There are numerous things disturbing about this story. Of course first off is the fact that the Gap has a history of this kind of thing, and you’d THINK they would be policing themselves to stop it, not learning about it from a European newspaper. Isn’t that the theory? The corporations in a free market society will police themselves? That was sarcasm by the way. Now you can say they are a giant corporation, and this kind of thing is impossible to monitor 100%, and the Gap is certainly not the only company guilty of this, however they are obviously a giant and thusly are 100% responsible to take the lead in the industry. We have in the past been guilty of giving them the benefit of the doubt and tried to post some of their (RED)iculous clothing (we also do it in part to increase search engine traffic)…Yes, it’s clearly a marketing scheme to help them clean their image (charge twice as much for the clothing, give half to charity or whatever…look good and still make a profit). I like to hope or pretend some good comes from it somewhere. This is just another steaming shitty example of why you should buy local, support independent companies with a conscience etc. Corporations have made life more luxurious, provided cheaper goods and services, however if it leads to children being sold into slavery…that should be obviously unacceptable. I’d even go as far as to say the Gap doesn’t pass on that much in savings to the American customer, they keep the profits and are a disgustingly wealthy bunch at the top-
Founded in San Francisco in 1969 by Donald Fisher, now one of America’s wealthiest businessmen, Gap operates more than 3,000 stores and franchises across the world. In Britain Gap, babyGap and GapKids are very successful, their own-brand jeans alone outselling their retail rivals’ lines by three to one.
It seems an all too frequent bullshit excuse “but we need to keep costs down” to compete, if your “founder’s” valued worth is 3.3 billion…you do the math. The issue of outsourcing is a hot button with visible arguments for either side, but at the very least we demand fair treatment, and fair market wages for people tasked with the labor. In the perfect example of how out of touch the Gap is, they have pulled the article of clothing created by this particular “factory”, and destroyed it…rather than giving it to charity or something? really? Punish the clothing…
The Observer- Child sweatshop shame threatens Gap’s ethical image
Global Exchange- Sweat Free: A Movement Towards Ending Sweatshops
Global Envision- The End of Gap Sweatshops?
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