As consumers, we are becoming increasingly aware that many of the clothes we buy are produced under sweatshop conditions around the world. Images of children laboring under long hours and abusive conditions in countries like Honduras tarnish the appeal of fashionable clothing made for labels like Kathie Lee Gifford's. In the United States, garment workers, the majority of whom are immigrant women, toil long hours for sub-minimum wages.
American interests create and propagate sweatshops both in the United States and abroad.
Since the inception of the garment industry, U.S. retailers and manufacturers have scoured the United States and the globe for the cheapest and most malleable labor in order to squeeze out the most profit for themselves. In fact, the garment industry is one of the most globalized industries in world. Complex computers coordinate the global production, keeping track of styles, sizes, colors and stages of production throughout the world. Such global production began in the 1960's as U.S. manufacturers first went to Japan, then to Hong Kong, and then to Taiwan and South Korea. U.S. transnationals own none of the overseas manufacturing facilities and have no long term commitment to any country or supplier.