A sweatshop generally refers to a factory where workers toil under very harsh conditions for long hours with low pay. Especially prevalent in developing countries, sweatshops often employ young children and generally have little regard for the safety or comfort of workers. Several large clothing manufacturers have been tied to sweatshop controversies and sustained significant drops in sales as consumer backlash set in. Needless to say, large manufacturers don't want to publicize their use of sweatshops, or the use of sweatshops by their subcontractors. It can take some digging to find out if they use fair labor practices.
Instructions
1. Visit the manufacturer's website to see if it has an FAQ page that addresses concerns over where their clothing is made.
2. Ask the employees of the store if they know where the clothing comes from. Several manufacturers pride themselves on using local, sweatshop-free labor and the employees will tell you so.
3. Contact customer support. Most large clothing stores have some sort of customer support/public relations line. If you can't find the answers in-store or on the web, contact the manufacturer directly and ask where their clothing comes from.
4. Find sweatshop watchdog organizations on the web and review their news releases. Be sure the information is recent; the reputations of some supposed watchdog organizations have come into question amidst reports that they have "sold out" to corporations.
5. Type in the name of a clothing company and "sweatshop" in an Internet search. Many of the largest manufacturers' names come up repeatedly in media reports about the use of child labor and unfair labor practices.
Tags: clothing comes, clothing comes from, comes from, customer support, labor practices