How do I Know if I Am Buying Sweatshop Free Clothing?

This is so confusing. I hear the stories and testimonies of those who got away only to end up in a sweat shop and then those who depend on them.

@anon9338: The U.S. gets the majority of its resources from imports: wood (Canada), beef (Canada), Uranium/Plutonium (Canada); oil (Canada and the Middle East). Plus, you have a messed up, corrupt government that bows to these corporations that support child labor and sweatshops worldwide.

The difference between clothes made in a sweatshop vs. a normal factory would be that in a sweatshop, the people working at sweatshops are being overworked and they have such a low salary that it's not enough for their living expenses. The conditions of the workplace differs in both places as well. Human rights are violated at sweatshops and not at normal factories. Especially the value of the product at sweatshops. Most are expected to make 1,000 pieces of clothing a day. At a normal factory, you're not expected to over work as much.

I have to say it really bugs me when people argue, "but if you don't buy from sweatshops, you are sending girls into prostitution!" Sweatshops need to be eradicated. We need to pressure our political representatives to put regulations in place, so that retailers can't get away with selling items made by workers who are suffering. And we should all be prepared to pay higher prices to help improve this situation, and that especially goes for the shareholders of the fashion industry. (At the moment, though, a high retail price means nothing when it comes to figuring out how a garment was made.)

Most non-profit groups working on sweatshop issues do not ask consumers to boycott a label (e.g. Nike) or to pressure companies to "cut and run" from suppliers where child labor is discovered, for the exact reasons outlined here.

Instead, these non-profits work closely with workers in factories around the world to identify their concerns, and then what they do is pressure companies to pressure their suppliers to improve conditions. Nike, for example, which may buy 100 percent of the output of a particular factory, can tell the factory to improve ventilation, allow lunch breaks, provide weekends, provide a living wage, etc. and the supplier will respond because they don't want to lose the contract.

It's only when a supplier consistently and egregiously abuses its workers that workers will call for the supplier to be cut, knowing that if that factory goes out of business there's usually another one that will open up (especially if they work in free trade zones).

The key is that organizations for the most part will only call for a boycott if the workers want it. The union UNITE does amazing work on these issues, as does Maquila Solidarity Network and Oxfam.

One of the areas where companies are sending mixed signals, however, is that they ask a supplier to cut their costs by 10 percent every year (walmart was famous for asking for costs to be cut every quarter, don't know if they still do that). When factories are being asked to cut costs (or risk losing the contract) it's a bit hypocritical to then ask them to pay their workers more and treat them well!

Companies feel pressured to keep boosting their quarterly profits, and paying their executives millions of dollars.

I was watching a show once on TV about sweatshops and they interviewed one of the workers there. the girl was only 15 and had been there since she was very young.

They asked her opinion on what she would think if they shut down the place she worked. she said it would make life harder for her family because because there were no other jobs and her mom and dad already worked and if they shut it down then she would probably have to become a street hooker. She actually said street hooker.

She said she would rather work in that shop than to sell sex on the streets. So I think it would be bad to shut down some of them but also I think those shops should at least take some safety measures. Otherwise a lot of the families would be forced to send their own children to sell sex just to get their next meal.

The difference between clothes made in sweatshops vs those made in normal factories are numerous. First, and often most important, are the working conditions of sweatshops. Often times workers are underpaid, overworked, working in unsafe conditions and are young children (as young as 5) who have no choice as to working in these conditions. These products are usually cheaper than other products, but that comes at a social cost. Normal factories are usually factories in developed countries that do not exploit young children or struggling individuals. Often times, these factories are company factories that make their own products without exploiting human kind.

The best way to ensure you are purchasing products that are not sweatshop products is to purchase straight from the manufacturer so long as you are familiar with the practices of that particular company.

One needs to be careful about what one calls a sweatshop. What is a sweatshop in New York City is a much sought after job in many parts of the world. One unintended consequence of forcing manufacturers to close "sweatshops" in many parts of the world is throwing workers into the street and often forcing young women into the sex trade. Be aware that a living wage in the United States is much different from a living wage in much of the world. Everywhere isn't the United States of America, and cannot possibly be. The grim fact is that most of the world will never reach the standard of living that this country has been able to achieve. The United States is blessed with vast resources that much of the world can only dream about.

What is the difference between clothes made in sweat shops or in a normal factory?