I tried to buy a bra a few weeks ago. I have to say I'm a fairly simple person, I just want a nude colored bra that isn't made in a sweatshop. There are no other specific criteria. I went to Victoria's Secret, because I have a few bras that I bought there in the past and I was satisfied with them. I've gone to other stores and walked into a fitting room with no less than 15 bras, and not a single one was satisfactory.
I went to Victoria's Secret at Newport Mall and picked out pretty much every bra that came in nude without padding. I took my time browsing, figuring that if I'm going to pay almost $50 for a bra, I'm going to make sure it's a good one. So I get maybe 12 bras, flag down a black suited sales person and walk into a fitting room. Instantly, I realize that I didn't look at the tags on any of the bras. I forgot to check where each bra was made.
So I sigh, realizing that of course, most of these are probably made in some third world country that was devastated by war and is now being devastated by neo-liberalism. I look at the tags, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Macao, Cambodia...you know, hotbeds of Democracy and workers' rights. So...I spent over an hour sorting through and choosing bras, only to have to retrace my steps and put all of the bras back. I went home empty handed. And so now, I still need a bra. American Apparel and a few other places make and sell sweatshop free bras, but they never have underwire. I can't swing underwire free. If anyone reads this and know of someone selling sweatshop free bras, with underwire, I'd appreciate a heads up.
Another problem, jeans. I can't get a frigging pair of decent looking jeans sweatshop free. Sweatshop free companies tend to sell overalls and lumberjack looking jeans. Not my style. American Apparel is supposed to come out with a denim line. Hopefully, sometime in the near future. For now I'll be trolling the aisles of my local Salvation Army looking for old Levi's.
Bathtub love
with Turkey and her man
Prink and sister
Charlie Louise Parker McCarty
aka Fat Kitty
About Me
- nicole
- Montclair, NJ
- Part-time cooking enthusiast and very willing taste tester. Wife, mother, and anal retentive editor.
7 comments:
Cambodia is probably not nearly as bad as you think. Buying Cambodian is a good thing, I think, to be enocuraged.
http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=20040816&s=prasso081604
What about focusing your efforts on the brand rather than the country it's produced in? Maybe you have to adjust where you shop.
Have you checked out No Sweat Apparel?
i was in american apparel the other day and saw a pair of jeans. just one pair, and it was kind of white and ugly, but still. it was there.
otherwise, you should try looking at more high-end, small designers. i know it can get very pricey, but if you just get one piece now and then, it won't be so bad. given the way the world economy is structured, the stuff is expensive because it's more expensive to manufacture here. alot of small designers have to, though, as it's not practical to outsource an order that's not astronomically large.
i read in women's wear daily the other day that the dollar is probably going to plummet soon because the country is spending more money, on foreign manufacturing and such, than it is bringing in. then there may be some shifts. to a certain degree.
Its not just clothing.
I've been working as a commercial electrician for a while and electrical parts that used to be made here are now coming in with China stamped on them. Even simple heavy things like threaded couplings and connectors for steel conduit are coming from China now. The same goes for similar plumbing fittings.
I don't know how they do it. Even if manufactured for $0.00 in labor, one would think the shipping costs of sending heavy chunks of steel would outweigh the costs of local manufacture.
I wonder if this isn't being done as a "geopolitical warfare" by some countries to destroy our ability to produce the fundamental items needed to construct and maintain our critical infrastructure?
Certain strategic items necessary for the critical functioning of society simply shouldn't be made overseas, even by our allies. It is foolish to give someone else that kind of leverage over you.
You should try "Truck" brand for jeans. You can find them for only $15 or $20 and they're all made in the US. They have cute washes and cuts. They're only available at Alloy as far as I know...(alloy.com). It's also good to check slightly damaged / overstock stores such as Rugged Wearhouse, which often stock designer US made jeans for cheap.
Bras, however, are impossible! :'(
Check it out, I finally found an organic bra with an underwire made under sweatshop-free conditions! It's available at http://www.faeriesdance.com/underwire-soft-p-219.html
I found it through http://www.pristineplanet.com/default.asp
-Aiden
Thank you for sharing this.... I just started researching sweatshop labor today. I found a link with some pretty good sweatshop free underwear options.... http://www.veganrepresent.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8934
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