Sewing Hope - How One Factory Challenges the Apparel Industry's Sweatshops

1. Auflage 2017
ISBN: 978-0-520-29290-1
Verlag: University of California Press

Buch, Englisch, 248 Seiten, Cloth Over Boards, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 666 g

Sewing Hope offers the first account of a bold challenge to apparel-industry sweatshops. The Alta Gracia factory in the Dominican Republic is the anti-sweatshop. It boasts a living wage three times the legal minimum, high health and safety standards, and a legitimate union—all verified by an independent monitor. It is the only apparel factory in the global south to meet these criteria.

The Alta Gracia business model represents an alternative to the industry’s usual race-to-the-bottom model with its inherent poverty wages and unsafe factory conditions. Workers’ stories reveal how adding US$0.90 to a sweatshirt’s production price can change lives: from getting a life-saving operation to a reunited family; from purchasing children's school uniforms to taking night classes; from obtaining first-ever bank loans to installing running water. Sewing Hope invites readers into the apparel industry’s sweatshops and the Alta Gracia factory to learn how the anti-sweatshop started, how it overcame challenges, and how the impact of its business model could transform the global industry.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Adler-Milstein, Sarah

Kline, John M.

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Angewandte Ethik & Soziale Verantwortung Wirtschaftsethik, Unternehmensethik
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Wirtschaftssektoren & Branchen Fertigungsindustrie Textilindustrie
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Wirtschaftssoziologie, Arbeitssoziologie, Organisationssoziologie
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Betriebswirtschaft Unternehmensorganisation, Corporate Responsibility Unternehmensethik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface

1. The Difference between Heaven and Earth

Introducing Alta Gracia

2. From Factory Favorite to Fighter

Human Cost of the “Race to the Bottom”

3. Risky Proposition, Unlikely Alliance

Founding a New Factory

4. Ideals into Action

Building an Anti-Sweatshop Model

5. Escaping Scripted Roles

Unexpected Benefits of a New Approach

6. Stories of Transformation

Diverse Impacts of a Living Wage

7. Surviving on Our Own

Adjusting the Business Model

8. Replication or Revolution

Alta Gracia in Context

Afterword: Taking Action
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the Authors

Über Autor(innen)

Sarah Adler-Milstein is a worker-rights advocate and has served as Field Director for Latin America and the Caribbean for the Worker Rights Consortium.
 
John M. Kline is Professor of International Business Diplomacy at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. He is the author of four books, including the textbook Ethics for International Business.