Last weekend my daughter bought 2 new t-shirts, each costing about £5. The first came from a shop in Leeds Uni Students' Union and was made in the UK; the second came from Primark, a company which sources clothing in Bangladesh and claims on its web-site that it can sell so cheaply because it doesn't run advertising campaigns, passes on economies of scale and sells simple and therefore cheap to produce clothing.
However they also have stores in prime locations such as Oxford Street, London and The Headrow in Leeds.
A report by War on Want in 2006 discovered that the female workers employed in Bangladeshi sweat shops 'earn' 5p per hour working 90 hour weeks producing clothes for Primark, Asda (who sell a full school uniform for £10!) and others.
Please think carefully the next time you are tempted by the 'too cheap to be true' clothing offers on the High Street and in supermarkets. The price is higher than you think.
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2 comments:
simon old boy this really is an unconservative like attitude towards the free market you are in danger of developing! frankly we should be delighted these workers only get 5p because it helps our balance of payments :) on a more pragmatic note 5p realy might not be that bad going (goatherding might only be 4p lol) in rural Bangladesh and nobody forces them to accept it. that said its always best to buy British.
Wouldn't it be better for our economy to buy the British-made clothing which cost the same as the import? The purchase price goes to pay wages in the UK, which in turn contributes to taxation to help public services, the UK worker then spends their salary on other goods & services and the whole economy benefits, and we keep someone else off the dole
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