But not for what you'd think.
Ya'll, I actually went out and bought a denim jacket today.
I don't think I've bought a jacket for myself since the Amazing Jacket and Dress Deal I found on the clearance rack at Dillards...6 years ago?
But I got an email advertisement from Coldwater Creek featuring a denim jacket that I had to go check out at the local CWC shop. The one that opened...a year and a half ago?...that I hadn't been in yet.
Anyway, I had an errand to do that was sort of near the fancy shopping center where CWC is located, so I went ahead and ran over while I was in that neck of the woods.
It took me a while to find the denim version of the jacket; they also had it in two jacquards (orange and purple), but denim was what I wanted.
A size 12P fit fairly well and looked good. Knowing how much I've worn my Vogue Denim Jacket, I figured I'd wear this one bunches and bunches, too. And, looking at all the details on it, I will tell you straight up that $40 is worth not sewing it myself. I didn't feel the least bit guilty over that. In fact, I was congratulating myself because my sewing abilities allowed me to recognize a great buy when I found it.
But after I got home with it, I looked at the care label and found that it was made in China. And I wondered...who made my lovely jacket? Did I just contribute to an abusive system?
I don't know...and I can't do much about it at this point. But I can, every time I put that jacket on, pray for the unknown sewing machine operator and his/her co-workers. It is the least I can do, when she/he made such a nice little jacket for me to run around in.
Maybe the sewist's life is just a little better because they have that job? I dunno, just saying, because it's a complex issue. I've heard that although their jobs are hard, they're better than the jobs they would have otherwise.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Nancy, I've thought of that, too. But I've also heard of near slave labor in some cases; I'm not sure what the truth of the matter is. It's sad that we have reason to wonder...
ReplyDeleteIt's rough. Sounds like you're doing the best you can do with it though, and maybe your prayers will help them.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Nancy. Not all workshops in China are abusive and they provide much needed employment and income to people who have traveled from the rural areas to work in the factories!
ReplyDeleteI think the larger companies have started to police the factories and how they are run. I think Georgene of the Sewing Divas posted something about that a while back. Without getting too graphic, some of those young women are forced into brothels if they can't find other work. In that perspective, even a sweat shop is a step up. What a sad way to have to live.
ReplyDeleteWow. What a choice... we just don't have a clue, do we?
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