GAP Clothing - OOOOOOOOPS

[dirk diggler]

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll...DATE/710280352

 

[Joffrey]

I wonder if the kids get employee discounts

 

[Master Shake]

GapKids: By Kids, For Kids

 

[LabelKing]

Some, working as long as 16 hours a day to hand-sew clothing, said they were not being paid at the unidentified Gap supplier because their employer said they were still trainees.

Well, artisan-goods at the Gap!

 

[freelance robotics]

oops nothing, these companies know what's going on. they avoid the specifics as much as possible so that they can feign total ignorance later on, but they're damn well aware of the kind of conditions that are prevalant in the places they do business with!

 

[stickonatree]

Originally Posted by Master Shake

GapKids: By Kids, For Kids

kinda wrong, but

 

[mrpologuy]

Cheap khakis and sweaters don't make themselves. Where is Mugatu when you need him?

 

[TCN]

Originally Posted by freelance robotics

oops nothing, these companies know what's going on. they avoid the specifics as much as possible so that they can feign total ignorance later on, but they're damn well aware of the kind of conditions that are prevalant in the places they do business with!

While this may be the case in some instances, I have represented companies whose officers never knew the locations of (let alone set foot in) far flung factories. Especially in a third world country where the Western retailer may be going through a third party to have the work done. I have no idea how Gap goes about this, just saying that there might not necessarily be actual knowledge.

While I'd love to sit back and lament child labor, and I'm not at all for it . . . doesn't the responsibility for this fall to the country or the culture and not the retailer? I'm thinking that in a culture or economy that treats child labor or substandard conditions like a norm (and where if Company A isn't running a sweatshop, the kids will go work for Company B), this sort of thing is going to happen no matter what you do. If anything, I'd like to think that even low paying factory jobs are either keeping these children fed or keeping them from child prostitution, etc.

Not sold on either viewpoint mind you, just throwing a thought out there.

 

[Joel_Cairo]

Originally Posted by TCN

While I'd love to sit back and lament child labor, and I'm not at all for it . . . doesn't the responsibility for this fall to the country or the culture and not the retailer? I'm thinking that in a culture or economy that treats child labor or substandard conditions like a norm (and where if Company A isn't running a sweatshop, the kids will go work for Company B), this sort of thing is going to happen no matter what you do. If anything, I'd like to think that even low paying factory jobs are either keeping these children fed or keeping them from child prostitution, etc.

Not sold on either viewpoint mind you, just throwing a thought out there.

+1. This may be a rather unpopular devil's-advocat point to make, but the fact of the matter is, sweatshops are an improvement from some economies, and can be the first foot-in-the-door of the global market, leading, eventually, to increased standard of living and all that good stuff. Everybody's gotta start somewhere.

 

[AlanC]

Not exactly the same, but I was in a small one man tailor shop in India a couple of years ago, and a kid was in the back with a sewing machine doing some work. 'Child labor', yes, but also an apprentice learning a trade. Of course the conditions described in the article are unacceptable, and we all want to see improved working conditions, but how many children who are working in developing countries would thank you for 'freeing' them from a paying job when they and their families need the money that actually can improve their condition?

 

[freelance robotics]

i'm definitely not saying that they even have an alternative, which is probably the most awful part of these kinds of situations. and i agree that it's a phase that i think a lot of developing economies unfortunately have to go through, certainly industrial america and victorian england did. the difference, however, is that those were relatively closed economies, but with an outside economic powerhouse like the U.S. fueling these countries, there's a vested and incredibly powerful interest in preventing conditions from ever improving.

 

[TCN]

Originally Posted by Jodum5

I wonder if the kids get employee discounts

No discount, just double "Gap rewards points".

 

[edmorel]

So, in other words, Gap clothing has more handwork than Kiton?

 

[a tailor]

certainly they have a good idea as to what is going on.
they can claim ignorance because of being 5000 miles away.
but a company the size as the gap can afford to have an
inspector permanently overseas.
but then they could not claim ignorance.

 

[knowsnothin]

Originally Posted by TCN

While this may be the case in some instances, I have represented companies whose officers never knew the locations of (let alone set foot in) far flung factories. Especially in a third world country where the Western retailer may be going through a third party to have the work done. I have no idea how Gap goes about this, just saying that there might not necessarily be actual knowledge.



It would be easy to feel sorry from GAP, if they hadn't sought out the cheapest places on the entire planet to make clothes.