Abstract The global garment industry, worth more than $400 billion dollars today, is a very lucrative industry. Garment factories in developing countries working for retailers in developed ones shows how efficiency is increased and every party can benefit through outsourcing of labour from developed countries; retailers and consumers get clothes at cheaper prices while employment is provided to areas plagued with poverty. However, it is evident that many of these garment factories are sweatshops, which are factories and businesses that violates local or international labour laws, such as providing workers with atrocious working conditions, providing minimal compensation or even employing child labour. Like it or not, many of our clothes does not come ethically and they have probably encouraged labour exploitation in one way or another. How have sweatshops benefitted society or caused harm to it? This research paper will identify and analyse the significance of sweatshops, reasons for its prevalence and compare its positive and negative impacts on society.
Literature review A sweatshop is a term for a workplace that violates local or international labour laws, such as providing workers with atrocious working conditions and minimal compensation (New World Encyclopedia, 2008). The work may be difficult, dangerous or underpaid. Workers producing clothing for the garment industry mostly work in sweatshops in developing countries, receiving minimum