“With clothes, I’m a natural disaster. » A fashion lover since her childhood, Mariana Mazza can’t help but buy new clothes that pile up in her wardrobe without sometimes even being worn. In the documentary The price of fashionthe comedian discovers, not without difficulty, the repercussions of her overconsumption by realizing that the pieces she gets rid of do not always find the second life she imagines.
“I have a somewhat toxic relationship with buying clothes, I never have enough of it,” Mariana Mazza concedes in an interview. However, his cupboards are overflowing. From the first minutes of the documentary, the comedian takes us on a tour of the owner, revealing with excitement the tons of clothes, shoes, bags and other accessories that had to be scattered throughout several rooms of his house, due to lack of space. .
Shopping online has become “a drug”, a way for her to relax on a daily basis. “It’s enjoyable! » she says, admitting to having spent no less than $30,000 in 2022 to diversify her clothing style.
“I’ve never been embarrassed about that. But when I saw the images from the documentary, I was shocked, my hands were sweaty. It seems like that’s when I really realized the astronomical quantity of linen that I own,” confides Mariana Mazza, not regretting for a moment having accepted the invitation from the production company Trinome & Filles to review her way of consuming.
Change habits
“The goal is not to knock the world or Mariana Mazza on the head, but to make people aware of the impact of their excessive consumption of clothing. Encourage them to question themselves, to change their habits, one small gesture at a time,” explains Émilie Fanning, content producer.
It was when she saw the donation bins overflowing during the pandemic that she had the idea to take a serious look at the subject. “Even with stores closed, people continued to buy online and donate their old tunes. But why do we consume so much? Where do these clothes go next? Is everything really reused? » she asks herself.
In The price of fashion, Mariana Mazza sets out in search of answers. To do this, she meets several experts in the world of fashion, marketing and the environment.
” There fast fashion and buying online is a real problem. We buy things we would never have bought, because it’s cheap, it’s quick, it’s easy. But when you don’t want it anymore, you don’t necessarily know it, but it often ends up in the trash,” says Mariana Mazza, discouraged.
No less than 150,000 tons of clothing go to donation centers per year, explains in the documentary Claude Maheux-Picard, engineer and general director of the Center for Technology Transfer in Industrial Ecology, affiliated with the Sorel-Tracy CEGEP. Of all this, only 6% ends up on the shelves. The rest mostly goes to landfill.
For what ? Because a significant quantity of clothing arriving at donation centers is deformed, holed, stained… unsaleable, therefore. They end up in the trash because the fabrics used are not even recyclable. The fault of fast fashion and low quality fabrics, according to Mme Maheux-Picard.
Consumers also have their share of responsibility, since they buy a lot of clothes online that they will ultimately never wear. They feel good about themselves by taking them to the donation centers, but they are overflowing. Result: clothes in good condition also end up in the trash.
“I had a shock,” says Mariana Mazza. The comedian indicates that he has since greatly reduced his clothing consumption. She wears more of what she already owns and now turns to organizations that give back to people in need when she wants to get rid of a few pieces.
“I would like people to ask themselves the right questions before buying online, that they prioritize quality over quantity, that they hand-deliver their clothes in good condition to organizations. […] I hope the documentary will encourage them to do so. »