Exhibition Shows the Dark Side and High Social Price of 'Fast Fashion'
Jakarta. A pair of denim jeans or a simple t-shirt are rarely dyed without causing heavy pollution and endangering the health of many.
The details of the destructive aspects of fashion are exposed at the "Fast Fashion - The Dark Side of Fashion" exhibition at Gudang Sarinah Ekosistem, Pancoran, South Jakarta as part of the "IKAT/eCUT" program by Goethe Institut Jakarta. Fast fashion refers to the mass-produced clothes people wear every day.
According to exhibition curator Claudia Banz from Museum für Kunst de Gewerbe in Hamburg, fast fashion initially democratized fashion that used to be the property of the rich in the early 20th century, yet it also gave birth to fast consumerism where people are now addicted to shopping new clothes each time the word "sale" reaches their ears.
"Fast fashion has also managed to bring a new collection of clothes within two-weeks time due to the short production cycles. And after two weeks you are told by the social media 'sorry but there's something new, so let's go to the shop and buy something new'," Banz said during a press tour on Thursday (09/03).
The exhibition, which invites visitors to look beyond the glam and glitz of fashion, highlights the social, economic, and ecological impacts of mass production and consumerism.
Maslow's hierarchy of needs, sample clothing items, infographics, as well as photos and videos show the vicious circle of production and consumption.
Companies bring used to clothes to recycle them in India to keep the production running at a minimal cost. Over 100,000 tons of secondhand clothes arrive in India each year to be re-woven or knitted into new products of not necessarily high quality.
"In Germany and other countries, we throw away a lot [of clothes] because we think we donate them. We have a lot of boxes standing around in the streets. We donate clothes but what happens is that the clothes are collected not by charity organizations but businessmen," Banz added.
Another strategy is selling the donated clothes to secondhand markets in Africa, where people have no idea that outfits they buy were previously meant as a form of aid.
The exhibition also reveals the social consequences of fast fashion and pitiful condition of garment factory workers in countries such as Bangladesh and India.
"If we look up to the elements that make up the price [of a clothing item], the biggest part of it goes for trade, profit and marketing. The lowest amount goes for the wages," Banz said.
They are not only underpaid, but also in constant danger as work safety is rarely provided to textile workers.
A big question mark about how much textile industries and governments cared about safety of workers arose following the collapse of the Rana Plaza factory complex in Dhaka in 2013, shown in Taslima Akhter's heart-wrenching photo exhibition.
In terms of environmental concerns, severe water pollution haunts the regions where dyed garments are produced. In China, rivers change their color to that of the dyes used and become toxic streams flowing through the land where 320 million people have no access to clean water.
The toxicity of the chemicals affects the health of both the cloth makers and consumers. Banz said laws have been enacted in the European Union to ban the use of certain chemical dyes.
"But the problem is we [Germans], and it applies to many countries in Europe, import almost 80 percent of our clothes from Asia, where those laws are not implemented. This means in Bangladesh or somewhere else, you are allowed to use these dangerous colors," she added.
But it is not only about the hazardous dyes. Even seemingly clean production of cotton has its dark sides.
"We think cotton is the most biological fiber in the world. It's not. To cultivate cotton you need a lot of pesticides," Banz added.
"We don't want to say that fashion is something bad, but the mass production of fashion has a very negative impact on environment and on our health," Banz said, before explaining how chemicals expose the wearers to cancer.
Slow Fashion Lab
The "Fast Fashion" exhibition is juxtaposed with "Slow Fashion Lab," meant as the light at the end of the tunnel, even literally as it is located at the end of the exhibition.
The laboratory's curator, academic and textile artist Aprina Murwanti, seeks to bridge designers with the notion of slow fashion and organic fabrics such as pineapple fibers made by local handicraft company Ridaka.
Another local company, Balai Besar Tekstil, which since the 1970s has been researching natural fabrics, showcases its non-woven combination of ramie and pineapple fibers and artificial leather made from Sumatran coconuts.
Upcycled products are also presented in the lab, including hanging lamps made from plastic bags by KresekA, jewellery made from rice by Environmental Jewellery, and jackets designed by Auguste Soesastro.
"Fast Fashion — The Dark Side of Fashion" and "Slow Fashion Lab" can be visited until April 9. The "IKAT/eCUT" program is accompanied by a series of side events, from March 15 to April 8, curated by artist Ika Vantiani.
Further information can be found on the official website.
The Jakarta Globe is the exhibition's official media partner.
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