Robots? Soldiers? Prisoners? Slaves?

No, just regular Chinese sweatshop workers. This documentary film explores the biggest factory in the world: Factory City.

The post Factory City Documentary Film About the Biggest Factory in the World first appeared on Sweatshop Free.

Since 1989, American Apparel has distracted folks from the importance of their company in the world of fashion, and now they are closing. A huge failure for American manufacturing, and a huge failure for spreading sweatshop-free awareness.

Unfortunately, narrow-minded consumers and fast-fashion addicts will use American Apparel as a case study for years to come. Because, you know, look what happened to American Apparel.

But that’s ok now, because the model has been proven wrong and AA has officially been swallowed up by a gigantic producer of sweatshop goods. Even Cosmopolitan magazine posted this quote claiming:

“[Gildan does] have a plan, and that plan doesn’t involve U.S. manufacturing and certainly not Los Angeles manufacturing.”

Say goodbye to 3,400 American factory jobs. Say goodbye to 110 sweatshop free stores.

Sweatshop Free and Made in America didn’t have to end this way, but American Apparel was like a suicidal crackpot that climbed a mountain, only to leap off in eminent self-destructive hispter glory. If American Apparel were a depressed, isolated, and socially-awkward teenager desperately trying to find their place in the world, it would be a cutter.

American Apparel apparently hated itself when it looked in the mirror – wait, did you see the clothes they made? They obviously didn’t look in the mirror. The board hated the former CEO; the former CEO must’ve festered some hate for the board after being kicked out in 2014; the employees seemingly hated the customers, etc. Pure hate there.

It wasn’t about the sex. Stop talking about the sex. There are other reasons why they went bankrupt.

$88,000,000 is all is took for Gildan to shut the door of their ethical competitor. Now we’re fucked. The most fucked are the small businesses who design and sell t-shirts proudly “Made in America”.

The stores will close by the end of April. Right now there is a 40% off sale the brand keeps spamming Twitter about.

Farewell to the best place for dancers to buy tights and hookers to buy fishnets.

Learn more about Gildan here, here, here.

The post Goodbye American Apparel – Hello Sweatshop Offender first appeared on Sweatshop Free.

Safia is also the author Naked Fashion and Slow Fashion, books about the sustainable fashion movement.

Her latest book project Slave to Fashion is on Kickstarter and needs as much support as possible to meet the funding requirements.

Safia and her team will research and produce micro documentaries and interviews featuring stories of men, women and children caught in slavery, making the clothes sold on the high street, in Europe and the developing world. They will also write the ‘Slave To Fashion’ book profiling best ethical practice of brands and designers within the fashion industry. The book will prove that fashion can be used to empower workers – whilst creating beautiful, competitive and accessible fashion. Following the publishing of the book, Safia and her team will organise ‘Slave To Fashion’ education outreach events at schools to maximise the social impact of the campaign.

Instead of spending money on something made in a sweatshop, consider backing the Slave to Fashion book and campaign to help spread awareness about modern day sweatshop slavery.

Have you pledged? We need yr support to help eradicating #ModernSlavery in the fushion industry. https://t.co/itUMz3lh2k

— Slave To Fashion (@slavetofash) May 7, 2016

The post Slave To Fashion Kickstarter Campaign first appeared on Sweatshop Free.

In October 2015, a group of students at Monash University in South Africa organized a simulation to challenge their fellow classmates and spread awareness. This event allowed participants to experience working in sweatshop-like conditions.

There were basically two activities: They had to screw and unscrew nuts and bolts for a 12 hour shift, or sort colored rice into piles, also for 12 hours straight.

The purpose of the sweatshop challenge is to give people an understanding of what it is like to experience the conditions that workers in a sweatshop environment are often susceptible to. Those who participate will be asked to do this activity and then “Imagine if this was your life seven days a week, 365 days a year. It isn’t your life and it shouldn’t be anyone else’s.”

They also had a film screening and photo exhibition to educate attendees about related issues.

When people talk about human slavery, those listening often appear completely confused.  They say “We don’t have slavery any more.  Slavery was abolished 150 years ago.  In the USA, a war over this issue was fought.  There are no slaves.”  But reality articulates itself in a different way.  Globally, it is estimated that there are nearly 36 million men, women and children that have been trafficked, and forced into slavery. Matt Friedman, 852 Freedom Campaign.

Reactions from participants

Footage of similar event in Hong Kong

The Sweatshop Challenge: Unite Against Slavery

The post Sweatshop Challenge at Monash University in South Africa first appeared on Sweatshop Free.

Sweatshop free lingerie can be tough to source, but Sweatfree Shop found a safe undergarment option! Botanica Workshop makes natural, fairly-made, stylish underwear. Get intimate with your apparel, sustainable is sexy!

Their site mentions mindful local sourcing and sustainable manufacturing, but no guarantee of being sweatshop free, so we emailed them to verify. Here it is:

Are all of your goods made in USA? Do you guarantee that everything you sell is 100% sweatshop free?

Yes and yes!
All of our goods are made in Los Angeles, CA.
We source all of our fabrics domestically.
Most of our pieces are locally dyed dyed with low impact processes or natural pigments.
Those that are not are made with deadstock/vintage fabrics that have been discarded by high end fashion houses, or have been overdyed to give them a new life.
Please let me know if you have any other questions.

There only problem: we couldn’t figure out how to buy stuff from their site. It looks like you have to get in touch with one of their retailers here to make a purchase. You can also shop online at undone.me.

Established in 2014, our independent design studio was born from a need for responsibly produced intimates with a designer aesthetic and quality to match. We partner with local artisans and technicians to create small production runs of well crafted pieces a few times a year in Los Angeles, CA.

Made in USA.

The post Botanica Workshop first appeared on Sweatshop Free.

