NewsWhore
03-11-2011, 12:30 PM
Consumers are being educated to pay more so that the people who manufacture the item can also be paid a living wage. The garment factory located in Villa Altagracia, half an hour from Santo Domingo, is the best job in town and has kept families together and getting ahead in life. The factory employs 140 workers and prides itself on being the only factory in the world that supplies living wage, union-made university logo apparel.
The goods have been sold at UC Santa Cruz's Bay Tree Bookstore since November 2010. Alta Gracia is one of 30 subsidiary factories of Knights Apparel, the leading apparel supplier that distributes to 350 universities in the US.
Previously the factory was under South Korean management, but closed in 2007 to move to where workers were paid lower wages.
A student newspaper, cityonahillpress.com reports on the difference the manufacturer has made to local people's lives. The factory pays 3.4 times the country's minimum wage.
The model is a difficult one to replicate. UCSC community studies professor Mary Beth Pudup points out that most factory owners compete on the basis of price and Alta Gracia is part of a competitive advantage goal. "They're making clothing to be sold in elite universities where the wages they're paying are part of the marketing appeal," Pudup said. "For this to be a global movement, it requires educating consumers, and that's a pretty big hill to climb." www.cityonahillpress.com/2011/03/10/an-exceptional-model (http://www.cityonahillpress.com/2011/03/10/an-exceptional-model)
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#9)
The goods have been sold at UC Santa Cruz's Bay Tree Bookstore since November 2010. Alta Gracia is one of 30 subsidiary factories of Knights Apparel, the leading apparel supplier that distributes to 350 universities in the US.
Previously the factory was under South Korean management, but closed in 2007 to move to where workers were paid lower wages.
A student newspaper, cityonahillpress.com reports on the difference the manufacturer has made to local people's lives. The factory pays 3.4 times the country's minimum wage.
The model is a difficult one to replicate. UCSC community studies professor Mary Beth Pudup points out that most factory owners compete on the basis of price and Alta Gracia is part of a competitive advantage goal. "They're making clothing to be sold in elite universities where the wages they're paying are part of the marketing appeal," Pudup said. "For this to be a global movement, it requires educating consumers, and that's a pretty big hill to climb." www.cityonahillpress.com/2011/03/10/an-exceptional-model (http://www.cityonahillpress.com/2011/03/10/an-exceptional-model)
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#9)