Bluebell Alcock Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Sarita Rafferty There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Beulah Bram A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

bandw In this examination of the clothing industry, director Andrew Morgan says that he knew nothing about the industry before embarking on making the movie. Maybe he offers that fact in support of initial objectivity to justify presenting an accumulation of damning evidence showing objectionable conduct in all components of the industry.In 2013 the spotlight was placed on the apparel industry in the aftermath of the of the Rana Plaza building collapse in Bangladesh where over 1000 workers died. The apparel industry was on the hot-seat after Rana Plaza and I wish there would have been discussion in this movie about how the brands using that building reacted to the event.A case is made that most of the evils of the industry are propagated by the desire to reduce the price point of all products, and this permeates all facets of the industry--all the way from cotton production, pesticide use, improper waste disposal, pollution of soil and rivers, factory conditions bordering on slave labor, and potential health issues. Cheap labor is seen as the driving force behind the fact that most all apparel manufacturing is now done in poorer countries. In 1950 over 95% of clothing sold in the United States was produced in the United States. Today that figure is 3%. It's hard to see how to break the vicious cycle of downward pressure on price--if a factory does not knuckle under to price demands, the companies blackmail them by saying that they will just go to a country that can meet their demands. Some of the industry executives in third world countries interviewed here say that having apparel factories in their country is a boon to them in that they offer some employment for people who would otherwise likely have no employment. The downside of capitalism is much on display here.Some statistics stood out for me: the average western consumer throws away 85 pounds of clothing a year (amounting to 11 million tons a year in the U.S.) and only about 10% of these are recycled. This means that much of this clothing winds up in mountains of waste that take years to biodegrade. And, yes, these mountains of waste mostly wind up in poorer countries. No mention is made of the environmental toll taken to ship clothes, both new and used, all over the world.Some relief from the downbeat tone is given by giving a nod to the few companies that are trying to buck the trend, like a Texas cotton farm producing organic cotton and some fair trade companies like People Tree. These small efforts offer the only optimism presented in the movie. Not all change needs to come from the industry, since consumers bear some responsibility. A more judicious approach to buying clothes is called for--the "wear once and toss" use is a part of the problem. Apparel consumption is up over 400% in the last couple of decades. Consumers are urged to cut back on their purchases and to recycle rather than toss. But, as evidence of how complicated it is to improve the situation, a cutback in consumer spending could ultimately make things worse by closing factories, resulting in more unemployed and more downward pressure on price.As long as consumers seek the lowest prices, and you can't blame them, this situation will continue until movies like this, and other educational efforts, provoke a consumer backlash against the main offenders. Another tipping point toward industry correction, beyond consumer awareness, could come when the collateral environmental damage reaches such crisis proportions that there is a citizen rebellion.Little mention is made of specific brands and their practices, perhaps for fear of legal actions. I wanted to know specifics. There were a couple of images of Levi's stores, implying guilt by association with the overarching negativity. I noticed that director Morgan was wearing a pair of Levi's. And Levi's was not operating out of Rana Plaza and I think they are more concerned about corporate responsibility than most brands. Knowing which brands are the best and which are the worst would at least provide some guidance for people to gravitate to the better brands. You would think that above all Nike would have been mentioned.It would be interesting to examine the true cost of almost any industry--the oil and gas industry is an obvious choice. Tracing the true cost of any manufactured good would be enlightening, like what it takes to manufacture a car, what it takes to support that car once it is on the road, and what happens when it has reached the end of its useful life. Or cell phones, or ... It's hard to leave this movie in a positive frame of mind.

Leftbanker Prepare to be horrified and shamed at what is required for those of us in the West to wear what we wear. This eye-opening documentary shows every aspect of the fashion industry from the cotton crop to the landfills where all of our style ends up. We need more films like this to educate the public on the consequences of our rapacious consumerist lifestyle in the West.After seeing the slave factories where much of our clothing is made the words "sweat shop" seem woefully inadequate to describe these horrible fixtures of modern capitalism.What an absolutely appalling lack of empathy by those in this film defending the deplorable working conditions of many clothing industry workers. I just wish that we could make these creeps work for one month in one of these hell-holes. We literally fought in the streets in the last century to end that kind of exploitation of workers and the apologists in this film want us to simply accept this now as the inexorable march of globalism. The problem is that we will allow this same exploitation again in our own countries soon enough and we'll be right back in the middle ages again before you know it.

justsayinme It's really an eye opener to the secrets behind the clothing industry. In fact the western corporates and consumers have blood on their hands by choosing to stay ignorant about the clothing and food industry. It's sickening how these "happy commercials of lush beauty and nice clothes" are use to fool the world and making it worse and worse for out planet and third world people....SEE THIS AND THINK AGAIN!Never ever will you buy your clothes without thinking about where it's coming from and what role it played in the environment and the workers behind these clothes. I hope people will start opening their eyes with this documentary

Jack Ackerman "The True Cost" is a professionally-done documentary by Andrew Morgan which covers many of the multiple problems caused by America's current clothing gluttony. Going to thirteen separate countries, the viewers visually get a small taste of some of the devastation caused by "Fast Fashion", whether it is drenching of farmlands with pesticides and the resultant birth defects in India to the following of a Bangladesh single mother and garment worker who knew people in the Rana Plaza building collapse which claimed more than 1100 people. Although the topics are,at times, heavy and thought provoking, the overall tone of the documentary is neither gloomy nor preachy. "The True Cost" is an ambitious project that opens your eyes to many of the ills caused by our current economic policies and our addiction to spending. It is a great springboard for further discussions and movie projects. -Jack A