fair trade products.

[Mobung]

If you are talking about clothing, American Apparel is located in Los Angeles and is notable fore paying its factory workers actual living wages. The clothes can be trendy in kind of bizarre ways, but their basics are good.

I second the American Apparel recommendation. I don't know about their other products, but the t-shirts are quite nice. Just be aware that they are "slim" fit, so you may need to order a size up.

 

[cleverlymadeup]

You were criticizing Fair Trade on the basis of it not recognizing that just because we're paying less money than we would for the same product manufactured at home, that doesn't mean the workers are being exploited.

I have no idea how you get that out of anything in that article, especially the first two lines.

well let's look at the second line. i will bold the important parts for you, that you somehow can't see

The movement advocates the payment of a higher price

Yes, exactly--higher. Higher only means more than they are being paid now--they still might be being paid "a LOT less than what we'd work for" but more--higher--than they are no which "allows the person to have his own apartment, own car and live very well" in their country even if it wouldn't in ours.

the whole car thing is ONE example i had used, please stop trying to hold on to it like a safety blanket. you keep harping on that point, when i used it as one example in one country.

the fact that they are getting paid higher wages means they can afford more, if you don't understand that, it's not my fault

The key word there being 'might'. They also 'might not'. So what's your point? That not every person working in conditions we would consider horrible finds them to be so and that just because one couldn't live well on that wage in our countries doesn't mean they can't live well on it in theirs? That doesn't mean NONE of them consider their working conditions horrible or that ALL of them can afford their own place and a car and live very well.

You just misunderstood what the word 'higher' means. I see you make a lot of posts like this where you miss simple points like what is meant by the word higher. Is...English not your first language? If so, I apologize for being a little hard on you.

actually i DO understand the point of HIGHER wages, higher means you are earning more, which also means you have more money at the end of the day and when you ask anyone what they will do with more money. they say they will get more stuff, better education for their kids and make their family life better.

i do understand it and i have a much better grasp on this than you do. while you might not see or comprehend what i'm saying, that's your fault not mine. i've got a lot better grasp on many things and a great understanding of how things in this world work and happen

maybe you should go learn something before trying to spout off how people miss points and don't understand things when you clearly have no idea what you're talking about in the first place, you've misconstrued my points, not understood them at all, not understood things you've had to read. i think you should be the one who should actually do some learning first before commenting on others

 

[Rolling Thunder]

You were criticizing Fair Trade on the basis of it not recognizing that just because we're paying less money than we would for the same product manufactured at home, that doesn't mean the workers are being exploited.

I have no idea how you get that out of anything in that article, especially the first two lines.

well let's look at the second line. i will bold the important parts for you, that you somehow can't see

The movement advocates the payment of a higher price

Yes, exactly--higher. Higher only means more than they are being paid now--they still might be being paid "a LOT less than what we'd work for" but more--higher--than they are no which "allows the person to have his own apartment, own car and live very well" in their country even if it wouldn't in ours.

the whole car thing is ONE example i had used, please stop trying to hold on to it like a safety blanket. you keep harping on that point, when i used it as one example in one country.

the fact that they are getting paid higher wages means they can afford more, if you don't understand that, it's not my fault

The key word there being 'might'. They also 'might not'. So what's your point? That not every person working in conditions we would consider horrible finds them to be so and that just because one couldn't live well on that wage in our countries doesn't mean they can't live well on it in theirs? That doesn't mean NONE of them consider their working conditions horrible or that ALL of them can afford their own place and a car and live very well.

