Inquiry based Essay

Sweatshops are a distinct essential for the majority of clothing production today. Most

U.S. companies would not exist without their use of sweatshops overseas. It is the means of fast

and efficient production at the expense of those suffering in these developing countries. And it

does not seem to be ending anytime soon. Sustainable or ethical fashion, while on the rise, still

remains widely inconsequential. The way to sustainable fashion is continually questioned and

held back by globalization. With fast fashion, ethical fashion has sank to bottom of companies’

concerns. Still, with harmful conditions set in sweatshops in developing countries, it is an unde-

niable problem for the - generally female - impoverished workers.

Producer-friendly clothing and sweatshop free production may seem like the common

words of today but there is still a vast amount of abuse and exploitation in the clothing industry.

The corruption extends from the wages workers are paid to the conditions they work in and lack

of protection they have. I have researched how the sweatshops are developed and upheld, along

with the efforts made to change the almost cemented clothing-making process and the perspec-

tive from the women. In short, what effect do major U.S. clothing companies have on the seem-

ingly irrevocable exploitation of women in third world countries and on the progress of sustain-

able fashion and what is the U.S. doing about it?

Not long before, I had never questioned where I get my clothes from or what indirect ef-

fect I may be having on someone’s life. But when I took an eye-opening sociology class my first

quarter attending the University of Denver, I found out just what my effect is. We watched the

documentary The True Cost that covers all aspects of the corrupt fashion industry I have re-

searched. In class we talked about ethical fashion from wearing mainstream brand names to buy-

ing DU clothing at the campus bookstore. It had shown me my impact on something that was so

normal to everyone’s life. The initial acknowledgment of the corrupt fashion world inspired me

to learn more and see how what is being done to improve the conditions of these women work-

ers.

Literature Review: Sweatshop Background

The basis of sweatshops generally is globalization and the U.S. demand for overseas im-

portation of clothing. The majority of this started when “apparel imports, largely from low-wage

producers, went from 2 percent of apparent consumption in 1961 to over 52 percent in

1999”(Ro.) for the U.S. The increase of clothing imports to the U.S. has had a major effect on

other countries’ globalization and overall progression. The countries that typically make the

clothing for countries like the U.S. are developing countries and undergo struggles of their own

while attempting to strengthen their economies. For example, Ross says in his book “Slaves to

Fashion”, “The competition between Mexico and China and, by implication, among all the poor

countries striving to fulfill orders from rich country buyers threatens the small signs of progress

that their workers may have made”(Ro.).

To extend the point further, if the countries are not more developed they will not be able

to care for the workers well either. The considerably quick globalization of the countries caused

for an improvement in the economy without regard to the lower working class. With the Tazreen

Fashion disaster the accident was prone to happen with the conditions; “It was an eight-story

building with no fire escapes, no emergency exits and some 1600 employees working overtime

to fulfill last-minute orders that would eventually travel through the supply chain to major U.S.

retailers. At least 117 workers died that night, although many other bodies remained unclaimed,

and more than 200 were injured”(P.). These are somewhat common accidents occurring in

sweatshops that were created without any regulation or outside requirements because of the need

for extreme profit in these countries.

Sustainability in Fashion

Since the issues within the corrupt fashion industry have become more sources of news,

more has been done to improve the circumstances. When questioning the idea of sustainable

fashion an important aspect to question is “Agitation for improved safety conditions can be help-

ful, just as it was in 19th-century Europe. But Asian workers would be aghast at the idea of

American consumers boycotting certain toys or clothing in protest. The simplest way to help the

poorest Asians would be to buy more from sweatshops, not less.”(Re.) A way of going about im-

proving these conditions may be to have higher regulations, not shutting them down completely.

In support, another undercover reporters argued: “Sweatshop monitors do have a useful role.

They can compel factories to improve safety. They can also call attention to the impact of sweat-

shops on the environment. The greatest downside of industrialization is not exploitation of work-

ers but toxic air and water”(K.).

Feminism within Sweatshops

The last theme to recognize within the corrupt fashion industry is the feminist issues.

When people hear of those in factories or terrible working conditions, most generally think of

women. And they are not wrong. The sweatshop issues can be taken as feminist issues because

these are the women who are going to work for their families and experiencing the terrible condi-

tions. Undercover reporters have almost no mention of men when reporting sweatshops; “There

we visited several factories, including one in the boomtown of Dongguan, where about 100 fe-

male workers sat at workbenches stitching together bits of leather to make purses for a Hong

Kong company.”(K.).

Many women of all ages work all day in harsh conditions in order to provide for their

families. This man talking of his daughter working gives a first-hand experience of what the gen-

eral life is like:

“She's working in a factory in Bangkok. She's making clothing for export to America.”

