RLBL-made in China?

[ismelllikepoop]

this thread reminds me of celebrities discussing politics. or kanye discussing anything

 

[Annadale]

Originally Posted by harvey_birdman

http://thenextweb.com/apple/2010/02/...manufacturing/
http://www.china-labour.org.hk/en/node/15889
http://homeport.tcs.tulane.edu/~roux...99/china2.html



So because I don't like the idea of Chinese children being forced to work in windowless factories I must have racist thoughts toward Chinese people? Seriously?

You might be better focussed on venting at Apple, but then, their products are gorgeous, aren't they?

 

[Viktri]

Originally Posted by Annadale

I have seen inside a few Chinese factories, ranging in size from 30 employees to 3000. I can honestly say that I did not see children working, nor would I have expected to, these were mainly high tech plants with machinery that a child would definitely not had the capacity to operate. China makes good product at a good price, though how competitive it will be in the future is debatable, given current trends. I distinctly smell racism at work in this thread.
The kids don't operate the machines. In the factories I've seen, they perform simple tasks. For example, think about small plastic products, on products made in China, and who would have stuck those buttons or stickers on. It was a small shock for me the first time I saw them. When I did see them, they were a small minority of the work force (compared to the entire factory). PM'd Larry Dallas below that I will not name any companies or factories as it would be a breach of privacy (as anyone who has been to one would know).

 

[Larry Dallas]

I've never been inside a textile factory, but I've been inside Chinese factories that make automotive parts. I've never seen children working there, but a lot of young adults. These are not slave labor camps, the people who work there choose to work there, although the working conditions are not what a lot of us would tolerate. I won't refute that child labor and forced labor exist, I've just never seen those conditions personally, and wouldn't automatically assume that because a company outsources to China they use these methods. One thing I know is that you probably buy products from China. Your German car is filled with parts made in China, most of them shipping to Europe for final assembly. If you have an iPhone, it's made by foxconn, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/20/we...20barboza.html. If it's the case that textile factories have particularly worse conditions than other types of factories in China, then the self-righteous move of not buying clothing made there while buying other products made there might be the correct one.

As to the middle class in China, I see more wealthy middle and upper middle class people every day, and these people seem to be buying cars and western brand clothing. The difference from five years ago is astounding. These are just my observations, though. If there are statistics that dispute them, I couldn't argue with them.

 

[Larry Dallas]

Viktri, can you name the companies whose factories were using the child labor? I'm not disputing that you saw this, I'm just curious as to what company it was and what area.

 

[chamjoe]

Of course I can't find the article now but I remember reading that when a number of wal-mart execs came to tour some factories with the press they found no noticeable issues regarding labor for Chinese standards. Then some hidden video was released along with some memos from the factory outlining how the tour was all a sham and they simply hid the kids and sick looking ones when the foreigners came to visit. I would suspect this is fairly common and with China being famous for secrecy is it that hard to believe?

Lets face it when it comes to electronics its all made in China and we can't do anything about it aside from boycott it which I'm at least not going to do. But when it comes to items where we can control the origin why wouldn't we prefer things coming from American factories where the employees spend their monies in the US and without much question in my mind live a better life here.

Its not like we really know the "good" quality factories and the "bad" quality factories over there so who is to know? I don't mind paying a few extra bucks for an item made here but it really annoys me when big US companies switch production over to China where is costs them x-times less money to produce and then continue to charge us the same amount if not more.

 

[DerekS]

Originally Posted by A.L.Z.

Please own one Made in China cashmere knitwear for one year.....and own one, say Made in Italy or Made in Scotland, for one year...and then compare

The Made in China will shed on white shirts, progressively worse.....when you get warm, it will loose its shape irreversibly...

this is my experience (limited)...i have a cashmere sweater made in scotland thats great...had it for 3 years now and it still looks new. I bought a lavander cashmere made in china, super soft...softer than the scottish one...had it since christmas and its already pretty rough looking.

 

[MoxJr]

Originally Posted by DerekS

this is my experience (limited)...i have a cashmere sweater made in scotland thats great...had it for 3 years now and it still looks new. I bought a lavander cashmere made in china, super soft...softer than the scottish one...had it since christmas and its already pretty rough looking.

this is my experience (limited)...i have a cashmere sweater made in china thats great...had it for 3 years now and it still looks new. I bought a lavander cashmere made in scotland, super soft...softer than the chinese one...had it since christmas and its already pretty rough looking.