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How Does The Slave Trade Affect The Garment Industry

3177 Words13 Pages

Clare French- Erasmus
Abstract
This essay aims to uncover the details of the prominence of the support of sweat shop factories in the garment industry by household brands, and the future of such industry injustices. Much like many other world horrors that are uncovered by the media every so often, once the finger of blame has been pointed in a particular direction and met with the initial uproar and disgust, the issue has generally been seen as being dealt with, and the aftermath not so closely analysed. We hear of conventions and plans, petitions and signatories, but how can we tell if the situation is realistically changing? As an active consumer, admittedly and shamefully I know that I am indirectly fuelling and supporting what is in essence, the slave trade. Within this essay I aim to discover both the roots and potential solutions to this industry failure based …show more content…

Sweden’s H&M, Spain’s ZARA and America’s NIKE, can largely reduce costs by producing their clothing and footwear in countries where the workers minimum wages are equal to a fraction of what it would be if they paid for the same work domestically.
Corporations set up sweatshops in the name of "competition". In reality these corporations are not facing profit losses or bankruptcy, nor are they anywhere close to such scenarios. It is greed that is driving this industry. During this century, workers real wages have gone down while CEO's salaries have skyrocketed. In 1965 the average CEO made 44 times the average factory worker. Today, the average CEO makes 212 times the salary of the average worker. Fast-fashion megastar, ZARA, for example, made its founder, Amancio Ortega, the richest man in Europe in 2012. This was a year after the brand had been pulled up by the media for having manufacturing outsourced in Brazil being conducted in sweatshop

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