He explained that she was paid $2 a day for a nine-hour shift, six days a week. “It's dan-

gerous work,” Mongkol added. “Twice the needles went right through her hands. But the

managers bandaged up her hands, and both times she got better again and went back to

work.” … “It’s good pay,” he said. “I hope she can keep that job. There's all this talk

about factories closing now, and she said there are rumors that her factory might close. I

hope that doesn't happen. I don't know what she would do then.”

And generally, the families in these countries do not think much of this situation. It is the com-

mon way and it is needed to help families survive. But whether this is the norm or not, it does not

mean the conditions cannot be improved.

Methods

The research I obtained by my own doing was through a survey, observation and inter-

view. I created a survey on SurveyMonkey with six questions based on the regularities of the re-

spondents’ shopping habits and knowledge of sustainable fashion. I sent the survey to my peers

and collected and analyzed my 74 responses. There were few options for personal answers, so

the results were very clear as to where the respondents generally shop and what they know about

sustainable fashion. However, the option for extended answers gave me some understanding of

how people interpret sustainable fashion. The survey in general allowed me to get quick re-

sponses from a vast group of people for general opinions or knowledge.

As for the observation I visited a sustainable clothing shop called prAna in Denver, Col-

orado for a real idea of how sustainability is actually in progress. Seeing as this is the only com-

pletely sustainable clothing shop I have been to there is nothing to compare it with, but it was

very high end. The prices were high and a certain lifestyle was expected. But I was still able to

see where their clothing is produced and how the shop is set up to protect human rights and stay

eco-friendly. Because their main message is how they get their clothing, it was easy to find out

about their production process with all of their products. prAna had a sole commitment to the

Fair Trade Certification which was stamped on every tag and defined their company goals and

guarantees. This is still keeping in mind that the observation was a little skewed because the shop

was very expensive and advertised mainly for the wealthy.

With the interview, I was able to interview a student attending DU who is in the Environ-

mental Sustainability LLC and majoring in Environmental Sustainability. The interview, because

it involved someone with a background of sustainability, gave me a personal perspective for the

continuation of sustainable fashion. Although, this did focus my conversation with my intervie-

wee a little more on the environmental side of the fashion industry because of her background.

But the individual response was important for someone with knowledge on the topic to express

their own opinion of what the best ideas are moving forward. As a college student creating this

research paper, it was important for me to include an informed college student’s view as well.

Without going in depth on environmental issues because this was not my focus of the topic, I

was given clear answers on her own opinion and view of sustainable fashion.

Results

Once I acquired all this information

from my primary research, I was able to code

all of my material. I broke it up by color cod-

ing the words that appeared the most in order

to see what the most common themes were. I

realized that this area of my research deter-

mined more of the effect prices have on over-

all shopping, environmental factors, and

knowledge people have on the fashion world. From these aspects of primary research, I was able

to gather a greater sense of the people’s thoughts and improvements in the U.S. rather than over-

seas. It helped to acquire a general idea of what the road to sustainable fashion looks like and

what its current situation is. My three major findings from my research were concern with price,

involvement of the environment, and little education on the topic.

My first finding, price, was definitely a clear essential to most shoppers when considering

sustainable fashion and impacted the answers in the survey and the interview. Although 70% of

the respondents on the survey buy clothes “less than monthly” at mainstream brands (which are

generally not sustainable companies), they say sustainable fashion is somewhat affordable. But

on the other hand, over half of the respondents said sustainable fashion is either hard to find or

they do not know where to purchase such clothing. As a deduction, it seems that many respon-

dents have heard of sustainable clothing shops that are somewhat affordable but do not purchase

from them regularly or ever. Supporting the cheaper sustainable shops, my interviewee did ex-

press her strong opinion of the benefits of shopping at thrift shops. When asked why she chooses

to shop there she states that they are “inexpensive” and “a great way to recycle clothing”. And

while thrift shopping is accommodating in price, only over 20% of respondents purchase cloth-

ing at thrift shops, flea markets or discount clothing stores. The necessity of cheap pricing with

clothing seems to come in contrast with what people consider quality clothing.

However, the clothing store I visited for my observation was widely expensive, being

placed in the high-end shopping vicinity of Cherry Creek North in Denver, Colorado. The cloth-

ing store, prAna, emphasized fair trade, the environment, and comfort as a part of joining the

sustainable clothing movement. Every piece of their clothing has a fair trade certification on their

tags which helps “farming families in over 70 countries earn fair wages, work in safe conditions,

protect the environment and keep their kids in school”. While they were very thorough with their

means of production and improving working conditions overseas, the clothes were not at least

constantly affordable by the general public. The company was very focused on certain con-

sumers according to the area of the shop so it was unclear if the sustainable clothing production

can only make profit at these prices or if was meant specifically for a wealthier public. Consider-

ing that a majority of my respondents prefer mainstream brands, my research about price seems

to bring about the question if there is an in between the high-end sustainable fashion and thrift

shopping.

