The Ingredients of a Shirt

Throughout class discussion we have began to reference the idea that something as simple as the shirt we wear on our back has come from places more than just “polo” or some brand name store. For instance, a collared shirt that we may wear on a day to day basis started out with the simple ingredients that make the shirt. If your shirt is 100% cotton, then the shirt traces all the way back to the people that grew the cotton that in turn was sold to a manufacturer to make the shirt. I think that understanding how deeply rooted the process of making something as simple as a shirt allows people to realize that they may in fact be supporting some action that they would not feel comfortable being associated with. For instance, some shirts have come from manufacturers in China where child labor is a common thing due to the cheap wage rates. In my opinion, it is tough for one American to help prevent child labor in foreign countries but if America as a country did not support the importing of Chinese goods, we may be able to have some impact on this issue. Realistically, it would be tough for individual Americans to turn down the cheap prices of clothes and items produced in these countries simply because most people want to get the best deal possible in terms of money spent. On the whole, people need to realize that simple actions they make throughout their daily lives such as buying clothes from another country may have dramatic drawbacks that may outweigh the cheap prices they are paying.