Threads: Gender, Labor, and Power in the Global Apparel Industry
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Americans have been shocked by media reports of the dismal working conditions in factories that make clothing for U.S. companies. But while well intentioned, many of these reports about child labor and sweatshop practices rely on stereotypes of how Third World factories operate, ignoring the complex economic dynamics driving the global apparel industry.To dispel these misunderstandings, Jane L. Collins visited two very different apparel firms and their factories in the United States and Mexico. Moving from corporate headquarters to factory floors, her study traces the diverse ties that link First and Third World workers and managers, producers and consumers. Collins examines how the transnational economics of the apparel industry allow firms to relocate or subcontract their work anywhere in the world, making it much harder for garment workers in the United States or any other country to demand fair pay and humane working conditions.Putting a human face on globalization, Threads shows not only how international trade affects local communities but also how workers can organize in this new environment to more effectively demand better treatment from their distant corporate employers. Berkeley Journal of Employment and Labor Law "Collins'' book attempts to humanize the trend toward a global economy, demonstrating the link between individual factory workers and the corporate players in the boardroom. . . . Collins'' humanization of this process connects the problem with a solution, explaining how transnational workers can organize in this environment to demand better treatment from their distant corporate employers."— Jesica Scheppmann
PrefaceAcknowledgments1Tracing the Threads of a Global Industry12The Emergence of a Twenty-First Century Apparel Industry273Tultex: Mass-Producing Knitwear in Southern Virginia624Liz Claiborne Incorporated: Developing a Global Production Network1045On the Shop Floor in Aguascalientes1266Local Labor and Global Capital1507From Gilded Age to New Deal?183References191Index203
