A non-profit named Fashion Revolution has created a wonderful social experiment that has challenged people to reconsider how they shop for their clothes. A vending machine they set up in Berlin offers passers-by shirts for only 2 Euro (roughly $2.19), but there was an unexpected catch… they first had to watch a video about the exploited sweatshop laborers that make cheap clothes possible.
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 an unsafe work environment. The workers at such factories are often underage, and most are also underpaid and overworked since the labor laws there are practically non-existent. Fashion Revolution wants to encourage people to start asking questions about the morality of their clothes, like where they were made and under what conditions they were made.
This vending machine in Berlin offered to sell t-shirts for only 2 Euros
Seems like a bargain, right?
However, nobody was buying them...
The machine showed who was behind the cheap clothing we buy:
Often-underage workers work as many as 16 hours a day...
...for as little as 13 cents an hour
Do you still want to buy this 2 EUR t-shirt?
Of course, most people decided to donate to their cause instead of going through with the purchase