The next finding, the environment, was also an important component of the observation

and interview. The clothing store prAna promoted their environmental attributes around the

store. None of the products were made with agrochemicals or GMOs and many products were

made with organic materials. Even the tags were made from “post-consumer waste”. In relation

to price, it is again hard to say if the price is because of the environment-friendly materials used

or simply the shopping area. Nevertheless, it proves making fully environment friendly clothes at

least doable. Again, the store was only one example of a concrete sustainable fashion shop.

As for my interviewee, she is a member of the Environmental Sustainability LLC and is

majoring in Environmental Sustainability so her ideas on sustainable fashion were definitely

more focused there. She argues that we have the capability and resources to produce sustainable

clothing so there is “no reason not to”. My interviewee was very passionate about the effects

sweatshops have on the environment and that it is indeed “affecting each and every one of us”.

She says that it is not a topic that is “expressed too much” and people need to be educated in it in

order to improve sustainable fashion. Accordingly, the intricacies of producing clothes along

with the consistent suffering are so little

known and the education is the first step to-

wards helping the current conditions.

This brings us to my last finding,

lack of education surrounding the topic.

Limited knowledge on sustainable fashion

makes it hard to question people about the

subject and see too much progress. My in-

terviewee is clear in pointing out that you

“have to get the word out” and talk about

where these clothes everyone is buying (i.e.

mainstream clothing brands) are coming from. It was clear to see on the results of the survey that

there is not enough known about where people get their clothes. Almost half of the respondents

to the survey know very little or nothing at all about sustainable fashion. Over 30% of the people

also do not know where they would be able to find sustainable clothing. Education was very ob-

viously a setback to the improvement of sweatshops worldwide. In relation to my original re-

search question, the research I conducted determined that generally people do like to shop from

major U.S. clothing companies but have little knowledge of how they get these clothes. In that

sense, the U.S. is having a powerful effect from their successful companies by producing clothes

across the world. Consumers continue to buy from these companies and unaware of these direct

effects. I believe my research would change greatly if specifically my respondents were informed

about their consumer effects and if it would change where or how they shop.

Discussion

Looking over my primary research, there was an obvious difference between the focuses

in my secondary research and those involved in my primary research. While my secondary re-

search found more on companies and the conditions in overseas sweatshops, my primary re-

search explained the more immediate clothing need and lack of knowledge behind sustainable

fashion. One source explains how Heider’s balance theory says that people would prefer to have

their actions and beliefs coincide in relation to purchasing clothing and knowing the impact be-

hind it. The idea is calling for people to know more research so that they can know the effects of

choosing sustainable fashion. And seeing that there may be a general stigma to sustainable fash-

ion, it would seem that education is the only way to reverse it. Generally, this was the only direct

connection between my secondary and primary research. Altogether, my research resulted in ad-

verse ideas in the complex topic of the corrupt fashion industry. The contrast between the issues

going on throughout the world and the knowledge or impact domestically was found hard to re-

late. But conditions in sweatshops and specifically related to women are prominent and directly

relates to everyone in the U.S. purchasing from mainstream brands whether this is known or not.

My primary research determines that many people do not know about these issues. While

it is not necessarily one of the leading problems in the world today, it is impacted by everyone’s

continual choices. The reverse of current sweatshop conditions created from the rise of globaliza-

tion may be long but can occur through improvement of sustainable fashion and educating citi-

zens of the U.S. The primary research is related to my secondary research due to the finding that

the because U.S. was indirectly the one to create - and now directly the one to uphold - unfair

treatment in sweatshops, the U.S. is the only one to implement its change. And this starts with

the general public of the U.S. first understanding where they are buying their clothes from.

Another conclusion from the research was that consumers have a lack of interest in sus-

tainable fashion. The sustainable fashion paradox says that “consumers perceive sustainable

products as inferior to fast-fashion in terms of product and store attributes”(J.). In short, con-

sumers will continue to buy from shops not concerned with fair working conditions. As previ-

ously stated, this was demonstrated in my survey as well where the majority of people shopped

at mainstream clothing stores. The consumers are not very likely to spend extra time to look for

sustainable clothing alternatives because they do not see it as necessary or worth their money.

The consumer perspective is essential to consider in sustainable fashion and can be deducted as a

reason why sustainable fashion production has not taken off.

