. Siegle suggests that opening our wardrobes will be a lot more fulfilling if they contain a collection of important pieces, each considered carefully before being included and and each being worthy of being preserved and treasured. `Curating your clothes' she says, `is a bulwark against filling your closet with impulse bought fashion junk'. And if, like me, you don't have a lot of money to spend (and you're not convinced that so called designer pieces are actually any better in terms of quality or provenance), she offers lots of practical ideas for getting started on building your collection.
Yes, the first half of the book is a hard hitting expose of the nasty goings on behind the scenes of the fast fashion world - and yes it's shocking. Some of the awful truths in there will be lodged in my brain forever. But it's a brilliantly researched, totally convincing and unputdownable read. Siegle has a clear and compelling style and I can guarantee that after reading it you'll be buzzing with a new enthusiasm for developing a wardrobe which makes you feel good and doesn't cost the earth or the wellbeing of the people who produced it.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a very thorough and thought provoking book. I would highly recommend this for anyone even remotely interested in fashion. I've been a designer in the industry for years, and didn't realize the amount of exploitation going on in the manufacturing process. Fashion production should be ethical and socially responsible. Paying living wages for the makers in third world Countries without the use of harmful chemicals, further impacting the said workers lives.
It's completely changed my view of buying quick fix fashion items from Primarni et al. Please spread the word!
It's completely changed my view of buying quick fix fashion items from Primarni et al. Please spread the word!
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Seriously, this book should be compulsory reading in schools. Anyone who has ever worn or bought clothes should read it (that'll be everyone, then...). Siegle's book is a coruscating exposé of exactly what fashion is doing to the planet and to other human beings, the vast majority of them women and children. Clothing production is one of the most polluting and exploitative industries on the planet and we are all culpable. The first half of the book is full of terrifying statistics on what clothing production costs in terms of pollution, disease, child slavery, destruction of habitat etc, and the second half gives the user (just when you'd given up hope) some ideas for solutions - buy less, buy more carefully, buy organic, recycle, sell on, etc. As a dedicated fashionista who thought she was pretty eco-aware, some of the information in this book came as a shock, and has totally made me rethink my buying habits. Buy it, read it and pass it on.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Champagne socialist Lecture on Sweatshop Labour with 2 Good Chapters
I have to agree with a previous reviewer who gave the book 1 star. It is true that a lot of the "fast fashion" and over purchasing is a part of prolonged adolescent and there is... Read more
Published 5 months ago by RL
This really opened my eyes.
Very readable, if somewhat disturbing. I'd have given it 5 stars if it wasn't for the fact that Lucy Siegle is somewhat dismissive about the use of animals in the fashion trade,... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Mrs. Susan N. Boulding
Not up to it
Why when I read anything by Lucy Siegle am I reminded of Howard Kirk, the tragic hero of Malcolm Bradbury's 1975 novel The History Man? Read more
Published 9 months ago by P. C. ADAMS
To Die For: Is Fashion Wearing Out the World?
This is fairly comprehensive review of 'Fast Fashion' and how it is ruining the world and also our perceived and actual value of clothing. Read more
Published 10 months ago by RubyMoon
A real eye opener
I have been interested in ethical living for a long time- however my success with trying to source an 'ethical' wardrobe has always been a bit of a hit-and-miss affair. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Lammtron
Excellent Inciteful read
I am an avid follower of Lucy Siegle's Observer column so was eager to read her new book and was not disappointed. Read more
Published 11 months ago by collette
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