The Use of Sweatshops and Child Labor in the Fashion Industry
When we wear a product, most of the time we tend to forget what to make the clothing that we are wearing, especially when we obtained it for incredibly low prices. One of the sad realities in the fashion industry is that if a person wants to buy something at a lower price than usual, the cost of production would have to be just as low for there to be a profit. We tend to forget that sometimes the reason why the cost of production is lower than usual is that cheap cost for labor was involved.
Activists and governments have tried their hardest to find a beneficial solution for sweatshop workers, many laws have been implemented and there have been companies who have refused to have their clothing made in countries where sweatshops are still used, even if the cost of production is higher, leading to more costly attirement and products. (Photo via Medium)
But what exactly does this mean? Essentially, this means that workers and people involved in the making of a certain product earn below the ethical and established minimum wage. Not only this but oftentimes, the production of low-cost clothing and other products come from sweatshops. Sweatshops are factories with many laborers overworking themselves in unhealthy conditions with very little. Despite how horrible this may seem, the reality is much crueler.
Constantly, a huge majority of people working in these sweatshops tend to be children. Child labor is a punishable crime in the United States and many other developed countries, however, in underdeveloped countries, children are often the only ones that can provide for their families. Families are most times very big and the role of the provider is passed onto the eldest child, despite their age, the child forms part of workers at these sweatshops at very early ages, sometimes as early as 5 years old, as explained by Do Something.org. Conditions in these places are unsanitary and very dangerous, the International Labor organization estimates that 22,000 children are killed during work every year.
People wonder: “Why are children sent to work? Where are their parents?” Many parents have their own responsibilities and work, but in many cases, no matter the amount of work and money earned from parents, it is still not enough to provide for their families. This is the reason why children are the ones to engage in labor at very early ages. Families don't have money to provide for food or education, many of these children will not have the opportunity to attend a school and a college. It is very important to be aware of the involvement of the fashion industry with sweatshops. Have you ever seen in any of your apparel “Made in Bangladesh, China, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Indonesia, Nicaragua, Vietnam, etc., chances are that the use of sweatshops and even child labor was involved, especially if the price of the apparel was at a very cheap cost.
According to Benjamin Powell, a writer for the Independent Institute, the listed countries priorly mentioned above earn the least minimum wage per hour. As we are more aware of the amount of pain that had to happen for the garments that we wear to be made, we tend to wonder what can be done to solve this inhumane treatment of workers. Activists have opted for boycotting brands such as Aeropostale, Adidas, ASOS, Disney, Forever 21, GAP, H&M, UNIQLO, among others as stated by Alex Assoune, a writer from Panaprimium. There have also been other approaches to this problem as mentioned by Alex, such as supporting companies that are known for not using sweatshops because this will lower the demand for fast low-cost fashion and hopefully this will better the working conditions for workers. This indeed does seem like part of the problem will be solved, other people have thought that banning sweatshops, in general, will get rid of the problem from the root. This may seem like the right solution but unfortunately, people still rely on their jobs at sweatshops because it helps provide even a small amount of income that may seem too little to support whole families but in the end, it may be their only source of income.
Activists and governments have tried their hardest to find a beneficial solution for sweatshop workers, many laws have been implemented and there have been companies who have refused to have their clothing made in countries where sweatshops are still used, even if the cost of production is higher, leading to more costly attirement and products. Choices like these can help the situation and conditions happening at sweatshops although a definite solution has not yet been found. As consumers, have a responsibility to inform themselves about the origin of clothing and products that buy and also be aware of the process and what it takes for what we have to be in our hands.
