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Blood Sweat and T-Shirts BBC3, did anyone watch?

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Joe set this up on Sky+ and we watched last night.

 

It's about a group of youngsters who love their clothes and aren't really touched by how they are made, so they get packed off to India to actually work in the sweat shops themselves and live like the natives.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00b0xsh

 

It's repeated tonight at 2000 but you can watch it online too.

 

I was really shocked by the attitudes of some of them, but I think it'll make an interesting series.

 

A

xx

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That doesn't mean we have to continue buying them - and doesn't mean we can't all be better informed.

 

M&S sell Fair Trade T Shirts for £7 - I'm sure other places do them as well......... in fact Tesco do, I remember my daughter buying one for the gym.

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I like elaborate, colourful & different clothing & most of the 'green' stuff tends to be beige / brown - I soooo hate brown & beige (boring)!

I occassionally like some of the Per Una clothing, but I am not really an M & S person.

If I like something, I buy it. I'm sure that some people who might buy fairtrade clothing etc, aren't angels in every way!

 

Emma.x

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The whole sweatshop subject is very hard to sort out.

 

Without the employment that they provide some of the people working there would be destitute. A case of needs must. The UK went through this stage in the industrial revolution and that must have been an awful way to live then. You will always get these sorts of industries in developing countries. The pressure should be on the governments of these countries to improve working conditions and the rights of the workers.

 

It is very difficult to know where your clothes have been made and by whom. The clothes sold by most high street shops will be made in very similar factories to the clothes sold by the cheaper places, with only marginal improvements to mean minimum standards.

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Yes but we dont have to approve when it means child workers arent allowed to go to the loo all day, or have any kind of break, and are prey to sexual predators within the workplace. I dont think its good enough to say they know no different, neither did children born to African slaves, that didnt make it right.

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Yes but we dont have to approve when it means child workers arent allowed to go to the loo all day, or have any kind of break, and are prey to sexual predators within the workplace. I dont think its good enough to say they know no different, neither did children born to African slaves, that didnt make it right.

 

Well said.

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This is a hard topic, GAP my last employer were done hard for this a few years back, because they contract their work out and dont get to see everything that goes on.

 

They now run this:

 

http://www.gapinc.com/public/SocialResponsibility/socialres.shtml

 

 

Building houses and schools for the people who have to work there. I know its not perfect as people still have to work in these places, but its a start.

 

go to if you want try http://www.americanapparel.net/intl/uk.html

 

 

trendy sweat shop free clothes Crafty, :) I used to buy stuff from them, infact im wearing a Tshirt from them now.

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Yes but we dont have to approve when it means child workers arent allowed to go to the loo all day, or have any kind of break, and are prey to sexual predators within the workplace. I dont think its good enough to say they know no different, neither did children born to African slaves, that didnt make it right.

 

Yes, and we used to send small children up chimneys and that wasn't right either!

 

The day you see me wearing beige and brown Emma, you can shoot me :roll::wink:

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:lol: You really should see what I'm wearing. Beige polo neck, dark brown cardi. Honestly!

 

The whole ethical shopping debate is full of pitfalls. It's so hard to decipher and compare all the factors.

I don't strive to achieve total perfection in my shopping habits. Being obsessive can lead to a blinkered view. But, to me, this doesn't mean I shouldn't be at all bothered.

 

Just as I've never thought that one sector of commercial retail always had the best clothes, nor do I believe that ethical/green means drab. Maybe it did 20 years ago; drab or weird were the choices, but nowadays I don't think it's true.

 

So, I do believe it's worth considering. I'd always choose to be enlightened about the truth rather than just not care, even if I don't adjust my life totally in accordance.

 

Together we can make a difference. :D

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Good points made by everyone.

 

We have to clothe our nakedness somehow....and if we put a bit of thought into it and spend cautiously and wisely, we can make a difference.

 

What a pity Britain priced itself out of the market years ago.

 

I would rather spend more on a British made item and keep some one in the UK in employment....but they are so few and far between now that it would be a full time job trying to source them.

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The whole ethical shopping debate is full of pitfalls. It's so hard to decipher and compare all the factors.

I don't strive to achieve total perfection in my shopping habits. Being obsessive can lead to a blinkered view. But, to me, this doesn't mean I shouldn't be at all bothered.

Together we can make a difference. :D

 

That's what I meant to add to my post - I certainly don't strive to achieve perfection - but I try to make informed choices.

