#Confused

In an era with such amazingly advanced technology, it might  surprise you just how hard it is to find out about true working conditions of clothes manufacturers. I was looking up the brand Splendid, owned by a company called VF, for close to an hour and all I saw was the pristine, laid out policies and terms of how they should treat their workers. I was baffled.  My soft, cozy black and white striped sweater that was draped around me had a tag that said, "MADE IN CHINA." However, everything that I read online about Splendid, said that it was an American company and their clothes were made in the USA.  Confused? I was, too. 

  Upon further research I looked into VF as a company.  VF Corp. owns many well known brand names such as The North Face, Nautica and Wrangler Jeans.  Turns out, they have 2,000 factories in countries all around the world.  All of a sudden some of the policies started to make sense. For example, Principle Number 4 of their Global Compliance Principles says that, "VF recognizes that compensation packages vary by country." It now clicked because I understood that they did manufacture their clothes in other countries.  Feeling deceived I continued to look into this corporation.  Turns out, VF was highly pressured to reveal the names of their factories, especially those in Bangladesh, following the collapse of the Rayna Plaza two April's ago, which killed 1,129 workers.  Many companies keep the names of their suppliers hidden not only to hide it from competitors, but to not be publicly linked to accidents like the collapse, fires or unfair labor. 

It is easy to say taht I will only by sweaters that were made in the USA, but I had thought that all of Splendid's clothes were made in the USA.  So despite what their website says, am I really going to know who actually made my sweater? The confusion comes from the deception and the hush-hush of the manufacturing. However the more we hear about the horrible incidents, like factories collapsing, the greater awareness people have about the horrid conditions.  To prevent further microscopic attention and immense pressure on the company, I think VF is doing the right thing by being honest and giving the names of their suppliers upfront.  Transparency into their company and honesty about their work will hopefully lead to a better outcome in the end.