Where am I Wearing?: A Global Tour to the Countries, Factories, and People That Make Our Clothes

Timmerman’s boxers were made for the brand Briefly Stated, owned by the buying house Li & Fung. When he calls Li & Fung’s New York office, he is told that they no longer source underwear from Bangladesh and cannot give him the address of the original factory. Eventually, he finds the location of their Bangladeshi office online.

Dalton takes Timmerman to Li & Fung’s office in Dhaka. Timmerman wants to be honest about the nature of his visit, but Dalton introduces him as a wealthy American buyer. The receptionist runs a small buying house as a middleman between buyers and the apparel factories. He gives Timmerman the address of his business partner, Salehin.

Salehin’s office is a bare concrete room. He proudly shows off a picture of his son and reveals that he has a second business and is running an NGO (non-governmental organization) that funds mother and child clinics. When Salehin sees the “Jingle These” boxers, he confirms that they can be manufactured locally. Timmerman bases his cover story on the truth, stating that he is a travel writer who produces a comic strip called The Touron. He explains that he sells “Touron Attire” merchandise online and wants to outsource manufacturing to Bangladesh. Salehin claims that his car is temporarily in the garage. They take a bus to visit factories in a city called Saver.

Timmerman has visited Saver before. On that occasion, he took 19 children and an elderly farmer to the city’s amusement park, Fantasy Kingdom. The admission tickets for 20 people cost $67—the price of one child’s entry to Disney World, Orlando. Fantasy Kingdom is an incongruous feature of the Bangladeshi city. Its walls feature giant, smiling cartoon children, but only the rich can afford the admission price. Nearby are Saver’s garment factories, and several of the children whom Timmerman took to the park were garment workers. Others sold street food, kept shops, or were street scavengers, picking through rubbish for saleable items. None of them attended school. Timmerman bought a Fantasy Kingdom T-shirt for a nine-year-old girl who was half naked. The farmer, Mr. Azhar, revealed that he had walked past the amusement park daily and always dreamed of going inside.

The author reveals that 76% of Bangladesh’s exports are garments. Before 2005, the Multi-Fiber Agreement (MFA) limited the volume of apparel that certain countries could export. However, the export restrictions on Bangladesh were minimal compared to the heavy restrictions on larger countries such as China. In 2005, the Bangladeshi garment industry suffered a crisis when the MFA was lifted, placing the country in direct competition with China. However, the factories continued to thrive since they provided the cheapest labor in the world.

In 1992, American consumers were horrified when the television show Dateline NBC showed children from the age of seven working machines in a Bangladeshi garment factory that made clothes for Walmart. Although Walmart claimed that the children were “malnourished adults,” the public did not believe it, leading them to associate clothes made in Bangladesh with child labor. American consumers boycotted clothing made in Bangladesh despite Bangladeshi workers’ assertions that children needed to work to support their families. As a result of the boycott, the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association introduced new guidelines stating that all garment workers under the age of 14 must be fired. Consequently, unemployed children suddenly “flooded the streets of Dhaka” until the United States and Bangladeshi governments funded schools for them (45). Despite the regulation of its garment industry, an estimated 4.9 million Bangladeshi children between the ages of five and 14 work in other sectors.

As Timmerman and Salehin approach the factory, they hear a generator, indicating that the city is experiencing one of the country’s frequent power outages. Inside, the owner, Asad, shows them around his factory. Conditions are better than the author expected, and he sees no evidence of child labor. Although the air is filled with cotton dust, the working space is clean, fans keep the factory cool, and the emergency exits are marked. The workers perform their tasks quickly, and none of them talk. Asad prices the manufacture and export of 3,000 boxer shorts at $3.10 per piece. Timmerman reflects that for under $10,000, he could launch a profitable underwear business.

Timmerman realizes that, as there are 3,000 garment factories in Bangladesh making a variety of brands and garments, he will not be able to locate the exact location where his underwear was made.

