Jersey Time

Noah Parker
Mr. Wensman
New Global Voices – 3
16 May 2013

Blog Draft

            Companies seek out the cheapest labor to manufacture their clothing to maximize profit, this is true for many companies, it’s called the race to the bottom. This race to the bottom often exploits the labor, poor working conditions, long hours and low pay. But what if the consumer doesn’t want the cheapest option? What if their morals don’t coincide with how the company manufactures their clothing? If consumers are willing to pay the difference there is no need for companies to exploit labor in the poor areas of developing countries.

            Recently a peer of mine said that he had just received jerseys from an online website that he ordered for around 30 dollars a jersey. Immediately I was interested, low cost and cool jerseys. I ended up ordering a hockey jersey for probably less than 1/3 of what an NHL certified jersey would cost although they appear just the same. Even though the color of my jersey was I off I was happy with the end result for only 40 dollars. Once this project was introduced I decided that it would help to hear others opinions on what they ordered and their overall opinions towards the website and ethically made clothing vs. unethically made clothing.

Picture of several basketball  jerseys some of which are similar to those found on the website. (None are actually from the used website)

            Four of the six people who took the survey said that they do care about whether their clothing is sweatshop made or not. However all six people said they would use the website again. So clearly there is awareness of what the problem is, but the choices made in ordering these jerseys were based on price and that the jerseys were cool. But still three out of the six said that they would be willing to pay more to ensure that their clothes were ethically made. Ultimately my peers and fellow consumers are aware of ethical vs. unethical made clothing, but a low enough price can override all awareness.