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.

INdeed. I am informed by someone who ought to know (DS dad, who has a long background of involvement in charity work) that Woolworths' clothing is one of the more ethical choices if you are on a budget as they don't use slave labour and insist on good working conditions for the people who make the clothing they sell.
Because it's all very well getting sniffy about people who buy cheap high st clothing: not everyone can afford to spend much on clothes for DCs who keep growing out of everything, and it just so happens that clothes for small boys are not that easy to come by in charity shops - perhaps because small boys tend to trash their clothes more?

Next is also seen as a more reputabel company ot buy form.

I remember boycotting Gap yeras ago because of their crap ethics.
But most clothing companies have crap ethics.

Yes, it is a waste to burn all of these tops, but they couldn't give them to the children who made them. Nor could they pay them a decent amount. It just wouldn't work.
They could give themt o charity.

Just to add that I heard this morning that in the US there was a similar stushie about carpets made by children in Nepal. Americans stopped buying the carpets, the sweatshops closed and UNICEF were left to pick up the pieces when approx. 7,000 children were then sold to the sex trade.

fuck.

but what to do?

(i've only read the OP, btw).

if you close off that source for them, they often get sold to the sex trade or traffiked.

fuck, it's like a never-ending fucking ball of twine.

i'm back trying to work with asylum seekers.

this shit goes on.

but how to get to the source?

i honestly can't see where to go and don't see the point of destroying the source becuase it's these fucking gangs, the same ones who traffik people here and then enslave them and threaten their families if they don't do what they want.

oh, and i read the article, too, of course.

shit, it's all so fucking depressing!

but fuck, for us or them?

how best to help in this capitalist society?

Madamez, I understand what you mean about people wanting to buy cheap clothing, I know that I want to spend as little as possible on clothes. But a generation or two ago, clothing was more expensive in real terms and people coped and just bought less. There are a lot of people who buy tonnes of "throw away" clothes. This is a problem not just with clothes, but with furniture and other goods. I know people who redecorate and refurnish their homes every few years. We have come to a situation that we need the poorly paid developing world to fund our lifestyle. What can we do?

bloody hell, is GAP clothing cheap clothing?

I'm talking more about Tesco, Primart etc. Just because Gap is in the news at the moment it doesn't mean that all the other retailers have good pay and conditions.

Frankie3: true but certianly when you have fast-growing DCs you do need to buy them clothes fairly often - even if you're prepared to launder every day, toddlers need a few changes.

Good point,well made Frankie3. Why all this beating of breast? If western consumers are demanding low priced goods at such an alarming rate, how on earth can these demands be met without resorting to such practices, whether it is high levels of lead in cheap paint used by toy manufacturers in China, or slave labour making clothes for Primark et al in India? We have to examine our own ethics before we decry such actions, which are, after all, caused by our own demands.

At least trading ethics are more transparent than they once were. Any company with dubious practices will inevitably have them found out sooner or later.

There is no solution to child poverty/modern slavery/people trafficking. It has always existed, and probably always will. Sad fact.

Twoifbysea has a point about what happens to the children. During our time in Indonesia jobs with Nike etc were what everyone wanted. The jobs were regular and paid well compared to scavenging on a filthy rubbish dump or selling your baby for $35.

I don't know what the answer to the situation is, beyond buying Fair Trade where possible.