Wearing Your Ethics: Sweatshop Labor

     Many people find it difficult to seriously consider the issue of sweatshop labor because it is too inconvenient. Unless you want to spring for the hefty “made in America” price tag, virtually everything available for purchase was probably made in a sweatshop. It makes no difference if you buy your clothes from a bargain-basement like Wal-Mart, a trendy teen store, or the outlet of a high-end brand—the shadow of sweatshop labor engulfs them all.

     Take for example a brand like J. Crew. They specialize in cashmere sweaters, fifty dollar tee shirts, and designer collaborations; their website is rife with buzzwords like “quality”, “craftsmanship”, and “hand-applied touches”. Anyone would label them as a luxury brand. However, J. Crew has been accused multiple times of using sweatshops. What is the difference between a two hundred dollar pair of jeans from J. Crew and a forty dollar pair of jeans from American Eagle if they were both manufactured in the same place?

 

 

     While shoppers are being misled by the fashion industry, the true victims of this vicious cycle work in the factories where these clothes are manufactured. Despite government programs around the world which seek to regulate and eliminate sweatshops, there is much that goes unreported. In an industry which thrives off the glorification of objects, people are the commodities. In a recent article on Cambodian sweatshops Heather Stilwell says, “At $61 per month, the real minimum wage of workers has actually declined about 14 per cent since 2000 once inflation is taken into account and manual labour is hard going when you can barely afford to eat,” (Stilwell 3). In other words, wages are decreasing even as demand is increasing. And attempts by workers to speak out for their rights have been met with violent suppression. Stilwell explains, “In February 2012, more than 1,000 workers protested for better wages outside Kaoway Sports factory, which supplies footwear to the German Puma brand. The town governor shut down the demonstration by opening fire on the crowd, shooting and injuring three women, the youngest of whom was 18 years old. The governor walked free, and business continued as usual.” (Stilwell 5). This means that workers are forced to choose between their freedom, their jobs, and in extreme cases, their lives. Because they so often must keep silent, Americans are not always aware of horrors of sweatshop labor. It is not easy to imagine starvation and abject poverty while shopping in a trendy department store and many would rather choose not to. Knowingly or not, we support the exploitation of thousands with every purchase we make. Conditions for workers will only improve when shoppers start demanding transparency and integrity in the fashion industry.

Work Cited

Stilwell, Heather. "Stitched up: garment workers in Cambodia are supposedly protected by

     an independent factory-monitoring programme. But the country does not live up to

     its 'sweatshop-free' reputation." New Internationalist Jan. 2013: 38+. Global Issues In Context.

     Web. 2 Apr. 2013.

Blog post three, 448 words.