The numbers that Fallow uses to try and bring Shenzhen into perspective are astounding, and even then, hard to imagine. 3,000 pigs a day! A cargo ship container a second, and still less than half of China's export total. This has made me realize that Americans and American companies must rely on China a lot more than I ever expected. I only had a vague idea of this, and that was mostly regarding clothes. This is because I like to thrift my clothes, and one of the controls I use to see if I actually want something or if I'm just excited to find something is whether it was made in China. If that's enough to discourage me from buying the shirt, then I didn't really want it. As the article later points out, an astonishingly large portion of our technology, or at least parts of it, also come from China. I found chapter 21 especially eye-opening, but in a way where you read it and go "yeah that makes sense". I thought it interesting that these companies also focus so heavily on avoiding the "Nike Problem", to avoid hinting at these products being made in sweatshops. I think this is another example of globalization, in a way. The western idea of a sweat shop (what standard a factory should and shouldn't have) affecting these Chinese factories. Over the summer there was a Shein controversy, where Shein invited influencers to come and look at a singular factory of theirs and post about the conditions and workers. I believe Shein may have paid for their flights and accommodations, but I'm not positive. The point is, even with this one factory tour being held up as a "hey look, we're not REALLY a sweat shop!", most people knew that it was just a front. That for the extreme volume of clothes Shein pumps out, the conditions would NOT be to western standards.
Also, I found chapter 21 to be like a Nike specific version of the "No Logo" movie. A lot of the points were about Nike becoming a "lifestyle" brand and using celebrities like Michael Jordan to promote themselves until they establish themselves within the lifestyle niche they wanted. An example would be that certain Nike shoes are status symbols, and that continues today.
1 comment:
I really liked your insight on how Western ideals are effecting the perception of what a sweat shop is or isn’t. This in itself is another form of globalization as western values are being placed upon Eastern factories. I also appreciated how you brought up the SHEIN controversy and how many of the factories investigated are a front as opposed to the day to day operations of the companies’ other factories.
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