Made in the USA (or Honduras, or Mexico, or Vietnam...)
September 5, 2007 The Oregonian
By Andy Dworkin and Jim Mayer
Portland buys clothes. Lots of clothes. About $2 million in clothing a year. Unfortunately, much clothing is made in sweatshops - factories that don't follow local labor laws or honor worker rights. So last week, Portland passed a resolution that aims to limit buying clothing from sweatshops.
Part of the process asks companies with the contracts to clothe Portland to disclose their factory locations. We already knew that most of the money went to police and fire uniforms, which are lergely made in unionized U.S. factories. Thanks to the Bureau of Purchases, you can now click for much more detail on what clothing Portland buys, on which companies get the contracts and some information - though not full details - on where those contractors buy their goods.
- Andy Dworkin
