Additional Information
Book Details
Abstract
‘An interesting and important account.’
Daily Telegraph
Have you ever stopped and wondered where your jeans came from? Who made them and where? Ever wondered where they end up after you donate them for recycling?
Following a pair of jeans, Clothing Poverty takes the reader on a vivid around-the-world tour to reveal how clothes are manufactured and retailed, bringing to light how fast fashion and clothing recycling are interconnected. Andrew 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.
Stitching together rich 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.
Andrew Brooks is a lecturer in development geography at King’s College London.
‘Revealing.’
Independent
‘An interesting and important account.’
Daily Telegraph
'Brooks packs a great deal of such detail into a fast-paced and readable book.'
Morning Star
'Thought-provoking and insightful. A fascinating, must-read text for those interested in the ethics surrounding sustainability in fashion and design.'
Alison Gwilt, author of Fashion Design for Living and A Practical Guide to Sustainable Fashion
'A book that sparks with intelligence, mapping a world that connects inequalities, Vivienne Westwood, post-consumption and second-hand garments.'
Kate Fletcher, London College of Fashion
'By bringing global systems of clothing provision into clearer view, the book offers valuable resources for vigorous debate over what an alternative world might look like.'
Gillian Hart, University of California, Berkeley
'A lively exploration of the hidden world of fast fashion and second-hand clothing that invites us to think of where our clothes come from.'
Karen Tranberg Hansen, Northwestern University
'This engaging and well-written book focuses on some of the least explored outcomes of the fast-fashion system we all live in – that is, what we increasingly and quickly cast off.'
Alessandra Mezzadri, SOAS, University of London
Table of Contents
| Section Title | Page | Action | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Front Cover | Front cover | ||
| About the Author | ii | ||
| Title Page | iii | ||
| Copyright | iv | ||
| Contents | v | ||
| Acknowledgements | vii | ||
| Introduction | 1 | ||
| 1: A Biography of Jeans\r | 9 | ||
| Jeans: A Social History | 10 | ||
| Designing Denim | 14 | ||
| Growing Cotton | 18 | ||
| Ginning, Spinning and Weaving | 22 | ||
| Manufacturing Jeans | 25 | ||
| Advertising and Retail | 29 | ||
| Today’s Jeans Systems of Provision | 31 | ||
| Theorizing Production and Consumption | 34 | ||
| 2: Clothes and Capital\r | 39 | ||
| Bra Wars | 39 | ||
| Crises of Capitalism | 43 | ||
| The Origins of Clothes and Uneven Development | 46 | ||
| Clothing in Ancient Society | 50 | ||
| Protected Trade in the Feudal Era | 52 | ||
| Capitalism and the Industrial Revolution | 56 | ||
| Capital and Colonial Expansion | 60 | ||
| Capitalism Adapts in the Twentieth Century | 64 | ||
| The Multi-Fiber Arrangement and the Growth of Fast Fashion | 67 | ||
| 3: The Shadow World of Used Clothing\r | 72 | ||
| Clothing in Papua New Guinea | 72 | ||
| Second-Hand Clothing in Historical Contexts | 74 | ||
| Waste and Clothing Consumption | 81 | ||
| Second-Hand Clothing Charities in the UK | 83 | ||
| The Commercial Trade in Second-Hand Clothing | 86 | ||
| Oxfam Wastesaver: Processing Clothes for Export | 93 | ||
| The Second-Hand and New Clothing Trades in Global Context | 97 | ||
| 4: Cotton Is the Mother of Poverty\r | 100 | ||
| Africa and Global Markets | 100 | ||
| Cotton in Colonial Mozambique | 107 | ||
| Cotton and Structural Adjustment in Côte d’Ivoire | 109 | ||
| Economic Liberalization and Cotton Subsidies | 114 | ||
| 5: Made in China and Africa \r | 118 | ||
| Chinese Economic Expansion | 118 | ||
| African Attempts at Industrial Modernization | 126 | ||
| China’s New Investments in Africa | 130 | ||
| Casualization and Labour Abuses at Mulungushi Textiles | 132 | ||
| Discipline and Profit | 135 | ||
| Labour Discontent and the Closure of Mulungushi Textiles | 138 | ||
| 6: Second-Hand Africa\r | 142 | ||
| Super Bowl’s Other Winners | 142 | ||
| Second-Hand Clothes in Africa | 144 | ||
| Used-Clothing Assignments | 149 | ||
| Nigeria: Economic Turmoil | 153 | ||
| Used Clothing Imports and the Decline of African Clothing Industries | 158 | ||
| 7: Persistent Poverty\r | 161 | ||
| Growth Without Development in Mozambique | 161 | ||
| Second-Hand Clothing Imports and Wholesale | 166 | ||
| Work in the Second-Hand Clothing Sector | 172 | ||
| The Unusual Case of Humana–ADPP | 177 | ||
| Shopping for Second-Hand Clothes in Mozambique | 179 | ||
| 8: Old Clothes and New Looks\r | 184 | ||
| The M65 US Military Field Jacket | 184 | ||
| Vintage Fashion in Cities | 188 | ||
| Japanese Jeans | 193 | ||
| Used Clothing Markets in the Global South | 197 | ||
| Upcycling | 203 | ||
| 9: Ethical Clothing Myths and Realities\r | 207 | ||
| Toms Shoes | 207 | ||
| Ethical Consumption in Theory and Practice | 213 | ||
| Valuing Fairtrade Clothes | 217 | ||
| Vivienne Westwood and Political Consumption | 219 | ||
| Marketing ‘Made with Love in Nairobi’ | 222 | ||
| Ethical Recycling and New Cycles of Consumption | 224 | ||
| Sustainable Fashion | 227 | ||
| Perspectives on Ethical Consumption | 230 | ||
| 10: Fast-Fashion Systems\r | 233 | ||
| London Fashion Week | 233 | ||
| Making Markets for Second-Hand Clothes | 236 | ||
| Post-Consumption | 241 | ||
| Can Production Be Fixed? | 246 | ||
| Conclusion | 250 | ||
| Notes | 253 | ||
| Further Reading | 277 | ||
| Index | 279 | ||
| Back Cover | Back cover |