Following yesterday’s post about intelligent fashion videos, check out HBO’s documentary Schmatta: Rags to Riches to Rags.
Directed by Marc Levin, the documentary chronicles the history of New York's garment district through a series of interesting interviews.
Starting from the early beginnings when men with rag-filled pushcarts sold their merchandise to the people in the tenements (Schmatta is Yiddish for rag) – Levin’s documentary recounts the heyday of the fashion industry that originally employed immigrant labour, highlighting the struggles it went through, and, indirectly, also tackling the changes American society and culture experienced with the rise of the middle class.
There aren’t any fictional characters in the film, but there are real people whose lives were touched and often revolutionised, for the better or the worse, by the garment industry, such as ILGWU (International Ladies Garment Workers Union) president Dave Dubinsky.
The format, but also the themes of the documentary, remind me at times of Studs Terkel’s Hard Times: vital issues such as the labour movement, the importance of trade unions and the impact specific decisions and policies had on the fashion industry are indeed also explored.
Though what the interviewees state in the documentary is of vital importance, I think one of the most shocking bits is provided by figures: in 1965, 95 percent of the clothing worn by Americans was made in the United States. The figures started going down during the 70s and the 80s, reaching first 80 percent, then 70 and touching 50 percent in 1995. Now, believe it or not, only 5 percent of American clothing is actually manufactured there. Shocking data if you compare them to what some people involved in the fashion industry want you to believe.
Broadcasting Schmatta was a brave choice in a way: even though the documentary mainly focuses on America and on the impacts moving the manufacturing of garments abroad meant for the New York industry, the issues the documentary tackles could be applied to other countries and other markets and, in the past few years, investigations on the poor working conditions in Asian factories - such as the BBC documentary on an Indian factory that supplied Primark - were often practically censored.
I hope documentaries such as Schmatta will arise further issues on topics such as labour and trade unions, shifting fashion towards a new vision.
The damages done not only by recession, but by saturated markets, the proliferation of too many brands, thirst for unrealistic profit demands and dishuman working conditions, must be seriously reconsidered if we want to bring fashion forward.
On a global level focusing on real quality (example: let’s stop producing things in China, finishing them in Italy and then claiming they are made in Italy) and wearability would turn the industry around, as well as slowing fashion down a little bit to allow consumers to truly and willingly invest into a design that can last throughout a few seasons; in the case of New York, no silly shopping night outs will save anything, but manufacturers will have to bring back garments home and rebuild the industry from scratch if their really want to save themselves. It's undoubtedly difficult, yet not impossible.
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