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‘A gripping blockbuster… Thomas researches meticulously and writes with simmering even-handed anger’ TELEGRAPH.
Fashionopolis is the definitive book on the cost of fast fashion, and a blueprint for how we get to a more sustainable future.

Fashion has blighted our planet. Today, one out of six people on earth work in fashion, churning out 100 billion garments a year. Yet 98 percent of them do not earn a living wage, and 2.1 billion tonnes of clothing is thrown away annually. The clothing industry’s exploitation of fellow humans and the environment has reached epic levels. What should we do?

Bestselling author and veteran journalist Dana Thomas has travelled the globe to find the answers. In Fashionopolis, she details the damage wrought by fashion’s behemoths, and celebrates the visionaries – including activists, artisans, designers, and tech entrepreneurs – fighting for change.

We all have been casual about our clothes. It’s time to get dressed with intention. Fashionopolis is the first comprehensive look at how to start.

Reviews:

‘Fascinating… Powerful… Thomas has succeeded in calling attention to the major problems of the fashion industry’ New York Times

‘Thomas takes a story most of us think we know, but tells it better and in compelling, readable detail’ The Times

‘Engaging and thorough… Fashionopolis has implications beyond cloth and thread’ Financial Times

‘Thomas is a conscientious reporter – as evidenced in her research, which is studded with statistics’ Times Literary Supplement

Publisher Review

'A well-researched read about fast fashion and why we all need to change our habits' Wallpaper. 'Thomas details the damage wrought by fashion's behemoths, and celebrates the visionaries including activists, artisans and designers fighting for change' Irish Independent. 'A raw and shocking account of the price of fast fashion, Fashionopolis is a magnificent resource for both the consumer and the industry' Sublime. '[A] well-researched and fascinating book ... Her gift for scene-setting and her sharp assessments of many of the trendsetting entrepreneurs behind the scenes across the globe keeps Fashionopolis engaging throughout' Irish Times. 'Thomas is a conscientious reporter - as evidenced in her research, which is studded with statistics ... Fortunately, Thomas provides glimpses of change in the industry' Times Literary Supplement. 'Exposes fashion's toxic relationship with the environment in its pursuit of 'unbridled capitalism'. If anything can persuade you to change your habits, this will' Country & Town House. 'A must-read for anyone in the industry' Boutique Magazine. 'Thomas's is one of those books you can't stop reading bits out from to whoever is around, and which winds up changing your entire perspective' Sydney Morning Herald. 'Fashionopolis is blunt: We're all going to drown in a landfill piled high with cheap clothes if we don't stop shopping like maniacs. Thomas's thoughtful reporting explains how w' Robin Givhan, author of The Battle of Versailles. 'A great resource for learning about the effects of fast fashion' Reader's Digest. 'Fast fashion and its long-term consequences are such crucial subjects that it's hard to believe that no one thought to write this book until now. And how lucky we are that it's Dana Thomas who finally did, bringing her encyclopedic knowledge and expertly trained eye to bear on the excesses of a system by which companies exploit people and the planet to produce clothes that we barely wear. Investigating the factory floor to runway in search of a better way forward, Thomas makes an unshakeable argument for a different way of getting dressed' Lauren Collins, When In French. 'Thomas offers informed, fair-minded, passionate, and cautiously optimistic scrutiny of "fast fashion" ... A distressing yet intriguing story ... Engrossing ... Convincing, responsible, and motivational fashion industry reportage' Kirkus. 'An eye-opening account of the true cost of "fast fashion" ... Thomas circles the globe to profile innovators who are working to make the garment trade more sustainable and offers a vision of better, rather than, faster fashion ... I, for one, will never open my closet and look at my choices in quite the same way again' Julia Flynn Siler, author of The White Devil's Daughters. 'Thomas offers a bracing, urgently important look at the ills fast fashion has wrought ... This eye-opening book is a must-read not only for fashion junkies but for everyone who buys and wears clothes, enlightening us as to the garment industry's dark past, its embattled present, and - if we make the thoughtful choices Thomas presents - its bright future' Caroline Weber, author of Proust's Duchess. 'A pleasurable read on the innovators trying to make clothes with less cruelty and harm ... Engaging and thorough ... Thomas's emphasis on upstart innovators and entrepreneurs is part of what makes the book such a pleasure to read' Financial Times. 'Thomas, a Paris-based fashion journalist, takes a story most of us think we know, but tells it better and in compelling, readable detail ... Thomas's focus on the big picture doesn't get in the way of her love of a quirky detail ... Thomas's long view is thought-provoking ... [Fashionopolis] also engagingly elucidates how we may change things' The Times. 'Thomas convincingly lays out multiple arguments against fast fashion ... Thoroughly reported and persuasively written, Thomas's clarion call for more responsible practices in fashion will speak to both industry professionals and socially conscious consumers' Publishers Weekly.