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Social Goods | Fashion Students Study the Weather, the Multi-Billion Dollar Skin-Bleaching Industry

This week, unpredictable weather patterns forces students to learn about climate change and a look at the multi-billion dollar skin-whitening industry dominating the West African cosmetics market.
An advertisement for a skin-whitening cream | Source: Flickr/Adam Jones
By
  • Helena Pike

"Climate Change Forces Fashion Students to Study the Weather" (The Independent)
"As our climate becomes more changeable, the fashion industry is struggling to create clothes we'll want to wear in a year's time, with no idea what the weather will be like when their collections hit the shelves."

"Where Beauty Means Bleached Skin" (The New York Times)
"A multibillion-dollar industry of skin-whitening products dominates the West African cosmetics market, creating a world of mixed messages for the women who live there."

"To Stop Relying on Western Hand-Me-Downs, African Countries Are Importing Chinese Textile Companies" (Quartz)
" For Rwanda, it's also about moving on from being another third-world African country dressed in hand-me-downs donated from Western countries."

"Why Is Inclusive Sizing So Hard?" (Racked)
"For the most part, women sizes 0 to 14 can shop in one kind of store, those sizes 14 to 28 in another, and those over a size 28 are just shit out of luck."

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