By Adriana Elias, Courier News Editor
Getting a shirt for $3 may seem like a steal, but the reality of the price is actually a lot more graphic than you can imagine.
Many Americans are only concerned with the brands of their clothing. They rarely stop to think about how the clothing got to the store or who actually made it. This results in an ongoing cycle of the customer blindly buying and the maker barely profiting.
If you like a store because of their deals, chances are it’s because the clothes weren’t made in America. Not only were they made in different countries, they were made in sweatshops. A sweatshop is a sometimes unsafe building packed with sewing stations where employees go to make your clothes and only earn about $2 a day. Now, when you think of the word “employee” someone of adult age often comes to mind. In this case, age is but a number. Sweatshops in developing countries hire people of any age. Yes, that means children too.
Employees work in big buildings that are often times very unsafe. In 2013 tragedy struck Dhaka, Bangladesh in India. The Rana Plaza garment building collapsed leaving 1,129 workers dead. Although this is considered to be the deadliest garment building disaster ever, accidents occur everyday in sweatshops. In 2015 a fire struck a footwear factory in the Philippines and 72 people were reported dead. Due to the high demand for products, the head of the factory pushes workers to continue working even if they notice something that could be potentially dangerous. Because of this, tragedies that could have been avoided, are not.
So a question still remains, why do sweatshop workers get paid so little? The answer is simple. Due to our want for low prices on clothing, the people making the clothing would have to get paid even less. But for many the option is either starve or work in sweatshops under poor conditions and make around $0.50 an hour.
The next time you pick up a clothing item remember the story behind it and how that low price that helps you, is hurting thousands.