Published: Making sweatshops : the globalization of the U. Ask Us: Live Chat. Timmerman, Kelsey, Hoboken, N. Check Holdings for more information. Add Tag whoop 1. Fueled by passion and curiosity, Kelsey Timmerman tells the story of the items we often take for granted. KelseyTimmerman says:. Obviously you are better at promoting my work than I am.
Where is Kelsey Contest. I'm not sure I would have gotten the same thing out of it had I read it, or rather been forced to read it, as a 17 year old. It's really hard to see past the end of your nose at At least in America because, wow, I learn about these people who leave their families and homes behind at 12 to go work and contribute to their family and my jaw hangs open. That's selflessness I certainly didn't possess at that age.
Regardless, I think it would be an engaging book and hopefully lead to some great conversations. If you have not heard of this, check out Kiva. It's easy to do and if you have the means, even once a year, that can be a small action that can have big results for someone else. I encourage you to look at the website or other similar organizations. Jan 15, Kristal Cooper rated it really liked it. A very worthwhile and interesting project. I nearly read it straight through, while wearing my favorite PJs made in China.
Feb 21, Justin rated it really liked it. I was drawn to this book by the growing desire of many modern Americans to connect between producers and consumers. We've been treated to revolutionary writing in that vein through now-classic works like Michael Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma. After Friedman and other globalization advocates have toured the advantages of labor re-allocation to the cheapest labor force it helps them develop and helps us buy stuff right? I jumped at Kelsey Timmerman's Where Am I Wearing to put a face on globalizatio I was drawn to this book by the growing desire of many modern Americans to connect between producers and consumers.
The book exceeds in that regard, revealing the lives, wishes and desires of the people that make our clothes. Perhaps most importantly, Timmerman discovers that the corporate machine simply doesn't want us to think about this dimension of our purchasing.
Kelsey reveals that an argument can be made for factories employing children, primarily because these children will likely be relegated to scavenging landfills or attempting to falsify papers to simply gain employment in a garment factory.
Americans are filled with guilt when thinking about child labor but the children of developing countries want to work as clothing manufacturers. Banning child labor removes our guilt and clears our consciences but does little else than assisting in placing the issue outside the reach of memory. However this "progress" comes at a cost, the jobs and exports of the developing countries of Bangladesh, Cambodia and China may lead to larger GDPs but families are separated as a younger generation migrates to cities.
Many of the garment workers live a dual existence, earning more than enough money to get ahead in life, to pay for an education, but send more than half of it home to an impoverished family, unable to survive in a modern farming environment.
Is it really progress to doom millions to long hours sometimes hour weeks and 15 minute lunch breaks just for development? Just to develop a middle class, a middle class better suited to the nomenclature of consumer class?
The alternative is grim, many of the Cambodian farmers unable to produce a living are forced to live in the Phenom Penh municipal waste dump. But they choose to do this, it is a better alternative than the quickly disappearing village lifestyle of abundant fresh air and limited food. Some of the most touching moments in Kelsey's journey to the factories that made his clothes come when treating the workers to great meals at restaurants, taking them to an amusement park or witnessing poverty and its ability to magnify the audacity of the human spirit.
The true problem is not the garment industry and its harsh working conditions. The problem is that in a world economy where poor farmers are now part of a lower class, the brutal factory lifestyles are their best option. If the producer's job is to make, then what is the American's job in the current societal fabric? Could not buying when I want tear the world apart?
We see that now as US consumption decreases and the global economy collapses. People aren't buying and the world is suffering. When laws against child labor have placed restrictions on US imports, children in these nations protested the decision.
Once again, they want to work. Interestingly, the author's allusions to the advantages of a "stone age" lifestyle are in line with the exact same observations made by Charles Eisenstein in The Ascent of Humanity which I just finished. The truth behind the garment situation is far more complex than I ever could imagine.
Its not just: sweatshops bad, made in USA good. From the most dedicated social activist to the deepest entrenched economic globalist, this is a refreshing take on the guilt many of us wear. I give up on this one. I know that he grows up in the course of this book, but I just couldn't finish the complete transformation.
I'm glad that he went from any excuse to go traveling to being responsible. It's a shame I couldn't bring myself to finish this and his journey. I got so bogged down in reading about his life, and experiences that I was exhausted by the time I get to the worker's experience. I found myself asking, "What is the point of this?
