As I read this book, I kept glancing down at my clothing and thinking about where I got each piece, where it was probably manufactured, and how long I might keep it before giving it away (where it will probably eventually end up in a landfill). This was not an easy read, but an important one. Thomas examines the costs--financial, environmental, and social--of the modern fast fashion industry. She interviews many designers and manufacturers, and offers an inside look in what really goes into making our clothes. I was not left feeling super optimistic by the solutions she offers, but here's hoping we can make some lasting changes to the fashion industry.

FASHIONOPOLIS by Dana Thomas is subtitled "The Price of Fast Fashion and the Future of Clothes" and it is clearly a topic of interest to millennials and their younger counterparts in Generation Z. In fact, I have two students who independently chose to explore fast fashion for Junior Theme so far this year. Thomas is a best-selling author and frequent contributor to a number of publications on topics related to style. In this new non-fiction work, she begins by describing the problem and noting that "in the last twenty years, the volume of clothes Americans throw away has doubled – from 7 million to 14 million tons. That equals 80 pounds per person per year." Thomas continues, offering numerous examples to illustrate the "creative thievery, indifference to others, corruption [and] pollution" which she argues categorizes the industry. Later in the book, Thomas shares interviews with innovative practitioners and points to more efforts towards sustainability like exploring the use of organic cotton or more natural dyes. She also outlines efforts by Amazon (now a major player in retail apparel) to manufacture clothing on demand – after it has been ordered.

Although less practical and action-oriented than The Conscious Closet, FASHIONOPOLIS is an intriguing blend of social issues (working conditions, NAFTA, environmental impact), fashion, and technology (robots who sew, new bio-fabrics, and 3D-printing). Thomas has included almost thirty pages of notes, a selected bibliography and a helpful index for researchers. We will be purchasing and pairing FASHIONOPOLIS with other relevant titles like Inconspicuous Consumption or the much older The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy when we make book recommendations on this topic.