Pop-up vending machine shows shoppers ‘real cost of cheap clothes’
By Rich Leigh on Thursday, May 7, 2015
In a social experiment designed to draw attention to the people that make designer clothes, a vending machine was set up in a public place advertising a white t-shirt for just 2 Euros.
Watch what happens next:
When members of the public put their money in, the vending machine turned into a screen, playing a video highlighting the young, overworked, underpaid and unseen girls that prop up the fashion world, focusing on one girl, Manisha ‘one of millions making our cheap clothing for as little as 13 cents an hour each day for 16 hours’.
The machine then asks the buyer ‘do you still want to buy this €2 t-shirt?’, offering instead the chance to donate that money.
It’s a clever donation mechanic and one that’s done well as shareable content (4m+ views and counting). According to this on the Independent, 9 out of 10 people donated rather than buying the t-shirt.
Fashion Revolution, behind the campaign, is an initiative created ‘to raise awareness of the true cost of fashion, show the world that change is possible, and celebrate all those involved in creating a more sustainable future’.
Credit: thanks to Psiad’s Laura Wilkey for emailing me with this!