Below is an excerpt of a report originally published in the Seattle Globalist. It is republished with permission. Read the whole story here.
Anissa and her coworkers are part of the most recent generation in a long line of Indonesians who have worked for apparel and footwear companies — sometimes under questionable conditions.
Their country has long played a significant if not dominant role in clothing production. It is now the third largest source of apparel exports to the U.S. by dollar value, and manufactures about 6.5 percent of our clothing imports. Globally, Indonesia has been amongst the top 10 apparel exporters since the 1980s. In 2000, its apparel exports were around 2.5 percent of global output.
Around the same time that Indonesia became one of the world’s top exporters of garments, a flood of reports and articles on Nike’s labor practices in Indonesia forever linked the company to the term “sweatshop.”
The original, full-length version of this story was published in the Seattle Globalist and is republished with permission. Read more at www.seattle.globalist.com.
