"As its moniker implies, Forever 21 targets college students, who belong to the very age group of those who crusaded for higher pay and better working conditions at apparel factories in the nineteen-nineties. The grand opening of F21 Red, however, was marked not by picketers but by customers who lined up early for gift cards. What changed?"
In 1911, 146 workers died as a part of sweatshop fire in New York. In 1995 an apartment was raided in in El Monte, LA which revealed 70 Thai workers being held in slavery conditions sewing garments for well-known retailers. Students were outraged with concern, staging sit-ins and rallies to protest the mistreatment of workers and demanded change. Even in 2009 nearly a hundred universities protested Russell Athletic's and insisted recent workers who had been let go had been rehired. In the most recent years however a certain silence has been surrounding sweatshops, with much more private protests and less public awareness. It seems as though we have given up, however there are several factors that influence the quietness of this issue. The main reason being the economy-students don't want to risk having clothing prices hired. As selfish as it sounds, the price for clothing is 3-5x higher when manufactured at a salary regulated factory which is enough to cause most people to ignore the issue further. With tuition prices raised and the cost of living increasing it's an issue that will be present for many years to come without much opportunity for change.
The only other reason besides prices that I can think of is that it isn't happening here. Both of the above examples took place within the US as did the rallies and protests. America isn't Canada, and the third world countries are even further away which starts lack of compassion because it isn't directly effecting us. It's one of those things that we think "that's horrible." and that's about as far as it goes because nothing in our world is affected. But all of it is our world, and it's happening to people the same age as us with the same thoughts and feelings and hopes and dreams and we refuse to acknowledge that this is a problem. We find ways to justify it to ourselves or completely let it slip our minds because it's not something we want to think about and address, but we have to. Students need to take the initiative, we make up so much of the consumer population and although we can't all fly to Bangladesh and shut down the factories ourselves we can let the companies know it's not alright. We can raise as much awareness as possible because half of the problem is not knowing, and everyone should know what is happening, even if isn't happening to you.
The sad reality is that nothing has changed, companies just got sneakier and students got quieter. We've gotten stuck in the mindset of 'what can I do about it?' and never bothered to find out the answer. But we are the answer, we are the only ones who can control what we buy and who we buy it from. How have we gotten so selfish that cheaper products have become more important than human lives? How are we able to justify wearing clothing that we know was manufactured in a place where human rights, lives and freedom are taken away every single day?
In 1911, 146 workers died as a part of sweatshop fire in New York. In 1995 an apartment was raided in in El Monte, LA which revealed 70 Thai workers being held in slavery conditions sewing garments for well-known retailers. Students were outraged with concern, staging sit-ins and rallies to protest the mistreatment of workers and demanded change. Even in 2009 nearly a hundred universities protested Russell Athletic's and insisted recent workers who had been let go had been rehired. In the most recent years however a certain silence has been surrounding sweatshops, with much more private protests and less public awareness. It seems as though we have given up, however there are several factors that influence the quietness of this issue. The main reason being the economy-students don't want to risk having clothing prices hired. As selfish as it sounds, the price for clothing is 3-5x higher when manufactured at a salary regulated factory which is enough to cause most people to ignore the issue further. With tuition prices raised and the cost of living increasing it's an issue that will be present for many years to come without much opportunity for change.
The only other reason besides prices that I can think of is that it isn't happening here. Both of the above examples took place within the US as did the rallies and protests. America isn't Canada, and the third world countries are even further away which starts lack of compassion because it isn't directly effecting us. It's one of those things that we think "that's horrible." and that's about as far as it goes because nothing in our world is affected. But all of it is our world, and it's happening to people the same age as us with the same thoughts and feelings and hopes and dreams and we refuse to acknowledge that this is a problem. We find ways to justify it to ourselves or completely let it slip our minds because it's not something we want to think about and address, but we have to. Students need to take the initiative, we make up so much of the consumer population and although we can't all fly to Bangladesh and shut down the factories ourselves we can let the companies know it's not alright. We can raise as much awareness as possible because half of the problem is not knowing, and everyone should know what is happening, even if isn't happening to you.
The sad reality is that nothing has changed, companies just got sneakier and students got quieter. We've gotten stuck in the mindset of 'what can I do about it?' and never bothered to find out the answer. But we are the answer, we are the only ones who can control what we buy and who we buy it from. How have we gotten so selfish that cheaper products have become more important than human lives? How are we able to justify wearing clothing that we know was manufactured in a place where human rights, lives and freedom are taken away every single day?
What changed?