GAP to destroy clothing made by child labourers

[WendyWeber]

That waste makes the children's labour even more of a crime, surely?

They should sell them separately and give the money to the children concerned.

i saw this on the tv news. i can't work out how destroying the items can benefit anyone either tbh.

seems a waste to destroy the clothes, it would make more sense to donate them to a children's charity or orphanage in the country it happened in.

I could if I knew the money made was going back to those who made it - ie the children themselves.

if they donated it to an orphanage or children's project or something then it would at least get used by kids who could probably need help. Better than destroying it. gap need to figure out why all this happened in the first place and sort out the children and factories involved so this incidence is properly dealt with and not repeated.

feeling cynical about Gap's protestations. They have used ugly stories to build on their Puritanical pretensions in the past.

It does seem a waste but i do think that destroying the items is the only way forward really.

It would be highly inappropriate for anyone to benefit from this situation financially, especially children's charities who would, IMO, be treading on very dangerous ground if they were to accept money like this knowing where it had come from.

It would be a bit like selling a load of mink coats and giving the proceeds to the RSPCA.

it gives over totally the wrong message.

I was wandering about this too - think that they should be made to hand over the retail cost of the items to the workers involved. Not sure what destroying them achieves. Would be good if uk and usa could legislate so that companies found to be in this position were fined and eventually if prob persisted banned from trading for a time. Prob coming at this too simplisticly but the problem shouldn't be allowed by companies given the known exploitation and often poor conditions involved in many cases. Really makes me cross.

I think this over-simplifies the problem to the detriment to the child labourers. We put Western ideals on other countries without thinking about the bigger picture, if the factory gets closed have you thought what the children will then do? Will the families see the child as no longer bringing in money and sell them? Certainly there needs to be restrictions and regulations on foreign manufacturers, more so than now. If the companies gave more money to the factories I would gladly bet that none of it would reach the workers. Not unless there is regulations in place and proper, unannounced checks.

GAP should give the clothes completely free to UNICEF or Save The Children for use in the many orphanages they have around the world. It is a complete waste to just throw them away.

Destroying the clothing is a stupid gesture, the kind of thing you'd expect of self-righteous adolescents with no brains to speak of. And Twoifbysea makes a very good point, after all the posturing and piety, what happens to the child labourers?

TwoIfBySea, I was wondering this as well. Without the children's income would the families be able to cope, or would that just make life worse for the children involved???

In any event I don't think the stuff should be destroyed, surely much better to donate it to a good cause somewhere

I think the amount of responses to this topic just goes to show though that the majority of people don't really care.

Of course most say "oh it's terrible" etc, but people won't stop shopping at Gap because of it, or M&S, or any of the other clothing retailers that use cheap labour to manufacture their items, because let's face it, just because children aren't involved doesn't mean the workers used are treated well/paid fairly etc.

So while the majority of people don't care, the companies aren't moved to do anything about it.

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I thought it had been well know for years that Gap used child labour?!? I know quite a few people who have always boycotted the place because of that.

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What do we expect if we want to buy such cheap clothes. I bought a jacket for £15 at Primart - it may have not been made by a 12 year old boy, but I'm sure the working conditions, treatment and pay are not going to be good. When I payed at the cash desk, there was a queue behind me full of women with piles of cheap clothes in their baskets.

Al the material for the clothes are being transported to factories, and then the clothes are transported around the world. Maybe it would help the environment and the developing world if we bought less stuff but paid more for it.

(But I still love my Primart jacket)

Destroying the clothes is wrong. They should seel them and give the money to the children who made them. The poor children have worked for nothing and the effort they made is going to be destroyed, that is very wrong. If they can't face selling the clothes they should give them to the workers as I'm sure they will be very grateful.

Just seems to be adding insult to injury really.

One of my friends wouldn't buy from Gap as she knew the workers were paid peanuts and Gap made a huge profit whereas tesco are paying very little for the clothes to be made but making a smaller profit than Gap.

This has been going on for bloody ages, it's one of the reasons why we buy as little as possible on the high street. It's just posturing.

Twoif, according to the BBC piece the children had already been sold to the factory, so where that leaves them now I can't imagine

GAP have behaved shoddily, to say the least.

This "gesture" is a PR stunt that is designed to make them look like they care. It does nothing to ease the pain of the children whose lives have been made miserable.

What are GAP doing about these poor children? They owe them something, IMVHO.

it's a disgrace to destroy them, an absolute disgrace. and yes, it's utter bollocks to wear stuff that adults have made under slave conditions and then get all mimsy about their kids earning too.

What makes it worse is that GAP is far from "bargain" clothing. They are the higher end of the childrens clothing market.

They are swalling huge profits from using factories such as these.