Like most of us, I don't really think about the process that goes into the clothing that we wear. If it's cheap, why not? But lately ethics in fashion is being brought back to my consciousness. Questions like, "Are kids being exploited and forced to work in unpleasant unconditions just so I could wear this?"
I was reminded of this tonight when I came across an article by Lucy Siegle. She tackles this topic and tells us:
" ...But the ties between cheap fashion and garment workers subjected to classic 'sweatshop' conditions cannot be severed. Millions of these workers are still children, overtime is mandatory (and unpaid) and attempts to unionise factories are met with brutality (in China, unions are illegal). All of which, from an ethical perspective, makes cheap fashion look suddenly quite expensive."
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It's not only the ceap fashion that extorts people. Writing about Adidas a while ago I visited their corporate website and read that even though they put an effort into making the work conditions in Asian and other third world countries better, they can do only so much. They also point out that in some parts of the world children at the age of 14 are allowed to work. OMG. Coming from the company that sells sneakers for cca. $100 I can't believe that.
Posted by: Ivy | April 10, 2006 7:28 AM | Permalink to Comment