To reveal the world behind a simple shirt, Planet Money details its journey from its raw cotton component to its synthetic form we hold in our hands at the store. The five-episode film wisely tracks down every step of production of a t-shirt to show how complex the world behind the fabric we see really is.
Step 1 -- cotton. 90% of the world’s cotton is genetically modified today, inserted with bacteria genes to make extra resistant against pesticides. The U.S. is the crop’s leading exporter; on one cotton farm in Mississippi, 9 million shirts can be made -- 9 million. That’s enough shirts for every single person living in New York City. Step 2. From United States, the cotton travels to Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Colombia, where it is transformed into fabric with the help of lots and lots of machines. A majority of our blog posts reveal the deplorable social consequences of fast fashion, but keep in mind the devastating environmental impact of it as well. Textile factories come in a close second to the oil industry in the amount of pollution the machines create and the voluminous amounts of water they use. Step 3 -- the people. The fabric has finally come to the workers. There are 4 million garment workers in Bangladesh alone. But what is the driving force behind the increasing workforce in an industry that treats it so horribly? I can guarantee that every single one of these workers are there by force, not by choice; how can you complain about low wages when you face no wages and starvation by the day? Step 4. These shirts are tightly packed into boxes and shipped back to the motherland. From as far away as Colombia and Bangladesh, these shirts have come a long way, back to the shores of Miami, then onto trains and trucks up north, where they will be stored in Planet Money’s warehouse until sold to you. Step 5. And finally, after being handled by so many hands and so many regions, the shirt is in your possession. Treat it well; it’s been through a long journey and deserves all the love it can get. As you can see, there are so many faces behind that simple piece of fabric, from the plant breeder who cultivates the root of production, to the garment worker who takes care of the design, to the ship captain who transports the finished product. Behind the shirt, it’s another world. http://apps.npr.org/tshirt/#/title
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/one-company-is-turning-plastic-bottles-into-fabric_us_57f67cf0e4b00885f2c65323? <--- Click for video!
Clogging our oceans and filling our landfills, plastic causes $13 billion in damage to our environment. Once we mindlessly throw out our water bottles from our hands and from our sight, we don’t think about the harmful repercussions that follows; plastics consist of harmful chemicals that stay in the environment even long after they are discarded. With the ever worsening pollution but stagnant action on our part, the plastic problem has augmented to a new high. But one company is finally stepping up to make a change. Thread, leading company in responsible fiber and fabric production, now transforms soda and water bottles collected from Haiti and the Honduras into sustainable fabric. Founder and CEO Ian Rosenberger developed this idea with the belief that “there’s so much value in things we throw away.” Each Thread t-shirt recycles 2.25 plastic bottles and uses 50% less water than its cotton counterpart. There’s a whole new dimension of problems that Thread is tackling through its innovation. Not only is Thread addressing the plastic problem but also the issue of child labor in global supply chains. The company announced its Clinton Global Initiative commitment to improve the lives of 300 Haitians, 200 of whom are children. Programs funded by partnerships with Timberland and HP will provide educational and job opportunities for the Haitian communities. Thread’s efforts to improve the production of clothing is (in its cliche-est sense) killing two birds with one stone. It really proves how interwoven the garment industry is in all aspects of our lives. When we pay attention and change the corrupt and damaging methods of producing what we wear, we are creating not only a healthier environment but also an opportunity to better people’s lives. “It’s 2016 -- it’s ludicrous that we don’t demand to know where our clothes came from. We know where everything comes from in food now, why not in textiles?” It’s no longer enough to be okay with a shirt that’s $5 when we know it’s hurting someone. http://www.triplepundit.com/2016/10/new-multi-stakeholder-partnership-can-help-haitian-kids/ "We are like slaves -- we are not workers." Just last Thursday on September 29, Cambodia’s government and garment industry unions and representatives sealed a deal to raise the minimum wage for the country’s 700,000 workers by 9.2 percent by the beginning of next year.
