LIVEbrary Lesson Plan #10:
"The Jeans Scene"
"The Jeans Scene"
Subject: World History
Age Range: 12-15
Grade Level: 7-10
Contents:
- Reading
- Assignment
- Quiz
- Discussion Questions
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READING:
"The Jeans Scene"
an excerpt from
THE BLUE JEAN BOOK:
The Story Behind the Seams
By Tanya Lloyd Kyi
Published by Annick Press
Reprinted here with permission.
~ Behind the Seams ~
Check the labels on your blue jeans. Were they sewn in the United States? Canada? Britain? Probably not. Jeans may have been born in North America, but they aren't made there much anymore. Because of the rising costs of labor, many jeans companies moved their factories to developing countries in the 1980s and 90s. Australia used to produce more than half of its own jeans. Now, it makes less than a third.
Some American jeans companies simply moved their factories across the border from California to Mexico. While workers in California had been making $10 or $12 per hour, workers in Mexico could be found for as little as $7 per day. The city of Tehuacan, Mexico, has the lowest minimum wage in the nation and is home to 700 clothing manufacturing companies. The industry earns $450 million each year and blue jeans are the most popular product made there.
Wages are just as low -- or lower -- in other countries. In Honduras, a woman sewing clothes for export might make $139 a month, and in parts of China, about $64. In Bangladesh, a similar worker makes just over $18 each month.
Sometimes, overseas production means not only lower wages, but lower workplace standards. An American delegation that went to the island of Saipan in the South Pacific to investigate factory conditions found some people there working almost as slaves. Recruiters had charged these people up to $7,000 to get them a factory job, then forced the people to work in bondage until the "debt" was paid off. Companies buying clothes made at these questionable factories included at least two major American jeans makers.
In 2003, a New York-based labor group brought a worker from a Honduran sweatshop to Manhattan. They staged a protest outside the store of a popular designer jeans maker, claiming that the jeans inside were made in sweatshops where workers were treated unfairly.
People who had arrived to shop stayed outside on the sidewalk instead, listening as the 19-year-old girl described her factory, where workers were limited to two bathroom breaks a day and were forced to work overtime without pay. They weren't allowed to talk to each other, in case they slowed down or tried to start a union. They were also regularly tested for pregnancy and HIV. Workers who tested positive were fired.
As the young woman continued to speak, reporters began to join the crowd of would-be shoppers. By the next day, the worker's story had made newspaper headlines and the company was rethinking the way it handed out contracts.
~ Sweatshop Shock ~
Sweatshops don't operate only in developing countries. In 1995, police raided an apartment complex in El Monte, California, where they found 72 Thai immigrants sewing clothes for 69 cents an hour. The workers had been smuggled into the country and threatened with murder if they quit working or escaped before they "repaid" the smugglers for their journey to the United States. Some of the immigrants had been held there for more than two years.
Many Americans were shocked by the news of sweatshops operating in their own country, but a 1994 government study found that half of clothing factories in Los Angeles paid less than minimum wage, and more than 90 percent broke health and safety laws.
~ Jeans and the Power of Teens ~
By the year 2000, 13- to 17-year-old shoppers became the number one buyers of denim. Jeans makers depend on millions of young shoppers choosing to buy their jeans every day. That gives teens the power to influence how these companies operate.
How can you be sure you're buying jeans made in respectable factories? You can't tell whether jeans were made in India or Mexico by holding the denim up to a light, but you can start by reading the label, and you can often check the company website.
- Does the company supervise its contractors?
- Does it ban the use of child labor?
- Does it make unannounced visits to its factories to monitor safety standards?
- How does it deal with contractors that break the rules?
When enough people write letters about their concerns, companies will listen. After all, teenagers are these companies' biggest market. Indirectly, teens control the blue jean world!
# # #
Copyright 2005 by Tanya Lloyd Kyi. Excerpted from THE BLUE JEAN BOOK: The Story Behind the Seams." Published by Annick Press, ISBN 9781550379174 (library binding), ISBN 9781550379167 (paperback). Reprinted with permission. For more information, please visit http://www.annickpress.com. Thank you.
