The apparel and retail industry throughout the history of our nation has always been motivated to try and come up with ways to increase their profits by driving the costs of their products as low as possible. The solution to many of these corporations’ problems has always seemed to be simple enough. The exploitation of people across the oceans in foreign lands for cheap labor is the common solution to these companies, whether in the apparel, athletics and sports products, or other types of industries to maintain a stable margin of profit at others expense. Sweatshops have become the means for companies in the retail industry in America to keep their customers satisfied, and at the same time make an unthinkable amount of profit off of the cheap labor that helps to create the products that line the shelves.
This epidemic is occurring at an alarming rate with across the nation. The worst of which is the result of major apparel industry companies in New York and the greater Los Angeles area. In New York, the U. S. Department of Labor’s Secretary Alexis Herman disclosed information that “63 percent of the sewing contractors in the New York City garment industry were in violation of the minimum wage or overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.” (CNN. com) The common American consumer, whether they know it or not, holds the power that drives the operation of the sweatshop.
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Because of this, it is our responsibility as consumers to demand that the products we purchase are made with a standard of morality and not in oppressing sweatshop conditions. The action must be taken in order to observe those individuals rights as our fellow brothers and sisters of the world and bring an abrupt halt to this epidemic, no matter the cost. People everywhere must recognize that the unethical practices that no human should have to face occur on a daily basis in sweatshops. There is no reason for one human being on one side of the planet to suffer a ridiculous amount of torture in order to produce a product to satisfy another person. Humans must be treated fairly everywhere with no exceptions, and not have to endure hardships and cruelty for someone else’s benefit.
That is exactly what is going on in the modern day operations of sweatshops. Individuals must work ridiculous hours, sometimes seven days a week facing sexual harassment, discrimination, and even physical abuse from their overseers. Companies like Nike, Gap and other major retailers are fully aware of these conditions, as are many of the customers who buy their products, but these practices still continue. Cooperation between both the retailers and their customers is necessary to eliminate this problem.
The most probable solution would be for the retailers to be required by law to present the consumer with a list of how and where their products are made, and under what conditions. The consumer must then evaluate this list and come to a conclusion as to whether they agree with the practice that went into creating the product and decide whether it was produced in an ethical manner that they agree with. Some say that the solution to this problem is not an easy one to come to. By solving this problem, it may create another, the prices of the products made, as cost efficiently as they were in sweatshops would escalate. This is a small price to pay however, and the major issue of fair and ethical treatment of all humanity should really be the primary concern for everyone.
