The next time you wash all those T-shirts that have accumulated from various campus events and organizations, take a quick look at the tag. Which company made them?  Where?

Most of mine say “Gildan” and are made in Honduras, Haiti or Nicaragua. Gildan is a Canadian company that produces a large volume of the t-shirts we buy. They work very hard to look like supporters of workers’ rights, and have succeeded in looking better by comparison to most other major garment manufacturers. The sad truth, however, is that many of Gildan’s workers have debilitating repetitive stress injuries and very low pay.

Like many other garment manufacturers, Gildan also contracts with third party sweatshops. It has also supported oppressive military regimes and actively fought workers’ attempts to organize.

Fortunately, there are alternatives. By doing a little bit of research, one can find many options for high quality T-shirts that are made under fair working conditions.

Given the topic of this year’s Building Bridges conference, I’d especially like to recommend Freeset clothing, a company in India that provides jobs for women rescued from the sex trade.

Let’s make Gustavus a place where what we wear matches what we believe.

Nathaniel Beaver ‘12