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Slightly different product, cake manufacturing in Worcester. The company I have a contract with (one day per week, lung function testing) provides Tesco, Waitrose and Sainsbury with frozen cakes which the supermarkets then warms up and sells as if produced on their premises. 600 employees mostly temporary labour, over 300 employees speak little or no English, mainly Kurdish Iraqs, Polish and Croatians probably working in worse conditions than the people in the TV programme (1st factory). 12 hour shifts, 6 days/nights per week, no bank holidays, paid the absolute minimum wage. Not a third world country or even an inner city but the middle of rural england. The so called "sweat shops" may be closer than some people think and being used by companies not always associated with "sweat shop" culture.

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Yes I watched it online last night. I am beginning to feel quite strongly aboutthe whole subject of what I wear and who has made it. Unfortunately, until recently I haven't been that taken with the style/designs of the ethical clothing sold. However, I sense that the tide is turning and I'm sure that if enough people asked in shops when they bought clothing, "Do you have a fairtrade section?" it would gradually come to the ears of the powers that be. I think that, like the chicken debate, the demand for cheap clothes is there, but like the guy in the link below says "if you have got 3 T Shirts for a fiver, someone somewhere has had to pay the price for that." I think we need to be more pro active but in a positive way. Any helpful suggestions?

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/thread/video/index.shtml?video=save-the-future

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Y I think we need to be more pro active but in a positive way. Any helpful suggestions?

 

The most ethical way to buy clothes is to buy them second hand, charity shops, car boot sales etc., I don't have a problem with doing this, but some people would I suppose. Avoid buying from Primark and other cheap clothing stores, it's easy to say, and I understand people on low incomes or young people patronising these stores, it's the same argument as the Tesco chicken v. the Free range chicken, it's where people's priorities lie. I too think the tide is turning with fairtrade clothing, before long it will be readily available and reasonably priced if enough people demand and buy it.

 

Tessa

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Just watched an episode!! I thought it was really good, and as a future fashion student I thought it was a real insight into the industry. I was under no illusion that behind the industry it was all lovely, and I do try and source ethical clothing. I think some manufacturers are caught between a rock and a hard place - when I was working at a clothing store, I found out how many English tailors had gone bust, simply because the demand for cheap clothing was too much for them to compete with. I think as with many of the issues being addressed in the media right now, so many consumers are searching for quantity, or at least cheap pricing, not quality. In any case, it's important to know where our products come from - whether that be food, clothing etc. At least the majority of us on here know where our eggs have come from :roll::lol:

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Y I think we need to be more pro active but in a positive way. Any helpful suggestions?

 

The most ethical way to buy clothes is to buy them second hand, charity shops, car boot sales etc.,

 

Or dont buy as many clothes.

 

It can be done. Our situation means that I havent bought any new clothes for myself in nearly two years. Its not great or anything and I'm not saying it to say hey look at me I dont buy sweatshop stuff cos Im sure I do as its not just clothes but it was just to show we don't need as many clothes and it is possible to survive without buying them.

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Y I think we need to be more pro active but in a positive way. Any helpful suggestions?

 

The most ethical way to buy clothes is to buy them second hand, charity shops, car boot sales etc.,

 

Or dont buy as many clothes.

 

I was going to suggest this, but decided not to :roll: I have got to an age where I know exactly what style of clothing I like to wear, I never buy things as an experiment, or try a new colour. If I did buy anything 'new' well new to me, it would probably be almost the same as the clothes I have. I suspect that younger people are more interested in 'fashion' and experimentation, and this requires buying lots of clothes. My unmarried dil recently had a clear out and she gave SEVEN full heavy black bags of clothes to the charity shop, and she still has so many clothes they won't fit in her TWO wardrobes

:shock::shock::shock:

 

Tessa

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:lol: Fashion to me is more about long term investment pieces, classic items that might not be the cheapest things on the market but will last a life time and have been produced in a manner that both respects the workers of the garment, and the intricate work and labour that goes into making a higher end fashion piece. The way I shop kind of dismisses fashion trends in a way :roll: I think throw-away-fashion increases the demand for such sweatshops!! Hooray for classic fashion, that lasts a lifetime :lol: As said before, if you buy extremely cheap, surely the alarm bells are going off telling you that somewhere down the line, someone is having to 'pay' for it, so to speak?
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