The cruelty-free lifestyle means that being sweatshop-free and vegan go hand-in-hand. If you’re looking for wallets, bags, belts and other accessories you can check out Village Hemp.

Not only do they specialize in vegan goods that are made in USA, their stuff is made from hemp which is also eco-friendly.

Some of the brands they carry are: Hempy’s, Hempmania, Ecolution, Earth Divas, etc.

Not everything on their site says sweatshop-free or made in USA, but most of it is. It’s recommended that you email them before ordering to confirm.

From their site:

We’re committed to ensuring all of our hemp bags and accessories are high quality, eco-friendly, and sweet-shop free.

The typo “sweet” was their own, and yes it’s sweet to be sweatshop free! Most of their listings state “Vegan and sweatshop-free.  Made in the USA,” so it should be OK.

The post Village Hemp first appeared on Sweatshop Free.

There are countless beauty/fashion channel on YouTube, but you rarely hear any of them spreading awareness about sweatshop free shopping, organic living, fair-trading, cruelty-free existing.

If you’re into watching beauty vloggers but tired of hearing about hauls of sweatshop goods sent to them for free in exchange for a video, then check out SoCal based Princess Mei. Her channel is a refreshing twist on fashion and style.

She has the pro editing and cool music cuts that you’re used to with other popular YouTubers, but what sets her apart is that she’s into the sweatshop free lifestyle – and she mentions in most of her videos. Props to her for being aware and spreading the word to her 200K subscribers.

The video above is all about sweatshop-free vintage thrifting tips and tricks.

If you know of other sweatshop free vloggers or bloggers, mention them in the comments below.

The post Sweatshop Free Vlogger Princess Mei first appeared on Sweatshop Free.

One of the most email/tweeted questions is “what can I buy if I can’t afford to buy sweatshop free clothes from companies like American Apparel?”

Maybe you can’t afford AA or other brands, but your wallet can probably manage to splurge on some vintage, secondhand, used or pre-owned goods. Whatever you want to call it.

Wake up!

In fact, thrifting is a great experience for anyone on the verge of moving towards the sweatshop free lifestyle. It’s a huge wake-up call to browse the racks of thrift shops full of unwanted and unused clothes. A great way to become aware of over-consumption and find great new articles of clothing at the same time. You’ll be amazed at how much stuff is actually unworn with tags still attached!

Supply and demand

When you buy a new piece of fast-fashion clothing, you are creating demand, the brand then has to provide the supply. Buying used or pre-owned just recirculates the old supply without encouraging the brands to make more.

Things to think about

So maybe you found a cool pair of vintage Nike sneakers or an Adidas hoodie, but what you have to consider is whether or not you choose to advertise for those brands. As a conscious shopper, you’re making an effort not to support unethical companies. That lifestyle choice goes beyond simply boycotting their newly produced goods. By wearing their logos, you’re advertising for companies you don’t agree with, not to mention the bad karma that is attached to the item.

Recycle and reuse

Buying vintage or pre-owned goods is also green. Instead of giving the companies a good reason to produce more stuff to fill the shelves of their stores, buying used saves things from hitting the landfills. You can also look for items that are handmade from repurposed goods.

Where to shop?

• Search for locally owned consignment shops and thrift shops
• Yard sales, flea markets, Craigslist
• Goodwill Industries
• St. Vincent de Paul

You can even host a get-together and exchange clothes with your friends. Ask them all to meet up and bring pieces they don’t wear anymore.

Any other ideas? Please comment below.

The post Is Vintage Sweatshop Free? first appeared on Sweatshop Free.

Rap artist Tahj Kjelland (and son Diego Kjelland) just uploaded the music video for the title track to his album Sweatshop Sneakers.

Hip-hop loves shoes. Rap artists are now making millions on sneakers, from Kanye West to Drake. But what rappers never mention is how tennis shoes are made by underpaid sweatshop workers in overseas factories.

It’s mind-boggling that a culture created by people known for being disenfranchised in our society, is so obsessed with a product that is made by legal slaves in horrendous conditions.

Sweatshop Sneakers touches upon this issue, and pokes fun at hip-hop’s sweatshop-shoe-obsessed culture, while trying make listeners more aware of where their kicks come from.

This is the kind of music that should be played in clubs and blasting out of convertibles, but instead all you hear is Yeezy just jumped over Jumpman. #fail.

Download the Sweatshop Sneakers full album

Also see Tahj’s latest album Sol Dream

The post “Sweatshop Sneakers” Music Video first appeared on Sweatshop Free.

Old Navy began trending on Twitter after an ad was posted featuring a biracial family. That’s great!

Interestingly, there are actually far more tweets in agreement with the ad and what it portrayed. Almost all of the racist remarks were contained as replies to the original tweet by Old Navy. Most of the racist comments are from new accounts with an egg in the profile picture (indicating that a profile pic was not uploaded).

Marketing ploy?

When a company goes to a marketing agency, they hire them for one thing: more eyeballs on their brand or product. The best way to hack social media marketing is to get people talking. Generating anger or hate has been proven to be a great way to accomplish this. Then the brand can benefit from all of the people reacting to the reactions. It’s a domino effect of free advertising.

Why so mad?

If racist comments on Twitter anger you, then slave-like factory conditions in poor countries should make you feel enraged.

Instead of being upset by a bi-racial family in an ad (or fake Twitter responses), what if people were more angered by the fact that Old Navy and parent company The Gap have been called out for years about being involved in unethical labor practices? Then more consumers would be educated and demand that companies change the way they manufacture goods.

For more on Old Navy/The Gap/Banana Republic’s history with sweatshops click here

The post Old Navy Interracial Ad Bad, But Sweatshops Are Ok first appeared on Sweatshop Free.