The business section of our local newspaper contained this fascinating article about the garment industry in Haiti:
http://www.buffalonews.com/2010/02/2...-industry.html
While we sew because we enjoy it, how different it is for those who sew because they must.
This article discusses how a worker in the garment industry in Haiti earns $3.09 USD, which is their minimum wage, for an 8-hour day assembling mens suits that will be sold in upscale stores for $550.
For the $3.09, this particular worker can afford a cupful of rice, transportation to work via group taxi, and she can pay down the debt on her now-destroyed apartment; she sleeps on the street. (Read the article for MUCH more detail. It's a very worthwhile read.)
How is it, that of the $550 retail price of the suit, only $3.09 goes to the worker? How many other hands has this suit passed through, each taking a (successively larger) profit?
With so many members on this forum, I'm hoping that someone has experience in the garment industry, and might be able to explain what goes on between the factory and the storefront, to explain these disturbing numbers that I cannot make any sense of.