Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with sweatshop

Happy medium or nurturing the beast?

bitteroldman — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 18:28:32 -0800

I can't seem to find sweatshop-free or second-hand clothes in the style that I like. How about this alternative? So I really wanted to make a push to purchase sweatshop-free clothing and started to do some research into what was available. Read a lot of discussion with a lot of valid points being made on all sides of the argument.

Not to mention, the style of clothing that I am looking for is more dressy and I can't seem to find any stores or Websites that sell dressy, sweatshop-free clothing.

So then I thought to myself, what if I bought my clothes regularly, but for each article of clothing I buy, I make a donation to a charity in the country where the clothes were made (we're talking about 30-50% of the price I pay for the clothes)?

My rationale is that when I make the donation, I have a pretty good idea where it's going; but if I buy a dress shirt that says "Made in Wherever", I have no idea what the conditions of the factory are like.

So on the surface, it seems like an interesting idea, but is it a good idea or is it the equivalent of whipping a child and then feeding him/her?

I want to do what's right, but damn it I'm still wearing the clothes I bought when I first met my better half, and that was 11 years ago!

The only sweat i want to wear is my own

racingjs — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 07:00:50 -0800

Is buying clothing from developing countries sweatshops all that bad? I always thought buying local, or at least from developed countries is better because it promotes better working conditions and fair wages. However, I just finished reading The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time where the author claims that sweatshops are actually good because they allow very poor countries to “reach the bottom rung of the economic development ladder”.

So, what is the most ethical way to buy clothing?

Does a mathematician have to build his own abacus to sleep at night?

monkeymadness — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 12:49:56 -0800

Is there such a thing as a fair trade computer? My wife and I have been trying to spend our money as ethically (by our standards) as we can lately. We decided that, while we don't have much money relative to most of the people around us, we still have quite a bit compared to most people around the world. We can afford to support companies that use fairly traded, sweatshop-free materials and labor. While I know it's best in the short-term to buy used, it's also nice to support good business practices. I think we're doing pretty well with regard to buying clothes, chocolate, and coffee (goods with lots of info available), but I have no clue how to go about buying electronics, specifically a computer.

This came up when I was looking at a new Asus EEE pc, if that makes any difference. I'm also really concerned far more with people than with trees, though if you've got an organic, all-natural laptop to sell me I'm all ears. I realize that not all factories building computer parts are full of one-armed 8-year-olds working 20 hour days, but I also know that some countries aren't very transparent to the rest of the world about their labor practices. Is the XO-1 from OLPC, for example, built with this thing in mind, or are poor people just going to benefit from really poor people building their machines? I apologize if I'm way off the mark with some of my thinking, here. It's all pretty new stuff to me.

Which (if any) cycling shoes are made in the USA?

raddevon — Sun, 03 Sep 2006 12:45:35 -0800

Which (if any) cycling shoes are made in the USA? I'm looking to switch to a pair of clipless pedals. I want mountain biking shoes that are made in America or, barring that, are made in a country that has excellent labor laws. I would have thought this nearly impossible after my search for sweatshop-free atheletic shoes turned up absolutely no manufacturers who manufactured atheletic shoes in the US exclusively, but I have noticed that lots of cycling apparel is made here. Maybe this will be less of a challenge. Thank you in advance for your input.

Am I buying sweatshop-free clothing?

geoff. — Wed, 16 Nov 2005 11:00:45 -0800

I usually try to buy clothes made in first world country, by looking at the label (Milan, London, made in LA). I always assumed that the Western world had minimum wages, and other progressive standards that say, made in China didn't. I use this to justify the high cost of the goods, but my father informs that this is untrue and the expensive hand labor of ripping the jeans, sanding, etc. are done in places such as LA -- but are sweatshop conditions (by employing illegals, ignoring labor laws, etc.). Is this true? I have no doubt illegal immigrants are hired and conditions are substandard, but he indicated that usually these places hire children (under 16), pay below minimum wage and practice such things as not letting employs out for lunch. While I would poster that this sometimes happens, he indicates that this apparently is widespread and the places do get busted -- but sweatshops still pop up all over the place. I'm specifically talking about "Chip and Pepper" jeans. I'd also like to know about some of the so-called designer brands -- Dolce & Gabanna, Prada, Burberry. I have no doubt they are made in the country they say they are (it's illegal to state otherwise in the US), but am I being fooled into thinking that it's only marginally better than buying from China, Thailand and other notorious low labor standard countries?

NB I'm aware of the WSJ article indicating the move to Egypt and Eastern Europe for some designer-ware but in the US the label still indicates that it was made in said countries.

Socially responsible places to buy clothes?

TheRoach — Sat, 05 Feb 2005 02:15:58 -0800

So I maybe could have posted this here or here, but this seemed like a sufficiently different question. Where is a good place to buy clothes that's both sweatshop-free and doesn't support horrible causes? I'd basically given up on all major clothing chains, and had been buying most of my clothes at thrift stores. But in reading the above threads, I realized that Salvation Army had some pretty bad politics. Problem is, I can find plenty of lists around the web of stores/chains that use sweatshop labor, but no good, comprehensive list of places that DON'T. Is there any resource I'm missing, or do any of you have some good recomendations?

Cheap is also a plus.