SWEATSHOPS - CRIMES OF FASHION OR ECONOMIC NECESSITY?
WHAT IS A SWEATSHOP?
When you buy clothes, you don’t often think about who made them. Was it machine or hand made? The technology in this world is increasingly bringing gadgets that back in the 17 th century nobody would imagine were possible. Before computers, robots, and machines were made to simplify merchandise production everything was made by hand. However, through centuries there has been many inventions created with the intention to do the human job, but never has there really been an invention to replace the work of garment makers. The clothing that is seen in stores was stitched by the hands of a garment worker. Fabrics are made by machines in factories and garments are made by human hands in factories called sweatshops. Many garment makers work in factories that pay low wages for long endless hours, are exposed to unsafe and unsanitary health threats. Some of the most productive and powerful fashion industries like Wal-Mart, J.C. Penny’s, Sears, Nike, Gap, Limited Brands, Levi Strauss and many others use factories that do not pay a fair wage to garment workers. Sweatshop owners are mainly exploiting women and children who are less likely to fight back, because they have the highest necessity for a job. Around 90% of these garment makers are women and the majority are ages 15 to 22. Sweatshops pay as low as six cents an hour and workers serve around ten to twelve hour shifts a day. For some industries like the Gap it is mandatory to work 16 to 20 hour shifts a day.
SWEATSHOPS IN THE UNITED STATES
Sweatshops are said to be no longer as big as a problem as they were during their birth in the industrialization era. Before the industrialization era, garments were made one at a time by tailors. The invention of the sewing machine gave industries the idea of using inexperienced workers whom they could pay little salary for their work. Sweatshops were banned from the United States ; however the Department of Labor states that 50% of the United States garment factories are sweatshops, which are announced to the public as factories. These sweatshops that are said to be factories have not come to an end, because there is a shortage in inspectors in the Department of Labor. With this shortage, not all facilities are able to be visited for an inspection of the violations in these facilities. In California , there is a high demand for labor inspectors since only 5,000 garment factories have been inspected.
SWEATSHOP CONFLICTS
Nationally, sweatshops are a conflict, but sweatshops are more of a global issue. Clothing industries find it cheaper and less of a conflict to have their products made in sweatshops in different countries in order to stay away from the media. For instance, Nike products are imported from Asia, mainly from Thailand , India , and China where everything is made and manufactured by the hands of sweatshop workers. Nike is producing millions of dollars yearly, but yet only paying a small portion to their garment makers. In 2000 to 2001, sweatshop workers got paid 29 cents profit for every 140 dollar Nike NBA shirt. Exploiting garment workers is not only done by Nike, but many other lines of designers, like Adidas, Puma, Reebok, The Gap, Levi Strauss and many more top fashion industries. Since these workers need the job for the money, if they were to complain or ask for a raise they either get beaten or killed. Managers in charge of running the sweatshops are usually men, which tend to sexually harass and abuse the garment makers.
OPPPOSING VIEWS OF SWEATSHOPS
Arguments have risen in concern to opposing views of sweatshops. Some may argue that sweatshops are good for countries with high poverty, because they give the people with high necessity a job opportunity to survive. However, ethically, taking advantage of people because of their economical status does not make fashion industries the better person. If industries are producing so much money, why not invest on putting out a good image for their company. Clothing will always be bought, but a person’s fair treatment can only be given.
http://feminist.org/other/sweatshops/
http://www.thesite.org/chooseaction/resources/issues/ecofashion
http://www.coopamerica.org/tools/print.cfm?page=/programs/rs/profile.cfm?id=271
http://www.coopamerica.org/programs/rs/profile.cfm?id=229
http://www.sweatshopwatch.org/index.php?s=36
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~nshah/fashioncrimes/Sweatshops.html
http://www.victorianweb/org/gendfer/ugoretz.html