How did blue jeans start with one guy - a not so bright side to his craft
There is no young man in the world who does not know that there are several “levels” of the same jeans, depending on the country of manufacture, which may be China, Vietnam or America, passing through Thailand or Bangladesh... and he can choose from them what he wants, without stopping at what the spread of these hides. Industry from the east to the west.
In April of 2013, the collapse of a garment factory in Bangladesh resulted in the death of 1,127 people, and the injury of about 2,000 different injuries. The disaster was of such magnitude that the world's attention was drawn to the reality of the garment industry in South Asian countries, including the jeans industry. Investigations revealed frightening and sad facts and figures.
Since the fifties of the last century, when ready-made garments began to be popular in Europe, Western merchants have turned towards Asia, and in particular to China, to manufacture wholesale there and take advantage of the cheap labor cost there compared to Europe. From China, the oil slick has dominated the clothing industry to include Vietnam, Thailand, India and Bangladesh, and the latter last year alone exported six billion different pieces of clothing.
A worker's life depends on 15 US cents
With regard to jeans in particular, manufacturers say that its components are of almost uniform cost in China, America and the rest of the world. The big difference lies in the wages paid to the seamstress. A worker (or female) seamstress in Bangladesh earns 50 dollars a month, in Vietnam 100 dollars, and in China it rose to 235 dollars, while in the US state of Oklahoma it reaches 1440 dollars and in California it reaches 1800 dollars.
The owners of jeans sewing factories in Bangladesh explained to Bloomberg TV the miserable and dangerous conditions for safety and health in their factories by saying that they charge 75 US cents to sew one pants. They pointed out that studies confirmed that if customers (brand owners and wholesalers) accepted to raise this price to 90 cents, the factories would have been able to secure a safe and sound work environment. But they insist that the cost of sewing is kept to a minimum. This was confirmed by the merchants. But they added that the demand for the manufacture of jeans is carried out in the form of "units", each consisting of 100,000 pants. That is, each unit would cost them an additional $15,000, and a million pants (which is a near-normal number) would cost an extra $150,000.
However, one of the ugliest faces revealed by the jeans industry in Asia is in the scandal that erupted in India in 2010 AD, when journalists revealed that a factory that produces trousers for an internationally known brand, forces its workers to work 16 hours a day, for 40 US cents, That's $12 a month. This prompted the global company to issue a statement saying that it was keen to “manufacture its products according to its standards and conditions,” and that it would address this issue. No one later heard of any developments in this regard, until 2013, when the same company announced that it would cooperate with twenty other companies to inspect the factories contracting with it in Bangladesh to see their conditions, and that was after the collapse of the large factory we referred to.
