The November 2012 Photo of the Month by Thitima Bunhumasuta shows two women posing in a blue boat at the edge of a waste water pond across from a factory with smoking chimneys. They hold shopping bags bearing the messages ‘Fashion Without Pollution” and “Stop Our Water from Becoming a Fashion Victim.”
Toxic Fashion Shoot
I like the contrast between the theatrical fashion they wear, and the refuse-littered toxic scene around them. One of many images generated by the Detox campaign which seeks to get popular clothing brands to eliminate toxic compounds from their manufacturing process, this shoot connects the products we buy to the problem they create in a way that helps us connect the dots simply and directly.
A Greenpeace report entitled “Toxic Threads – The Big Fashion Stitch-Up” details how big brands are forcing consumers to buy clothes that contain hazardous chemicals that contribute to toxic water pollution both when they are made, and when they are washed.
I appreciate the research that went into testing the clothes as well as the water where they are manufactured. There is photo documentation of the conditions in and around these factories and a creative fashion shoot that expresses the toxic nature of these chemical ingredients that end up in our clothes. Just nine days after of the report was released, Inditex, parent company of the world’s largest fashion retailer Zara, committed to eliminate all hazardous chemicals from their supply chain
Now attention is focused on Levi’s. For the sake of their customers and precious water supplies around the world, let’s hope they see the light and Detox.