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T-Shirt Travels
| Length: | 57 min |
| Released: | 2001 |
| Ages: |
College Adult |
Buy Online Streaming
What happens to all of the old clothes you donate to the Salvation Army or Goodwill Industries? T-shirt Travels provides comprehensive documentation of third world debt and secondhand clothes as the filmmaker travels to Zambia and discovers a culture clad in t-shirts featuring Calvin Klein, MTV, and James Dean.
The film exposes the large bales of American secondhand clothing sold to African importers, often putting the African manufacturers out of business. One secondhand clothing dealer in Zambia carefully selects and purchases a bale bundled and shipped from abroad before transporting it by bus ten hours to a market. He uses his meager profits to support his entire extended family, which lives in shanty towns miles from the market. Their story serves as a clear example of the poverty that plagues so much of Africa, and the individuals faced with little to no possibility of improving life for themselves or their families.
Professor Jeffrey Sachs of the Harvard University Center for International Studies and other experts discuss the history of colonialism, slavery, and the depletion of Africa’s natural resources. They draw connections between this shameful legacy and the current debt and chronicle government policies that have led to slashed benefits, malnutrition, poor healthcare, inadequate schools, and a crumbling infrastructure. Our old t-shirts come with a high price tag.
A presentation of the Independent Television Service. Partially funded by the Soros Documentary Fund of the Open Society Institute and the International Foundation for Arts and Culture.
The film exposes the large bales of American secondhand clothing sold to African importers, often putting the African manufacturers out of business. One secondhand clothing dealer in Zambia carefully selects and purchases a bale bundled and shipped from abroad before transporting it by bus ten hours to a market. He uses his meager profits to support his entire extended family, which lives in shanty towns miles from the market. Their story serves as a clear example of the poverty that plagues so much of Africa, and the individuals faced with little to no possibility of improving life for themselves or their families.
Professor Jeffrey Sachs of the Harvard University Center for International Studies and other experts discuss the history of colonialism, slavery, and the depletion of Africa’s natural resources. They draw connections between this shameful legacy and the current debt and chronicle government policies that have led to slashed benefits, malnutrition, poor healthcare, inadequate schools, and a crumbling infrastructure. Our old t-shirts come with a high price tag.
A presentation of the Independent Television Service. Partially funded by the Soros Documentary Fund of the Open Society Institute and the International Foundation for Arts and Culture.
"Highly recommended."
‒Educational Media Reviews Online
"It is by far the best video I have seen for showing the downside of globalisation for under-developed countries."
‒Professor Norman Etherington, University of Western Australia
"As the journey of our old t-shirts illustrates, the world is small and interconnected. . .Highly recommended."
‒MC Journal: The Journal of Academic Media Librarianship
‒Educational Media Reviews Online
"It is by far the best video I have seen for showing the downside of globalisation for under-developed countries."
‒Professor Norman Etherington, University of Western Australia
"As the journey of our old t-shirts illustrates, the world is small and interconnected. . .Highly recommended."
‒MC Journal: The Journal of Academic Media Librarianship
Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, 2002
Best Documentary, Human Rights and Justice, Vermont International Film Festival, 2001
Best Documentary, Atlanta Film Festival, 2001
Certificate of Merit, San Francisco International Film Festival, 2001
Buenos Aires International Independent Film Festival, 2002
"Through an African Lens" Film Festival, 2002
Best Documentary, Human Rights and Justice, Vermont International Film Festival, 2001
Best Documentary, Atlanta Film Festival, 2001
Certificate of Merit, San Francisco International Film Festival, 2001
Buenos Aires International Independent Film Festival, 2002
"Through an African Lens" Film Festival, 2002