“The minimum wage of garment factory workers for 2017 has been officially set at $153 per month,” Cambodia’s Ministry of Labor, Vocational and Training said. Although Cambodia is still the epitome of hazardous factory conditions and irresponsible pay and treatment of garment workers, the country has shown some hints of correcting the broken system. In 2014, garment workers protested against their $80 monthly wage for a raise to $160, the bare minimum to provide for their families. Police opened fire and ended up killing four people and injuring dozens of others. As a result of this incident, government raised the minimum wage up to $100 for the rest of the year. In 2015, Human Rights Watch joined in criticizing the horrid conditions and brutal treatment of workers in factories that produced for major international brands like Armani, Adidas, and H&M. The organization compiled testimonies from numerous women workers in the garment industry of abuse and sexual harassment. The wage raise of 2016 seems like we’re one step closer to providing animproved and humane environment for workers. Yet the confessions of workers and conditions in factories say otherwise. “The quota for us was 80 [pieces of clothing] per hour. But when the minimum wage was increased, they increased our quota to 90,” says N.V., a factory worker in Cambodia’s capital of Phnom Penh. “We have to do overtime work. We cannot say no.” As owners look for other ways to cut cost with the rise in minimum wage, working conditions are actually worsening. Human Rights Watch’s report “Work Faster or Get Out: Labor Rights Abuses in Cambodia’s Garment Industry” detail many incidents that sprout from the pressure to meet production targets, preventing workers from “taking rest breaks, using the bathroom, drinking water, and eating lunch.” And ironically, several workers admit that this pressure increased after minimum wage increased. The numbers might point to a brighter future, but the aggravated voices of the garment workers sure don’t. Illegal “short-term” contracts still deprive workers of the rights they rightfully deserve. Government cannot simply sit back after instituting laws and reforms -- that’s only half the job. It must also continue to enforce and regulate them to protect those whose lives depend on the tangible enforcements of these decisions. “We are like slaves -- we are not workers,” N.V. remarks. Raising the minimum wage is only the beginning to alleviating the humans behind our clothes from the abuses they’ve lived with for too long. http://m.dw.com/en/cambodias-garment-workers-facing-new-problems-as-wages-rise/a-18309345 http://m.dw.com/en/cambodia-raises-minimum-wage-for-textile-workers/a-35926002 There are 170 million children trapped under the brutal modern system of slavery in the form of sweatshops. Famous brands go to India for the cheapest and most obedient form of labor, children. Convinced of false promises of food, shelter, and skills training, parents submerged in a relentless cycle of poverty are forced to send their sons and daughters to work in garment factories to meet the demands of fast fashion.
Just a couple months ago, the two bodies of India’s Parliament stamped on a few amendments to the Child Labour Act of 1986. Justifying that these minor changes are just, government is now officially allowing children under the age of 14 to work after-school hours to help in “family enterprises.” Seems harmless, but let’s keep in mind that home-based work can be anything from toiling on the family fields, in the forest, or on a contracted caste-based occupation. And the term “family” now extends to mother, father, brother, uncle, uncle’s aunt’s friend, father’s sister’s daughter, and so on. The amendments have also altered the definition of a hazardous industry, leaving only three of the previous 83 industries remaining under this label, prohibited from employing children. This leaves children more vulnerable to injuries, illnesses, and exploitation. In this context, global outsourcing by big name brands like H&M, Gap, Gymboree, Wal-Mart, and more (all embroiled at least once in child labor controversy) has created a broken system in India in which children, instead of placed in a friendly classroom with pencil in hand, they are placed into factories and cotton farms with a metal tool or some fabric in hand. Child labor ensures that this cruel cycle of poverty that has left their parents with no other choice but to take away their little ones’ education to make ends meet is passed down from generation to generation. I end this on a hopeful note with a video that tells a brighter story of how we can change all this. There are emerging forward-thinking fashion brands like No Nasties and Metaphor Racha who base their values on eco-philosophy and support families. When we buy better, we are voting for children to go to school instead of sending them to factories. When we buy better, mothers and fathers can provide their little ones with all the education and hope they need to mend this broken system little by little. http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/specials/india-file/no-country-for-a-child/article9150522.ece