Are You Still Buying into the Levis Legend?
Still on the subject of the down side of globalisation – my bugbear for the week – it came to light this week that US clothing companies Levis and Gap have been negligent in their corporate social responsibilities in Lesotho, Africa.
Water pollution, the dumping of hazardous waste onto unguarded landfill, and the exposure of locals to environmental pollution are hallmarks of the third world manufacturing paradigm. These companies seem to hire third contractors for manufacturing, in this case a Taiwanese company, to provide the necessary deniability. There is no conceivable way that Levis did not have its finger on the pulse of the Lesotho factory situation, and if it did then the management involved in that oversight should be summarily fired. Considering the 1600 litres or so to produce a cotton shirt, I’m also appalled at the quantity of off-cut denim discarded. Another case of unethical global plundering.
If you’re wearing Levis or Gap in the street – shame on you. If you own Levis shares – bigger shame.
But we all know this happens and we all understand why it happens – because its all run on the ideal of maximisation of shareholder wealth. Greed. And, as I mentioned in my previous article about racists and terrorists there is a direct link between disenfranchisement of the globalisation losers and the growth in violence internationally. Yep, its in the jeans, so to speak. Just a few things to think about over your coffee…
