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Fashion history
Fashion history
Positives for child labor in industrial period
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Cheap Labor
Humanity at first created clothing to cover themselves and it has been that way for centuries. But until recently clothing has become a way of life. The way you clothe yourself and the technology you have represents your status, wealth, emotion and affects your overall physical appearance. The question is, has humanity ever stopped to think where their clothing comes from? Where their technology comes from? No and the reason why is because today clothing comes at a cheap price, even including the latest fashions. The reason why clothing comes at a cheap price is because it is made cheap and the laborers have very low wages. Why do companies continue to allow their products to be outsourced to factories with terrible conditions?
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These are just some of the more famous and shopped at clothing outlets and you may ask what do they all have in common? Their labor is cheap because it is outsourced to countries like Bangladesh, India, China, Pakistan and many other countries. Millions of people are affected by this, children as young as 5 years old are working for little to no pay. Back to the original question, why do companies do this? The reason why they do this is because the cost of production is cheap, no unions are organized and finally because the consumer allows them to continue to do this by continuing to purchase their products. With labor as cheap as 18 pennies an hour, which adds up to $1.44 (in an 8 hour day some shifts go all the way up to 20 hours!) With an offer like this it is practically impossible to turn down the profit margins because they are through the roof! Now after all this information has been revealed the real question is why not? People get their clothing at cheap costs and companies make them for pennies. Before labor was outsourced to third world countries, garments were mainly fabricated in North America or whatever country they were sold to, due to the cost of transportation from country to country because high-flying planes were not yet an efficient way of shipping goods. Later somewhere around the mid 1900’s, after the price transporting goods by plane had decreased …show more content…
Simply because these things happen does not mean that the consumer cannot prevent or take steps to minimize the impact. One of the easiest ways to minimize the impact of cheap labor is to donate money to one of several organizations that help kids and people that work in factories to get better life. Another way to lessen the impact that cheap labor has on people is to do a little research on companies that do and do not outsource their labor to third world countries it is something that can take you an hour or two, at the end of the day one child has to make one less garment for the supply
It is often said that products made in sweatshops are cheap and that is why people buy those products, but why is it behind the clothes or shoes that we wear that make sweatshops bad? In the article Sweat, Fire and Ethics by Bob Jeffcott is trying to persuade the people and tell them how sweatshops are bad.
To conclude, the capability to create customized clothing is becoming undemanding as technology evolves. Ready made apparel was only available in predetermined sizes before the American Civil War, this exemplifies how the sizes were arbitrary and were not the same on a broad scale. The statement “The wealthy’s clothes were made by tailors” is a prime example of how tailored outfits are costly. Today, designers have computer-aided design to their disposal; this improved the creation of clothing in many ways, making it effortless to design the clothing and to also produce them. With the creation of new technology making clothes, fabrics will become easier.
Look down at the clothes you're wearing right now, chances are almost every single thing you are currently wearing was made in a sweatshop. It is estimated that between 50-75% of all garments are made under sweatshop like conditions. Designers and companies get 2nd party contractors to hire people to work in these factories, this is a tool to make them not responsible for the horrendous conditions. They get away with it by saying they are providing jobs for people in 3rd world countries so its okay, but in reality they are making their lives even worse. These companies and designers only care about their bank accounts so if they can exploit poor, young people from poverty stricken countries they surely will, and they do. A sweatshop is a factory
When you go to the mall to pick up a pair of jeans or a shirt, do you think about where they came from? How they were made? Who made them? Most consumers are unaware of where their clothes are coming from. All the consumer is responsible for is buying the clothing from the store and most likely have little to no knowledge about how it was manufactured, transported, or even who made the clothing item and the amount of intensive labor that went into producing it (Timmerman, 3). In my paper, I will utilize the book Where Am I Wearing? by Kelsey Timmerman and the textbook Cultural Anthropology: A Toolkit for a Global Age by Kenneth J. Guest to examine globalization in the context of the clothing industry.
Jane Collins’ book Threads: Gender, Labor, and Power in the Global Apparel Industry is a presentation of the evolution of the industrial globalization of the apparel industry. Although the book presents some good information in regards to globalization of the apparel industry it is rather outdated now. However, this is due to the large number of campaigns bringing awareness to the problematic nature of sweatshops since this book was released. The book is heavily biased in regards to the presentation of the repressive nature of the apparel industry against women. This could have been the result of the expertise of the author making it hard to present a more balanced perception. However, the broad focus of the book makes it a good starting point for anyone who is looking to gain general knowledge into the apparel industry.
In China, Kelsey Timmerman spent time with a couple who worked at the Teva factory, traveled to the countryside to meet the couple’s son, insert name, who hasn’t seen his parents in three years due to his parents working long hours and it being expensive to take a train ride. In the US, the author visited one of a few clothing factories in the US to talk to the workers about his shorts, and the decrease of American garment factories. Timmerman wants the consumer to be more engaged and more thoughtful when mindlessly buying clothes. By researching how well the brands you want to buy from monitor their factories and what their code of ethics details, you can make a sound decision on if this is where you would want to buy your clothes. The author writes about brands that improve employers lives like SoleRebels, a shoe company who employs workers and gives them health insurance, school funds for their children, and six months of maternity leave. Brands like soleRebels that give workers benefits most factory workers have never even heard of help improve the lives of garment workers and future generations. From reading this book, Timmerman wants us to be more educated about the lives of garment workers, bridge the gap between consumers and manufacturers, and be a more engaged and mindful consumer when purchasing our
Many people in our society today are constantly asking, "Why do sweatshops exist?" The answer to this question is that companies like Nike and Wal-Mart use sweatshops to produce their goods for a much cheaper rate, to reduce the cost of their products. The problem with sweatshops is that the workers are subject to hard work in often times poor conditions for minimal pay. But although many people may condemn sweatshops, there are some advantages that many people overlook when arguing against sweatshops and their practices.