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ASSIGNMENT
Clothing Conundrums
Jeans companies have made big efforts to convince buyers that clothing manufacturing is a fair and balanced business. Have they succeeded?
Your assignment is to research where your clothing is made and decide whether you support the labor and environmental practices involved.
First, work with a partner to read the labels on your clothing. Was it made in America? Mexico? Overseas? Using tacks or sticky notes, mark your findings on a world map.
Once your entire class has marked the map, note the countries that seem to produce the majority of your clothing. Then, see what you can discover about those places. What is the minimum wage? What are the working conditions like?
Next, break into groups and choose one of the following topics to research. Larger classes may want to assign each topic to more than one group.
Topic One: You're an environmental organization. Can you find out how making jeans impacts pesticide use, irrigation, and water pollution? Are there eco-friendly jeans options available to teens? What are they?
Topic Two: You're a labor union representing American workers. What concerns would you have about the wages and working conditions at clothing factories? How can you make shoppers in North America more aware of sweatshop practices? How can American workers compete for jobs against low wage workers in developing countries?
Topic Three: You're a child advocacy group, concerned about child labor in clothing factories. Can you find out how widespread this problem is? What are American clothing companies doing to stop it? What more could they do?
Topic Four: You're a manufacturer's trade group, interested in bringing the lowest prices to American shoppers. What is the best way to mass produce cheap jeans? Do you think most shoppers care whether their clothes are ethically or environmentally produced? What can you do to support jeans manufacturers and retailers who make a commitment to fair trade?
You can find more information on pages 56-65 of THE BLUE JEAN BOOK. You can also ask your teacher or librarian for assistance finding relevant books and magazines. Here are some useful Internet sources for information:
The Center for Sustainability
http://tinyurl.com/3wyn3q
Good Environmental Choice Australia
http://tinyurl.com/47etfj
Maquila Solidarity Network
http://tinyurl.com/6awt56
Don't forget to name your group! When you've finished your research, present your group's views to the class.
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QUIZ:
NOTE: Quiz answers are available to teachers upon request from LIVEbrary@annickpress.com. Quiz answers will be revealed during online classroom visits and will be made a part of the transcripts of those visits.
1) Multiple Choice. What is the main reason jeans companies site for moving their factories to developing countries?
A. lower taxes
B. lower labor costs
C. less government oversight
D. disagreements with labor unions
2) Multiple Choice. Which of the following groups spends the most money on blue jeans?
A. cowboys
B. farmers
C. teenagers
D. Hollywood celebrities
3) Factories with poor labor practices, known as "sweatshops," exist in which places?
A. China and Bangladesh
B. Honduras and Saipan
C. America and Canada
D. All of the above
4) True or False: You can always tell where jeans have been made by reading the labels?
5) True or False: Consumers have little control over where their jeans are made.
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DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
- Do you think American shoppers know where their clothes are made? Do they care? Why or why not?
- Jean companies are always trying to find out what teenagers think is cool. What do you think is the next thing in jeans? What is the most interesting thing you've seen someone do with a pair of blue jeans?
- If you were going to launch your own clothing company, what kind of jeans would you manufacture? Would they be high fashion? Eco-friendly? Cheap or expensive?
- Would you change the brand of jeans you buy if you found out the manufacturer was using underpaid child labor or violating environmental laws? How can you find out whether the company who made your jeans is engaging in fair trade?
- When teens protested against companies using unfair labor practices, it caused Live Strauss & Co., Nike, and other clothing companies to change the way they do business and monitor subcontractors more closely. Can you think of other ways teens have used their purchasing power to change corporate or government behavior?
Copyright 2008 by Annick Press. All rights reserved. Printed here with permission of the publisher. Please request permission from LIVEbrary@annickpress.com before posting this lesson plan in any public place. Thank you.
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