What I give up on this one. What was the point of this book? Wasn't it to enlighten the reader about the people who create our garments and put a face to those sweatshop workers? I thought that was the point, but I think I was wrong. Apparently this book is about his experience, backgrounds of the countries, about 10 pages on the workers themselves, and whatever update he felt like pursuing.
I get that I need some information to set the scene, but it felt like that was all I was reading. Maybe if I had kept reading I would have a different opinion of the overall tone of the book and the approach. But I couldn't, so my view remains unchanged.
What about the dreaded child labor? I think that in addition to his Sociology , he should have taken Labor History Never fear, I have taken such a class. If he had as well, he would have then known that we too, went through such debates in our workforce. That many mainly southern families depended on kids leaving school at the age of 8 or 10 and working. Our economy did not collapse because of them, or even minimum wage laws.
But this next part is key. We, as Americans decided what to do with our child labor, not England the leading industrialized nation and a leading global garment producer at the time , or any other country. We decided to use that opportunity to invest in our children's future, and therefore the betterment of our country.
Funny fact, education was pushed not for some moral benefit of the poor being people too, but that schooling produced better and happier workers. Countries like Bangladesh have to make those choices for themselves. If they have something like child labor legislation forced upon them and they do not subsequently take that opportunity to invest in themselves, then we have essentially sentenced them to starve.
I had hoped for more. I read almost half of the book and felt like I sort of "met" one person in his silly adventure. I feel it should also be noted that I did not feel that it was silly until I reflected upon what I had read. All I got so far was a young man who needed another excuse to go traveling. I thought college kids that worked until they had enough money to go travel for a few months then work again, were the stuff of myths and legends.
Instead of meeting garment workers and learning their stories, I met one of these mythical creatures and his name is Kelsey Timmerman. Dec 27, Jared rated it really liked it Shelves: common-reading-program-finalists , common-reading-options , authors-i-have-met. I really like the premise of the book and enjoyed Timmerman's approach to bringing to life the challenges of consuming in a global marketplace.
He made me really pause and think about the way I consume. But, ultimately I'm not sure I have the will power, energy, or faith that changing my buying habits will change the lives of the front-line factory workers around the world. I guess I don't trust big businesses and their ability to pass the increased revenues earned from increased product costs d I really like the premise of the book and enjoyed Timmerman's approach to bringing to life the challenges of consuming in a global marketplace.
I guess I don't trust big businesses and their ability to pass the increased revenues earned from increased product costs down to the factory workers who deserve the raise.
Even if we pay more for a product doesn't mean they will pay their workers more. As much as I think about it, I can't wrap my mind around any solutions. And, I get frustrated that the authors rarely attempt to articulate solutions. I just wish we could live in a world where there was more equality and fairness As I pause and think about this book, the one point that really stands out to me is how lucky I was to be born where I was, into the family I have, and to live the life that I lead.
I thought this quote on pg. Nobel Prize-winning economist and social scientist Herbert Simon estimated that "social capital" a functioning government, access to technology, abundant natural resources is responsible for at least 90 percent of what people earn in wealthy societies like the United States.
Warren Buffett said, "If you stick me down in the middle of Bangladesh or Peru, you'll find out how much this talent is going to produce in the wrong kind of soil.
Mar 09, Kari Shepherd rated it really liked it. The author of this book visited 5 factories around the world where some of his clothes had been made and talked to the workers at those factories. As someone who is concerned about the working conditions of the people making my clothes, I picked up this book expecting more of a guide on what companies to avoid buying clothes from, but it is not that kind of book. They pay factories. Activists have worked hard to put pressure on policymakers in Washington and to educate the consumer.
But even so, most people continue to buy clothes made from garment factories with conditions that would be considered exploitative. Most consumers still have little concept of the kinds of lives led by those who make their clothes. He recommends researching the companies you are buying from to see if they belong to an organization like Fair Labor Association, and he specifically recommends buying from Patagonia, Inc.
In a world where people experience abject poverty, and therefore are stuck in jobs that do not pay them fairly, what are the ethics behind my purchasing the work of their hands? I am left with unresolved yet urgent questions. And yet I also realize that in the immediate, the garment industry is providing jobs, which these workers need as their society transitions from agrarian to industrial.
But the workers—in the midst of the transition—also need fair wages and basic human rights. The consumers still hold a great deal of power. You and I as consumers—thousands of miles from the source of production—still have the platform to pressure companies to change their practices.
But will we? And if so, how do we go about it? If there was something more I wanted from this book, it was that more space be given to specific ways we as consumers can effect change and be involved in the process of righting wrongs.
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