"Unraveled" by Maxine Bedat

Before you order that favorite pair of jeans, you may want to hear what Maxine Bedat has to say on what she found out about the clothing industry. Did you know how many thousands of miles were involved or the number of hands who picked, spun, wove, dyed, packaged, shipped, and sold the item to get it to you? Did you know that in the 1960s, about 95 percent of what Americans wore was produced in this country and now about 2 percent is?Bedat makes the point that today's fashion industry operates with radical opacity, and it's only getting worse to disguise countless environmental and labor abuses. In "Unraveled," Bedat sets off to follow the production of a pair of blue jeans from cotton field to landfill, the life of the garment. In doing so, she explores factories in China where chemicals banned in the West slosh on factory floors and drain into waterways used to irrigate local family farms. Sewing floors in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are crammed with women working for illegally low wages to produce garments as efficiently as machines. Back in America, our jeans get stowed, picked, and shipped out by Amazon warehouse workers pushed to be as quick as the robots primed to replace them. Bedat reminds us that the Levis brand, so very American in its heritage, and one that once employed thousands in Texas and California, has now moved all production offshore. The author told Steve Tarter that it wouldn't take much to allow for workers in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to earn a living wage for their labors while some of the wealthiest people in the world derive some of their income from the fashion industry.CATEGORIESBusiness & Economics - Industries - Fashion & Textile IndustryBusiness & Economics - Green BusinessTechnology & Engineering - Environmental - Waste ManagementMORE ABOUT THE AUTHORMBMaxine BedatMORE ABOUT THE NARRATORMBMaxine Bedat