http://remake.world/videos/video-made-in-india/ For more information on why child labor still exists, where it is most prevalent, and what can be done to eradicate it, https://labs.theguardian.com/unicef-child-labour/ Previous blog post about child labor can also be found here. Cambodia’s rigorous anti-trafficking campaign saves hundreds of women from selling their bodies every night. The pimps are arrested, and the women, with their children, living in crowded rooms in the back of the "parlor" are rescued and given new careers. Everything is resolved now, right? Not really -- we shouldn’t be too quick to assume. Once in police custody, sex traffickers are given two choices -- accept training by the re-education department for a new career, or remain in custody indefinitely. Susceptible to abuse by corrupt police, most women choose retraining, almost always for Cambodia’s booming garment industry, sewing pieces for brands like H&M, Old Navy, and Benetton. The sad irony about the rescue program is that most of the sex workers were not victims of trafficking. Although authorities claim that they have rescued thousands of women from sex work for what seems like better jobs, many of these women did not want to be rescued in the first place. That says something about the alternative, seemingly innocuous task of sewing. For now, women are choosing prostitution over garment work, and that alone paints a very stark picture at what the reality for Cambodia’s girls and women might be. “My mother died when I was so small that she still breastfed me,” a 19-year-old Cambodian girl says. She has been working at a garment factory for 14 years now and talks about her family of a single parent and eight siblings. “My mother died because she didn’t have enough to eat.” She is just 19 and has to live with the cruel fact that in such modern times as today, her mother died not because she had an illness or was killed, but because of starvation.
The young teen began her life like that. This is just one of myriad tragedies that plague destitute countries like Cambodia, exploited by “superpower” countries like the United States. We hear about news of horrible working conditions or protests for better wages on TV while sitting in our bedrooms with a bag of chips in one hand and phone in the other. But what we can’t feel and empathize with are the millions of garment workers who are heading to work at 6am, standing in a crowded space on the back of a truck. What we can’t see are these workers sewing the same monotonous thread while slouching on stiff stools for 12 hours straight. What we can’t see are the bent backs of the exhausted figures heading back home with only $3 in their pockets, wondering how they will sustain a dinner to feed all of their children with that money. SWEATSHOP: Cheap Dead Fashion is a reality series that tries to show us just that. Three fashion bloggers from Norway travel to Cambodia to talk and interact with the garment workers there. Ludvig, Frida, and Anniken are normal people like us, hearing news around them but unable to truly feel the echoing influence fast fashion leaves on the daily lives of the workers. They listen to and know about these injustices but do not get a true taste of how the world is truly unfair -- until now. The three first spend a day at a garment factory as actual employees. There is no proper toilet for the workers. Chairs are no such thing; they are only given small stools to sit on while working. For 8 hours with an hour break in between for a lunch of fish with flies and bitter rice while sitting on the factory floor, they become one with the rest of the workforce in sewing one line of seam, passing it on to the next person in line, and continuing this cycle again and again. The awful truth is that this is one of the only places that allowed the crew to film -- then this really makes me question how just worse conditions in factories that aren’t so open to being videotaped are. “You just sit here and sew the same seam over and over again,” Friday says. “It is like an eternal vicious cycle. It never stops.” Ludvig adds, “It’s unfair that for 12 hours you’re just sewing and sewing until you collapse from dehydration and hunger.” After a long day of both mental and physical exhaustion, workers receive $3 for that day’s worth of work. “I should be getting $20 worth after working like this,” Frida says. The next morning, the staff alerts the three that their mission today is to build a meal for ten people (staff and themselves) with only the money they earned yesterday -- a meager $9. First, they head to the supermarket, only to find that with less than $10 in their budget, everything is expensive. With $6 of their inheritance gone from just a head of cauliflower, broccoli, and a small package of meatballs, they come to their last resort of the local market to buy the remaining ingredients of carrots, squash, onions, and soup packets for $2.42. For dinner, the menu digresses from the anticipated chicken and Bearnaise sauce to “garlic water” soup. For a real worker, the wage must cover not only food, but also rent, electricity, clothes, not