While climbing up the social hierarchy through the lavish purchasing of clothing, many Americans are inadvertently promoting inhumane wages and working conditions for millions of garment factory workers. In the Conditioning Center, the elementary class repeats, “We always throw away old clothes”. Ending is better than mending, ending is better than mending, ending is better.” (35).
The General Accountability Office defines a sweatshop as a “multiple labor law violator.” A sweatshop violates laws pertaining to benefits, working hours, and wages (“Toxic Uniforms”). To make more money, companies move their sweatshop factories to different locations and try to find the cheapest locations with the least regulations (“Sweatshops”). There are not as many sweatshop factories in the United States because the industries have been transferred overseas where the labor is cheaper and there are weaker regulations. In the United States, sweatshops are hidden from the public, with poor immigrant workers who are unable to speak out against the injustices (“Subsidizing Sweatshops”). Workers in sweatshops are forced to work overtime, earn below a living wage, do not earn benefits, and encounter verbal, physical and sexual abuse. Macy’s, JCPenney, Kohl’s, The
This happens all the time in different countries every year, and this can definitely impact a nation economy. It is inhumane from big successful corporations like Nike or Forever 21 to do to their workers. A change definitely needs to be made so that these workers get paid fairly and not only within the U.S, but also in other countries all around the world. NAFTA (North American Trade Organization) is being blamed for sweatshops called Maquiladoras found along the U.S borders on the Mexican side where: “The overabundance of workers enables the factories to pay $50 for a 48 hour week. Yes, that is about one U.S. dollar per hour! If the factory were on the California side of the border, the minimum wage would be $8/hr. (the federal wage would be $6.55)” (Villagran, G. 2009). Clearly, anti-sweatshops laws could be enforced so that every workers have equal rights, benefits, and pay. On the other hand, in countries such as Honduras, people want to work in sweatshops because they are the best jobs available to them and it is their best and only option to be able to make a little money. Sweatshops can be described positively mainly
When people think of a sweatshop, images of people assembling items in a hot and crowded factory somewhere in a “Third World” country tend to come to mind. However, the first few sweatshops were located in both New York and England, becoming established in the late 1800’s. The term “sweatshop” originated from the term “sweating”, which described the contractual agreements between workers and designers to produce clothing. In these workshops, there was a “sweater”, an individual who monitored garment making (“Origins Of Sweatshops”, 2017). The term sweatshop is more so currently used to describe the working conditions rather than the type of workplace itself. Even back then, these workplaces were unsanitary, were sources of safety hazards and extremely crowded. Throughout the years, poor people and immigrants filled up the sweatshops in desperate search for work. This eventually spread beyond the United States and U.K., and became a commonplace practice in developing countries ruled by dictators. With this spread quickly came the employment of child workers, especially in places such as Indonesia, and India. Like the adults, they are subject to treatment that violates their human rights. They are left without protection from any other adults, making them more susceptible to abuse. Despite this, major corporations and brands such as Wal-Mart, Adidas, Aldo, Victoria’s Secret, Urban Outfitters and so on use sweatshops for affordable labor. One of the more prominent cases is the incident involving Kathy Lee Gifford and Wal-Mart, in which both Gifford and Wal-Mart “suffered as a result of the negative press surrounding the manufacturing of Gifford’s clothing line distributed by Wal-Mart” (Radin & Calkins). Gifford’s clothing was produced in a factory in Honduras, where female workers constantly suffered “cruel and inhumane treatment” (Radin &
Globalization and industrialization contribute to the existence of sweatshops, which are where garments are made cheaply, because they are moving production and consumption of those cheap goods. Industrialization has enabled for global distribution, to exchange those goods around the world. They can also set apart the circumstances of consumption and production, which Western countries as mass consumers, are protected from of producers in less developed countries. These factories are usually located in less developed countries and face worker exploitation and changes in social structures. Technological innovation allows for machines to take the place of workers and do all the dirty work instead of workers doing hours of hard work by hand.
I knew that sweatshops were bad, children are exposed to hazardous environments, workers are underpaid, and production is polluting the environment, but I could not see myself as part of the problem. I’m pretty sure purchasing one shirt from Wal-Mart does
For those on a budget, it is necessary - if the price is not right, they will not purchase the products (The Canadian Press, 2013). The price of clothing manufactured in Bangladesh is significantly cheaper than in Canada or The United States of America (The Canadian Press, 2013). By keeping expenses low, it allows Joe Fresh the chance to offer consumers a lower cost. On account of the prices being affordable to most, Joe Fresh makes a profit that allows them to keep doors open at their many locations. If Joe Fresh stopped having merchandise manufactured in the sweat shop, it would result in much higher prices, which means less consumers. Less consumers means that there will be a lower profit, which could result in Joe Fresh closing stores and off setting the stabilization of the economy. The sweat shops ensure Joe Fresh continues to make an income as well as an income for their employees all over the
Clothing has been around for thousands of years; almost as long as the modern human has. At first, it served the practical purpose of protection from the elements; but, as life for early humans stopped being a constant struggle to survive, they started noticing how they looked and the concept of fashion began to take shape. These first few garments were typically dyed draped cloth that was pinned at the shoulder and/or waist. This was seen in many ancient civilizations around the world, Greek and Roman the most notable. Over time, clothing began to get more and more complex and formed to the body’s shape, eventually leading up to the tailored style we now have today. However, the sophisticated world of Haute Couture; or high fashion, can distinctly trace its roots to Paris during the mid-19th century. Clothing from there was thought to be superior to those from anywhere else, and women began to come from all over Europe just to buy dresses. This was probably due in part to one notable dressm...