You just misunderstood what the word 'higher' means. I see you make a lot of posts like this where you miss simple points like what is meant by the word higher. Is...English not your first language? If so, I apologize for being a little hard on you.

actually i DO understand the point of HIGHER wages, higher means you are earning more, which also means you have more money at the end of the day and when you ask anyone what they will do with more money. they say they will get more stuff, better education for their kids and make their family life better.

i do understand it and i have a much better grasp on this than you do. while you might not see or comprehend what i'm saying, that's your fault not mine. i've got a lot better grasp on many things and a great understanding of how things in this world work and happen

maybe you should go learn something before trying to spout off how people miss points and don't understand things when you clearly have no idea what you're talking about in the first place, you've misconstrued my points, not understood them at all, not understood things you've had to read. i think you should be the one who should actually do some learning first before commenting on others

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demand-pull_inflation

 

[Mookie_Magnus]

Shop at an HEB, they usually have stuff that's pretty good, good for a frugal shopper, and it's good-quality stuff. Much better than Wal-Mart's at least.

 

[cleverlymadeup]

the fact that they are getting paid higher wages means they can afford more, if you don't understand that, it's not my fault

...


actually i DO understand the point of HIGHER wages, higher means you are earning more, which also means you have more money at the end of the day and when you ask anyone what they will do with more money. they say they will get more stuff, better education for their kids and make their family life better.

What does any of that have to do with what you said about:

the thing about fair trade is this, there isn't such a thing and what we'd consider horrendous treatment, others might consider it a great thing

...

while we think that they are being treated horribly they are thinking they have the good life.

Which...is what I replied to. Maybe you have me mixed up with another conversation you are having with a different poster.

ahhh yes after which you put up a thing on slavery which has nothing to do with fair trade and is something completely different

i knew what i was talking about, you however didn't understand, so yet again it's not me that has the issue, it's you

 

[cleverlymadeup]

Your point? What does something else I put up have to do with the fact that you were saying something about Fair Trade that is misleading?

simply put you are blaming me for misunderstanding this whole thing when you in fact were the one that didn't understand and posted something unrelated in order to prove your point

and really i wasn't saying anything that's misleading about it, what we consider bad or poor treatment, to someone else might be thought of as great.

 

[Clyde]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/08/02/eveningnews/main5205416.shtml

Pollution bothers me much more.

this is on topic...

The OP was general, he disliked sweatshops and wanted to know alternatives. I provided info regarding one of their downsides. The event itself is recent, and I could dig up more.

I care more about the ecological impact of sweatshops over economical. Hearing about this and the water crisis, makes me think we're all fools.

 

[cleverlymadeup]

Your point? What does something else I put up have to do with the fact that you were saying something about Fair Trade that is misleading?

simply put you are blaming me for misunderstanding this whole thing when you in fact were the one that didn't understand and posted something unrelated in order to prove your point

and really i wasn't saying anything that's misleading about it, what we consider bad or poor treatment, to someone else might be thought of as great.

Oh, you mean my link to the article about the brick factory--what do you mean that is unrelated? On that page you linked me to it states:

Key fair trade principles

Fair trade products are traded and marketed either by an "integrated supply chain" whereby products are imported and/or distributed by fair trade organizations (commonly referred to as alternative trading organizations) or by "product certification" whereby products complying with fair trade specifications are certified indicating that they have been produced, traded, processed and packaged in accordance with the standards.

You really think bricks made with slave labor "have been produced, traded, processed and packaged in accordance with the standards"?

I don't see how anyone could respond to an article about "31 people forced to work for a year as slaves -- given only bread and water and no pay -- at a brickworks run by the son of a local Communist Party official." by saying it's not related to Fair Trade, and then linking them to a webpage that under the heading "Key fair trade principles" lists making sure that consumers know if the goods they are buying meet a certain standard for how the labor involved was treated, unless they didn't bother to read the page they are using as a reference in the first place.

Whatever--the only thing that can come of this is I'll say something stupid and incur mod wrath. Neither I nor this site deserve that, so.

then frankly you don't understand Fair Trade, that is slavery not Fair Trade. this discussion isn't about slavery, it's about Fair Trade products. so you've misunderstood this and now like to blame other people for your own problems

from the beginning i understood that this had nothing to do with slavery or anything like that. i knew what Fair Trade was and the principles behind it, you on the other hand decided to confuse the subject and now trying to justify it somehow