Posted on 11/04/2007 12:32:58 PM PST by 49th
In what would be the biggest commitment to ending child labour ever undertaken by a major retailer, Gap Inc is drawing up plans to label its products 'Sweatshop Free'.
The ambitious pledge, which would place the firm at the forefront of the battle to end sweatshops, comes in response to an undercover Observer investigation which last week exposed one of the firm's Indian suppliers employing children as young as 10 to make garments.
Yesterday, Gap's senior vice president, Stanley Raggio, flew from San Francisco to New Delhi to meet the anti-sweatshop charity the Global March Against Child Labour, to hammer out proposals to tackle child labour.
According to Bhuwan Ribhu, a lawyer from the charity, the US conglomerate set out a series of ambitious proposals including a move that would see it relabelling its garments to allow the consumer to directly track online exactly where they are made.
The system would closely mirror the highly successful RugMark programme which has largely eradicated child labour in India's carpet industry.
As an organisation operating independently of the carpet industry, RugMark certifies carpets bearing its label are free of illegal child labour. This is accomplished by monitoring looms and factories through surprise and random inspections.
Ribhu said: 'We spoke at length to Gap and they informed us they are looking at a certification system that marks a product with a label "child labour free". This would be a bold step as the firm would leave themselves open to prosecution if children were found making their clothes again. Gap also intimated to me that they are considering using independent monitoring of their suppliers in Asia and this would operate along similar lines to the RugMark programme. The firm is also calling on their competitors to adopt a similarly tough stance.'
(Excerpt) Read more at observer.guardian.co.uk ...
How about trans fats?
Series. This is the dumbest tactic I've ever heard of. I never knew the Gap sold Sweatshop sweatshirts. Now they're telling everyone that they did?
Oh wait. Sweatshirts that were made in sweatshops.
Someone could turn this into a Carson skit.
They ought to have a line of “US Union Made” sweatshirts and see how many people want to pay *those* prices.
That’s why I buy American Apparel: http://americanapparel.net/
Bingo!
Man, their stuff looks gay!!
This is just as exploitive as hiring minors at substandard wage.
I won't buy GAP when I see this label. It's a grotesque marketing ploy.
bookmarked the site, thanks!
Owl_Eagle
If what I just wrote made you sad or angry,
it was probably just a joke.
“This is the dumbest tactic”
No it’s not. A “100% Certified Free Trade/Fair Work” tagged garment will give the elitist liberal kids a giddy feeling about doing good by spending extra $ for a label that reminds them of their “sacrifice” every time they handle the garment and will convict their conscience when they contemplate comparison shopping for cheaper clothing.
It looks like trendy, hipster homo wear.
American Apparel is pro-Amnesty and cheap labor. They should’ve complained to Congress the last time the minimum wage was hiked.
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