The research ended up taking a twist to my research questions by portraying the consis-

tent problem in the relation of developed to developing countries. The problems in the U.S. to

the general public were more money focused while my research overseas focused on the continu-

ation of unfair treatment to namely women. The women are easily exploited by the conditions

originally created. Acknowledging the sacrifice women in these countries are making, one re-

porter notes “‘By all accounts, working women are changing their lives, their families’ lives,' Ms

Aulakh said. 'There is more food in homes, and cleaner clothes. There is electricity, even if it’s

one bulb, and there are toilets ... But it has come at a price.’”(Reporter) In a general sense the un-

fair treatment to women in the majority of sweatshops is extensive but acknowledging it is the

first step which has yet to be done by many people here.

The last topic that was hard to relate was the international issue of the environment.

Questions involving the environment could not necessarily be involved in my survey because it

mainly pertains to certain people. However, my interviewee stated that she thrift shops so that

“the clothes do not go to landfills”. My secondary research supported this statement with the rise

of a new sustainable fashion attempt. This source of sustainable fashion has resulted from a new

attempt by Tasha Lewis. Lewis argues that:

“Most clothing can be recycled in some way, but a lot of it ends up in landfills. Reducing the

burden of clothing recycling for the consumer by asking manufacturers to provide predeter-

mined end use solutions, could be a new industry sector powered by the variety of possible

solutions. We are shredding, cutting and reforming clothing to test the limits of reuse in the

hope that we will provide the apparel industry with some feasible solutions that expand cur-

rent practices” (Lewis).

But it is not only landfills that are the problem. The incorporation of eco-friendly production can

also be found as helpful to these workers in the first place because of the chemicals and destruc-

tion they are exposed to.(Root) Making the environment a priority not only helps the effort of

sustainable fashion but the sicknesses and diseases the lower classes in these developing coun-

tries cannot afford to get taken care of.

To conclude my discussion, seemingly different findings from both ends of my research

were hard to relate. But it defined the scope of an international problem versus a personal basis

of the fashion industry. The results gave me the realization that this is the connection that needs

to be made in order for the U.S. to truly reverse their impact on sweatshops and improve sustain-

able fashion. Without this connection there is simply the facts on these current issues and many

U.S. citizens unaware of their direct, daily impact.

Conclusion

Overall, what seemed like the beginning of an informational research topic turned into a

difficult relation to the general public. I was surprised at how many people through my survey

did not know what even sustainable fashion is and mostly shop at mainstream clothing stores.

Attaining this information made it difficult to relate to my secondary research which dove deep

into foundations of sweatshops, feminist aspects and strives toward sustainable fashion. It even

made an impact on my research question which had originally merely questioned U.S. clothing

companies’ effect on third world countries and sustainable fashion. But without a simple back-

ground on these ideas people could not respond accordingly. Essentially, my research became

limited to their knowledge of sweatshops or sustainable fashion.

One connection that was made, interestingly enough, was the bigger international prob-

lem of sweatshops in relation to the more at home problems such as clothing prices. Finding my

own research on this topic, gave me the realization that the topic is not a simple injustice and

regulation-fixed issue. The issues are human created and therefore only can be solved by people.

But people around the world have to understand their impact and the issue in the first place in or-

der to change it. After finding the secondary research, primary research shifted my focus to un-

derstand that the topic is not just about the problem and how to fix it but how people are in-

volved and their willingness to change habits. My results were different than expected but cre-

ated a well-rounded view of the topic instead.

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Appendix A

Survey:

-Where do you typically shop? (options of mainstream brands, non-chain stores or thrift shops)

-How often do you go out to buy clothes?

-Do you feel like you are somewhat knowledgable about sustainable fashion? (yes a lot, only a

little, very little, not at all)

-Do you think sustainable fashion is affordable?

-Do you think sustainable fashion is easy to find?

-Are there ways companies can make it easier to be a part of sustainable fashion? (can expand)

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/YCWRR8L

Appendix B

Interview:

-Where do you typically shop and why?

-What are your main concerns when shopping for clothes?

-What do you think of sustainable fashion? (explanation if needed)

-What do you think would be the hardest thing about only buying sustainable fashion?

Appendix C

Observation:

-fair trade certified

-environment, humane, comfort

-clothes made in USA have imported components

-attempts at organic material

-pictures of people hiking on the walls, in comfortable clothing

-owner’s golden retriever in the store

-handouts with descriptions of fair trade certification

-tags were made with post-consumer waste

-if not happy with clothing you can always return it

-very expensive

-logos of sustainable fashion

-put in high end area, surrounded by couture shopping

-based on workout clothes with few summer dresses and swimsuits

-made in places world wide - China, India, Vietnam were the main ones

-ideas were to improve wages and working conditions, written on every tag

-effort for comfortable clothes

-feel good about what you are wearing

-workers are not that knowledgeable on where their clothing comes from/about their clothes

Appendix D

Coding common words throughout my research:shops: 3price: 8environment: 6style: 4comfort: 6education: 4

fair trade: 3

Themes:price, environment, education