Timmerman reveals that he was a “child laborer” at the age of 11. During summer vacations, he worked for his family’s wood truss manufacturing company. However, much of his time was spent playing tricks on the other workers. He reflects that he could not have worked in a garment factory, as “a good garment worker is docile and out of options” (50). Like many American children, he was educated and believed that he could do any job he wanted. By contrast, garment workers are traditionally underprivileged, uneducated women. In 19th-century England, during the Industrial Revolution, garment factories employed women and children since they could be hired cheaply and were considered more obedient than men. When the industry grew in New England, it hired young female employees from rural areas. The same pattern continued when garment manufacturing moved to the American South and then the Global South.

Timmerman and Dalton visit factories in the city of Narsingdi. At one factory, Timmerman admits that he is a journalist, but the owner allows them to walk around, talk to the employees, and take photographs. The factory owner has won awards and donates significant amounts to the local hospital. The working environment is hot and loud, and the workers do not wear protective clothing or hearing guards. Shirtless men work electric looms, and two teenage boys prepare thread for a machine. Shifts are 12 hours long, and one of the staff members reveals that workers occasionally lose fingers or arms. Timmerman feels uncomfortable about what he has witnessed, but Dalton assures him that the boys would not be in school even if they were not employed in the factory. Instead, they would beg on the street or work in an even more dangerous environment.

Timmerman reflects on how child labor is deemed unacceptable in the United States. Americans perceive childhood as a cherished period of innocence, but in Bangladesh’s economy, these ideals are unrealistic. Some factory owners argue that employing children is a social good since it gives families access to much-needed extra money. Timmerman concludes that boycotting child labor absolves Americans’ guilt while ignoring the larger issue of its necessity within “a culture of poverty” (53).

In his 2005 book The End of Poverty, economist Jeffrey Sachs argues that in developing countries like Bangladesh, the garment industry is “an opportunity to get a foothold on the first rung of the global economic ladder” (55). As well as being the first step to long-term economic growth, the industry improves the lives of Bangladeshi women, Sachs claims. Working women are statistically proven to have fewer children, meaning that their income is greater and they stay healthier. Sachs states that “[e]ducating and employing women is one of the best ways to lift a society from poverty” (56).

Timmerman meets Mr. Moon from the National Garment Worker’s Federation. His office walls feature newspaper clippings reporting the deaths or beatings suffered by garment workers. Mr. Moon takes Timmerman to meet garment workers who inhabit an entire apartment building. Timmerman spends the day with a single mother named Arifa. Arifa’s room has a concrete floor and metal walls insulated by cardboard. Two beds largely take up the living space. Arifa’s children, four-year-old Sadia and 11-year-old Abir, sleep in one, and her sister’s husband, Didder Khan, sleeps in the other. A rice bucket is stored under the bed, and Arifa chops vegetables on the floor. Timmerman notes that Sadia looks sickly, and Arifa explains that their rooftop water supply is contaminated.

Arifa subleases a room to three male garment workers and also cooks for them. Sixteen people share the same shower. Her 18-year-old son, Arman, works in Saudi Arabia and sends half of his money home. Although she wants her children to stay in school for as long as possible, Arifa cannot afford it. Timmerman finds it hard to believe that her lifestyle represents Bangladeshi economic progress.

Arifa takes Timmerman to the Standard Garment factory to meet her coworkers at the end of the day. She explains that she usually earns $6 per week for 60 hours of work but is taking a month off due to a leg injury. She flags down a taxi for Timmerman and negotiates the best price for him. Timmerman wants to give Arifa a $20 note, but the presence of her hostile-looking boyfriend stops him.

While the textile industry employs over 2.5 million Bangladeshi people, their pay barely covers basic needs. Workers have no opportunity to improve the quality of their lives. Timmerman interviews a former Bangladeshi supermodel, Bibi Russell, who lives in Dhaka. Russell attended the London School of Fashion in the 1970s and became an international model before returning to Bangladesh in 1994. She tells Timmerman that she loves her country and wants to improve its future. Her business, Bibi Productions, helps weavers work their way out of poverty by selling their products globally. After investing all her money into assisting local people, Russell was made a UNESCO Special Envoy.

