From: Tim Bartley (bartley@U.Arizona.EDU)
Date: Wed Nov 07 2001 - 15:19:32 EST
On the topic of alternative models of apparel production.....
There is some work going on here at the U of Arizona to help support a
worker co-op in Agua Prieta, Mexico, just a couple of hours away. The
co-op is small, and there are lots of complications (both technical and
political) to getting things going, but there's definitely some potential
here. The basic idea is that the co-op could produce univeristy-licensed
t-shirts for sale in the campus bookstore (and maybe other places). There
are many more details, but instead of trying to write them all right now,
I've attached a message below that covers some of the relevant issues.
It's a memo from Students Against Sweatshops here to the committee working
on this project (the "Alternative Licensing" committee, in which some SAS
members are also participating).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tim Bartley
Department of Sociology
University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ 85721
phone: (520) 621-9209
fax: (520) 621-9875
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> To: University of Arizona "Alternative Licensing" Committee
> From: Students Against Sweatshops
> Date: Wednesday, September 26, 2001
> Re: future progress on alternative licensing
>
> (contact person for SAS: Mark Rivera, marivera@u.arizona.edu)
>
> As an organization firmly committed to ending the University of Arizona's
> involvement with sweatshop labor, Students Against Sweatshops thanks the
> members of the "Alternative Licensing" Committee for their work in
> developing a licensing system that does not exploit the people who
> manufacture collegiate apparel. Although your task is a difficult one,
> progress has been made, and SAS supports your efforts toward future
> progress.
>
> In its attempts to effect change in the UA licensing system, SAS has
> advocated that UA reexamine how apparel licensees are determined and
> believes that UA should forge closer ties to regional worker cooperatives
> and worker-owned enterprises. Only by doing business with such
> alternative models will UA be able to influence the apparel industry for
> the better. SAS therefore reaffirms its commitment that UA should seek
> out, foster, and work with businesses that are owned or controlled by
> their workers.
>
> That the Alternative Licensing Committee has begun to consider these
> issues is a positive step toward ending UA's involvement with sweatshop
> labor. SAS encourages the Committee both to continue searching for
> alternative ways of manufacturing apparel and to urge the University to
> work with those businesses that do not rely on sweatshop labor.
>
> When SAS first proposed the idea of an alternative licensing project, our
> hope was that this would be one small way in which to begin to restructure
> relations in the collegiate apparel industry. Our hope was to begin to
> move away from a system in which retailers and manufacturers ("brands")
> reap the majority of profits while production workers are seen as nothing
> more than costs to be minimized.
>
> In this spirit, we hope the committee will continue to work toward
> providing a true alternative model of apparel licensing. This means
> something more than inserting worker co-ops in the place of maquilas and
> sweatshops. It means rethinking the relationships between the various
> groups in the chain of apparel production. We would like to raise two
> issues that speak to these relationships.
>
> First, we hope the University will pursue alternative ways of licensing
> the use of its logo, rather than relying only on existing licensees.
> Through the work of the Alternative Licensing Committee, we have recently
> become aware of a worker-owned apparel business in Douglas, AZ called
> AriSEWna. At this point, AriSEWna has a limited license to produce goods
> bearing the UA logo. We would like the University to look into the
> prospects for making this company a more prominent licensee. One
> possibility might be to work with both AriSEWna and the co-op in Agua
> Prieta, so that AriSEWna could apply the logo to shirts made at the Agua
> Prieta co-op. Another strategy would be to search for additional
> worker-oriented companies that could serve as licensees.
>
> In addition, an alternative licensing system should challenge the
> assumption that socially responsible products cannot compete with
> sweatshop-made products. Although apparel production is a labor-intensive
> industry, labor costs comprise only a small percentage of the final retail
> price of a garment. Rather than increasing retail prices when wages and
> working conditions are improved, why not make the distribution of profit
> across the supply chain more equitable? Why not ask manufacturers,
> retailers, and universities to take a smaller cut? We are not suggesting
> that these groups would jump at the chance to decrease their profit
> margins. Still, these questions must be addressed in attempting to
> construct alternative systems of apparel production and licensing. Plus,
> competitive pricing for socially responsible products potentially benefits
> retailers, manufacturers, and universities by making the volume of sales
> greater than it would be if the products were higher-priced.
>
>
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