The Sweatshop, Child Labor, and Exploitation Issues in the Garment Industry

Abstract

The issue of child labor and exploitation as it relates to the fashion design industry is about discovering tense interrelationships between modes and agencies of production and ethical responsibility. This survey of the various factors affecting child labor and exploitation acknowledges the tremendous pressure placed on individuals by the convergence of economic need and cultural imperatives. The focus is on locating a constellation of issues, which influence the decision to work in unhealthy environments; as opposed to prescriptive ethical responses to the kind of work people do. This distinction has the potential to realign ethical action and shift the burden of progress from the employee to the parent industry, which should already be in a position of high accountability for creating and enforcing fair labor standards. The intent was not to produce a schema for determining the boundary between fair labor practices and blatant abuse, but to examine the complex nature of work and economic realities across the globe.