Educational Media Reviews Online

This film tells the story of how a T-shirt donated to a charity organization in Canada made its way into the hands of a Costa Rican mother. By doing so, this film examines how donated clothes in North America are exported to developing countries and the controversy around this system. A woman in Canada has donated her T-shirt to Goodwill which attempts to sell the item at one of its outlets. If the T-shirt and other donated clothing cannot be sold by Goodwill, the clothing is compressed into one-ton bundles and sold to a middleman. This middleman ships the clothes abroad where they are sold to second hand stores, who in turn sell the product to the consumers in developing countries. The first portion of the film is fairly demonstrative, while the remainder deals with the controversies involved. Due to the shipping costs involved, consumers in developing countries often have to pay twice the price for which the second hand item was sold in North America. Consumers, while pleased with reasonably inexpensive clothes, resent having to pay money for donated items. The middlemen simply defend their selling the clothes to defray the costs of delivering the tonnage overseas. The middlemen do not gauge the developing countries and do not live lavishly. They contend that the donation of clothes by North Americans creates jobs, commerce, and reuse of resources.

This is an excellent documentary that is to be commended for its objectivity. Ropa Americana is highly recommended for all audiences, but for grade school audiences in particular due to its appropriate treatment of a rather tame controversy. This topic can help immerse young minds into healthy, manageable debate.