Another Bangladeshi citizen, Muhammad Yunus, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize after forming the Grameen Bank. The community bank offers loans to Bangladeshis who would not be approved for credit by traditional banks. The bank’s loans have helped seven million people, and 98% have been repaid in full despite a lack of punitive measures for failed repayments. Timmerman visits the bank and meets a group of women requesting loans. Fifty-five-year-old Lovli was begging on the street before getting a loan to buy and sell candy. Meanwhile, Shokinan reveals that she used her first loan to buy a cow. After paying the money back, she took on further loans, bought a home, and now owns and rents out 60 rooms. Shilpi, a former garment factory worker, used her loan to start a small clothing business.

Timmerman talks to Habib, who works for the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association. Habib expresses concern about the 2007 Decent Working Conditions and Fair Compensation Act, otherwise known as the anti-sweatshop bill. He explains that the American legislation threatens Bangladesh’s apparel industry. Timmerman is surprised to realize that he no longer wholeheartedly supports the well-intentioned anti-sweatshop bill. He is now aware of the negative impact that it could have on the lives of the poorest Bangladeshi people.

Dalton’s cousin Sapon is establishing himself as a garment industry subcontractor. He and his partners take Timmerman to the empty factory that will be Tatting Fashion Ltd. Timmerman reveals that subcontractors’ premises often escape monitoring processes since so many of them exist. Subcontractors work for factories and not brands, so they are less likely to be inspected and are, therefore, most likely to be sweatshops.

Sapon explains that he left his village and works as a hotel manager in Dhaka to support his parents and siblings. His brothers now work in Singapore and Dubai. The factory is small, but Sapon reveals that it will contain 84 machines and around 200 employees. He dreams of eventually leaving the hotel, building a house, and having his parents live with him.

Timmerman meets Dalton at the luxurious North Shore Hotel, where Dalton was once project manager. Dalton explains that the hotel is where the Bangladeshi and American worlds “meet.” In the lobby, they observe American and European buyers being greeted by Bangladeshi garment manufacturers. The hotel is luxurious, in stark contrast to the rest of Bangladesh. Timmerman reflects that the hotel is more like his own world, although it also seems “less real.”

In 1911, there was a fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City. Of the 46 workers who died, most stood at the windows and burned to death, while eight others jumped. The incident led to improvements in American labor rights.

In December 2010, a fire broke out at a garment factory near Fantasy Kingdom in Bangladesh where workers were making children’s dungarees for Gap. Since the exit was locked, some of the workers jumped to their deaths, and 29 people died overall. In the aftermath of the tragedy, it emerged that it was standard procedure to lock factory exits during a fire to prevent garments from being stolen. Afterward, Gap ensured that families received compensation and that emergency safety standards were improved in their factories.

In Bangladesh, there were 213 factory fires between 2006 and 2009, in which 414 garment workers died. Another factory collapsed in 2005, killing 64 workers. Timmerman suggests that these statistics are due to the rapid growth of the Bangladeshi garment industry, which has almost doubled since he visited the country. Factories are constructed quickly and without conforming to safety standards. Wages in Bangladesh have improved since 2007 after workers protested and went on strike. Consequently, the minimum monthly salary increased from $24 to $43. However, this remains the lowest global wage, and the cost of living in Bangladesh has doubled.

Arifa no longer works in the apparel industry. She left the factory in 2009 to care for her daughter Sadia. They live in the same apartment building rent free since Arifa manages it. Her son, Arma, returned from Saudi Arabia and supports his family, earning $49 monthly as a mechanic. Sixteen-year-old Abir is looking for a job, but Arifa hopes that he does not have to work in the garment industry.