to mention expenses covering children and health as well. Watching this experiment will clearly show you that this is almost a brutally impossible task. The big fashion chains are starving their workers. “We are rich because they are poor,” says 20-year-old Ludwig. We are rich because we are able to buy shirts that cost us $10 at H&M, but what we don’t realize is that somebody else has to starve so that you are able to buy it. “Don’t just sit on your ass and take everything for granted,” Frida says. “These people work for you!” It’s easy for us who only see the outcome to do just that because we are so detached from the actual process of how these products we buy from the store are made. It’s as simple as a click out of this screen to block out this resonating message from our minds. But we are a global community that no longer can do with the “not my problem” attitude. We are responsible for the welfare of all members of this community, even if it means sacrificing our own time and energy to do so. “You can’t solve everything or fix such a global problem,” Anniken says. “But they don’t really ask for much. To get a bit more money, a better chain, some fans in the ceiling in a factory.” “We just have to push to get it done. Push the right buttons and push them some more.” --------------------------------------------------- Here is the entire link to the series: http://www.aftenposten.no/webtv/#!/video/21032/sweatshop-ep-1-how-many-will-die-here-every-year If you feel compelled to help garment workers worldwide receive a minimum monthly wage of just $160 a year, donate here: http://labourbehindthelabel.org/donate/ “In the summer, the heat is unbearable so we have had the ambulance here six times this year because co-workers had heatstroke.” “I have been working in this factory for 15 years, and during that time we have been supplied with protective wear only twice, but the work is awful.” Another worker admits she works 45 hours to reach the planned production limits; if not met, her pay is reduced. We would never come to the conclusion that all three statements were from workers in Europe; no, when we think of Europe, our minds automatically visualize the fancy Eiffel Tower, high fashion catwalks, elegance, and quality. What we don’t correlate with European culture are poverty, sweatshops, and mistreatment of employees. Those are only prevalent in China and Bangladesh, right? Wrong. For some odd reason, when we see “Made in Europe” on our shoes and clothes, we tend to let our guards down, relieved that these items on our bodies are somehow more ethical than those made in China or other Southeast Asian countries. However, statistics and accounts from employees say otherwise. To tackle this misconception, organizations Clean Clothes and Labor Behind the Label have investigated 179 shoe workers from 29 factories across Europe in its “Labor on a Shoestring” campaign to reveal the stark realities of working in Europe’s shoe manufacturing in six low-wage production companies -- Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia. This report shows that problematic working conditions and low wages are occurring endemically across global supply chains worldwide. Workers in all six countries receive extremely low wages that do not cover their basic needs or those of their families. In fact, they earn less than workers in Asia. They also complained of unpaid social insurance, extremely high and low temperatures in their workplaces, and multiple health risks due to the toxic chemicals used for the products. Here’s another shocking revelation that adds a crack to the mirage of European fantasy -- “made in Italy” shoes does not technically mean they were made on Italian soil. This is because of global outsourcing, which allows companies to cut parts of the shoe in one country, export them in another to assemble parts, and re-import them back to the original country free of duty. So while Italy may account for 50% of Europe’s shoe production, a more introspective look at the truth will show that many stages of the production process are outsourced to low-wage European countries, where workers suffer the most. So where does this leave us? The first step lies in honesty -- manufacturers must become more transparent not only about where the shoes are made, but about salaries and working conditions. Brands have a responsibility to make sure human rights are delivered for people who make their shoes. And we have a responsibility to call out those who don’t follow up and exploit labor behind labels that deceive consumers. For the actual report “Labor on a Shoestring,” click here. In correlation to our previous blog post about the do's and don't's of buying fast fashion second hand, here's a video that gives you a gist of what a thrifting experience is like! Youtuber Emily proves that you can incorporate any repurposed piece into an outfit that's just as trendy, if not even more unique and individual. It might seem like it's not much of a big deal, but taking a detour from the mall to the local Goodwill or Buffalo Exchange is one more step towards a sustainable planet that reduces and reuses.
