Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Nike's Undercover Sweatshops

In my previous blog post which included a fairly broad overview of sweatshops, I included a small tidbit about how Nike was one of the major corporations being accused of using extremely cheap labor abroad to benefit their companies, and in this post I am going to look at an article that focuses more on Nike and their allegations of extremely unfair labor.

In the article (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2014325/Nike-workers-kicked-slapped-verbally-abused-factories-making-Converse-line-Indonesia.html), the author talks about how workers were beaten, had shoes thrown at them, and were called obscene names at a Nike factory in Indonesia, which Nike later admitted to. What is shocking to me is that true and disgusting information comes out like that, but still you see people wearing the Nike brand everywhere.

Honestly, I own a fair amount of Nike apparel, and that is because when I go to buy it I think things like this is the most comfortable clothing or this is the best clothing to do physical activity in. I don't think about how it is being made or how people are suffering to make these products for me while earning less than minimum wage just because that is not what comes to mind while one is shopping, and I think most people would say the same thing. The article quotes that "the complaints ranged from workweeks that exceeded 60 hours to being forbidden to go to the bathroom." The fact that all these horrible things are happening to hard-working and innocent people is sickening, but what really doesn't sit well with me is that Nike is such a popular company among athletes and people across the world in general. I think that if some people were more educated and knew who was making these products, then they would think twice before buying that new pair of shoes.

On the topic of athletes, people who are the ultimate role model for millions and millions are kids, are wearing this Nike gear and automatically making kids think it's cool to wear this stuff. Little do they know at such a young age that the stuff they are wearing is being manufactured by kids that are the same exact age. But the kids wearing the Nike's are having their parents buy them, while the kids in Indonesia are working to make them so that they can support their own family at ages as young as eight years old. It is shocking to me that such a sleazy operation can not only be so profitable but so prominent and popular in the clothing industry worldwide.





1 comment:

  1. Before this blog post I myself was unaware that such resources were used to manufacture Nike clothing. Most days I wear Nike apparel and I have never conscientiously thought about how the clothing is made while I am wearing it or when I purchase Nike products, I would not expect such a well known and respected label to use this type of production method.

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