Analyzing a specific product like a tee-shirt or other piece of clothing asks students to consider their role in global consumerism. Because relatively few items of clothing are made from start to finish in one country, this component helps students understand the vast distances and many hands that are involved in the creation of one item of consumption.
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Recommended Links
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Article Link: Louise Crewe’s article “Ugly Beautiful? Counting the Cost of the Global Fashion Industry,”
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Visual Guide Link: “The Cradle to Grave of Your Clothes”
Video Link
TedEd The Life cycle of a t-shirt
Primary Source Questions for Students
- What was the motivation to purchase the tee-shirt?
- How did marketing impact the choice of this particular tee-shirt?
- Where was the item produced?
- What was the distance the tee-shirt had to travel in order to reach a consumer market?
- How many people do you think were involved with the production of this tee-shirt?
- How often do you think about the labor of the people producing common items like a tee-shirt?