It's impossible to stop our cycle of consumption completely -- but it's absolutely a doable job to make this cycle sustainable. Make a larger impact with your own distinct style while making a lighter footprint on the environment. There are two separate spheres of our shopping habits -- buying from fast fashion retail brands at the mall, and buying second hand at thrift stores.
But what do we do when these two worlds collide? What do we do when we see fast fashion brands at thrift stores? While buying fast fashion second hand is not completely off limits, there are some cautions to take when doing so. Youtuber Erin, more widely known as MyGreenCloset, names a few do's and don'ts of what we should be looking out for in this fairly common crossing of paths. Here's a summary of what she says in her video: 1. DO feel free to buy a fast fashion brand at a second hand store -- It's totally fine to pick up a pair of Nike shorts at your local Goodwill if you find one, because you're still not supporting Nike; your money is still going to the charity and you're still in for a good cause of shopping in the most sustainable way possible. With that being said... 2. DON'T buy clothes with huge, obvious logos of that brand. -- While it's okay to shop fast fashion at a second hand store, you want to try to avoid this because even if your money is not directly supporting them, pieces like that advertise that brand when you walk around with a conspicuous emblem of the game. 3. DO ask questions if something doesn't seem right. -- Although it doesn't happen too frequently, there were a couple of times where I saw multiples of the same item in a thrift store or a bulk of new pieces with tags still on. Keep in mind that this could mean that the store purchased by the bulk from that brand for discount. This hints at expediency since it's providing a place where the brands can get rid of their clothes without having to deal with their wastes and overproduction. If you ever see this on your trips to the thrift store or visits to resale websites, it would be a good idea to ask where these clothes came from to make sure that while shopping sustainably, you're not advocating disposable and cheap fashion at the same time. 4. DON'T tag or mention brands on social media. -- It's not really necessary to mention the brand, which indirectly supports the brand like the huge logos. When someone compliments an outfit you thrifted and asks where you got it, you want to relay the message of safe and slow fashion by mentioning that you bought it second hand, not the brand of it. When you say that your cute top is second hand from Zara, it's not encouraging them to shop second hand, it's encouraging them to shop at Zara. 5. DO research on where your money is going. -- It's nice to support charity shops that aline with your values, the causes that you back as well. That way, the ways you use your money have an echoing impact that goes beyond just one cause but connects with your morals as a whole. Buying fast fashion second hand is not an unapproachable field; anything's fair game as long as you remain as close to your conscious choices to shop sustainably as possible. View the whole video to get more details here. Tull Price, cofounder and designer of footwear label FEIT, fears losing connection with our planet. His sustainability label centers not only on a link with the planet but also with the human hands behind each pair of shoes that are made. Everything from the raw materials like eco-friendly, metal-free tanned leathers to the hand-made process used to make FEIT's footwear is about human involvement.
The label sets an example for other companies to emphasize quality and advocate that less is better. On the website's story reads that FEIT's products are "handmade in limited volumes to ensure minimal environmental impact and maximum quality." Price intones, "Sustainability to me is not just about sustaining the planet but sustaining the people who inhabit it - You can't have one without the other." Read more about FEIT's story here. www.forbes.com/sites/millystilinovic/2016/07/27/four-labels-taking-steps-to-make-sustainability-fashions-latest-trend/2/#51c4b199f512 http://www.feitdirect.com/pages/the-feit-story |
Our Goal:To inform on the ongoing crises that the clothing industry poses on our community and applaud any acts that rise over the conventional ways of consumption.
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