Watch the moment when shoppers offered the chance to buy the 2 Euro T-shirt from a vending machine.
High fashion at a bargain – that’s what savvy shoppers want, right?
But if the production condition is poor, would you still snap up the bargain?
A non-profit organisation named Fashion Revolution has created a wonderful social experiment that has challenged people to reconsider how they shop for their clothes. They have set up a bright turquoise vending machine in Berlin that offers passers-by shirts for only 2 Euro but there was an unexpected catch.
As the shoppers put their money into the vending machine, they have to first watch a video about the exploited sweatshop laborers that make cheap clothing possible.
Shocking pictures from textile factories, where woman and children sew without a break, appear.
The imagery is accompanied with the words: ‘People want fashion at a bargain but would they still buy it if they knew how it was made?’
‘Meet Manisha, one of millions making our cheap clothing for as little as 13 cents an hour each day for 16 hours.’
And then the question: ‘Do you still want to buy this two euro T-shirt?’ flashes up.
After 20 seconds, shoppers are given the options: ‘buy or donate? Nine out of ten decided against it.’
The final words of the video read:
People care when they know, help us to remind the world. Share this to start the fashion revolution!
The video was released on April 24th, or Fashion Revolution Day. This day commemorates the collapse of the Rana Plaza in Bangladesh in 2013, which killed more than 1,000 garment workers who had been making clothing for American Brands in unsafe conditions.
The workers are often under-age, and most are also under-paid and overworked. Fashion Revolution wants to encourage people to start asking questions about their clothes, like where they were made and under what conditions they were made.