Wear & Tear

How fair is your fashion? Take the quiz.

Fast fashion is polluting the world's air and water, filling landfills and overworking and underpaying workers. How does the shirt on your back contribute?

Jobs

Wear and Tear series: The women who make our clothes

PRI's The World

December 04, 2017

Across Women’s Lives’ “Wear and Tear” series traces the roots of women in the garment industry from textile mills in North Carolina to sweatshops in Los Angeles to crowded factories in Bangladesh, where the memory of the deadly Rana Plaza disaster lingers but real change has been slow.

Economics

Her job at the mill bought her a new, better life

PRI's The World

December 04, 2017

Acree Bell Lassiter was just 17 when she started working in a textile mill in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina. Now that mill, like all the mills in her town, is gone.

Economics

H&M's statement about sexual harassment allegations in Bangladeshi factories

PRI's The World

December 15, 2017

The company is a big buyer from factories in Bangladesh.

Arts

My family's ties to the global garment industry

PRI's The World

December 15, 2017

"My dad was a doctor, and when I was 6 my family moved from the center of the garment industry, New York City, to North Carolina, America's garment manufacturing state," recalls Marco Werman, host of PRI's The World.

Culture

These women in the Philippines scour a dump site for trash to turn into 'something beautiful'

GlobalPost

December 11, 2017

To grow, blossom or bloom — this is what the Filipino word, lumago, means in the Philippines’ national language. But for the women of Lumago Designs, the word has symbolic meaning, as well.

Business

How good is H&M’s clothing recycling program?

PRI's The World

December 08, 2017

The world's biggest fashion retailer wants you to help them “close the loop” by donating your unwanted clothes. But only a small percentage of those cast-offs become new clothes.

Economics

An Argentine startup that makes shoes from discarded tire scraps and employs single mothers

PRI's The World

December 08, 2017

Xinca currently employs 25 women from rural areas, where much of the production is done.

Economics

Working in a garment factory may not bring this mother and daughter long-term economic stability

PRI's The World

December 07, 2017

Rongmala Begum, like many of Bangladesh’s garment workers, doesn’t know how old she is. She doesn’t have a birth certificate, which is common for the rural poor here. She thinks she’s in her 40s. She has an identification card, but she can’t read it. Begum is illiterate.

Economics

Are factories better in Bangladesh after Rana Plaza? That depends on who you ask.

PRI's The World

December 06, 2017

The Rana Plaza collapse made companies and consumers more aware of working conditions in the clothing factories. In some places, reforms have made workers safer, but the changes are far from universal.

Business, Finance & Economics

How do consumers make good choices about clothes? Spider silk and brand transparency.

PRI's The World

December 06, 2017

We know that fast fashion is polluting the Earth, clogging landfills and underpaying workers. What can consumers do to make better choices?

Culture

How we can create fashion that is inclusive and adaptive

PRI's The World

December 06, 2017

One company currently trying to situate itself at the intersection of adaptive clothing technology and on-trend fashion is Tommy Hilfiger.

Economics

How a sweatshop raid in an LA suburb changed the American garment industry

PRI's The World

December 05, 2017

In the early hours of Aug. 2, 1995, authorities raided an apartment complex in El Monte and found 72 Thai workers, including Rotchana Sussman, living in virtual slavery while making clothing.

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