NY Sweatshop Raided Today

Here at Fashion Ethic we pride ourselves in sourcing apparel from designers and lines who are committed to fair labor practices and 100% sweatshop-free. The vast majority of those designers use US-based manufacturers that they visit to ensure workers are being treated fairly, and some designers even keep production in house, creating small quantities to ensure quality and fair treatment.

So it saddens us to report today that Women's Wear Daily is tracking a story of alleged sweatshop violations at a factory based here in America. This is a larger New York factory with no relation to any of the apparel lines we carry, but does apparently manufacture products for some very well known clothing chains that we (and most Americans) do respect.

Alleged violations include underpaying workers in minimum and overtime wages. While workers worked 12 hour days 6-7 days a week, they were told to fill out two time cards a week so that none would show more than 40 hours. Additionally, it appears they coached workers on how to avoid suspicion from labor investigators.

Taking advantage of workers should not be accepted anywhere in this day and age, least of all here in America, where we pride ourselves on equality and our abilties to work hard to better ourselves.

Fashion Ethic was founded on the principle of providing clothing that you can feel good about, in hopes that a higher standard of responsibility will not only dominate the fashion industry but leave absolutely no room for these types of abuses. We call on all retailers, designers, and clothing lines to keep careful watch over clothing manufacturing - and for shoppers and consumers to ask the hard questions. If we all make Fashionably Responsible choices, we really will make a difference.

FOLLOW the story at WWD.com HERE