Are Your Designer Jeans Making Factory Workers Sick?

There are few things that compare to the comfort and look of a worn-in pair of blue jeans. In fact, the allure of your “favorite pair of jeans” is so enticing that designers have been looking for ways to artificially duplicate it for years.

Even though sandblasting was outlawed in Europe in 1966 many top designers still use it in their foreign factories to give denim a worn, faded look. According to Mother Jones, inhaling silica from the sand used during this treatment process puts factory workers in developing countries at increased risk for a disabling lung disease called silicosis.

Sandblasting is “often performed in small workshops in the informal sector in jeans-producing countries like Bangladesh, Egypt, China, Turkey, Brazil and Mexico, reports the Clean Clothes Campaign. “Almost all of the jeans sold in Europe are produced in these countries. In Turkey alone, 46 documented cases of sandblasters contracting silicosis and dying have been registered. This is likely to be only the tip of the iceberg.”

A few months ago, the Clean Clothes Campaign started a public action concerning the sandblasting of denim. The CCC urged many of the top fashion designers in the world to ban sandblasting in their supply chains, and some, like Levi’s, H&M and C&A got on board immediately. Others, like Dolce & Gabbana and Roberto Cavalli, have ignored requests to protect worker health.

Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/are-your-designer-jeans-making-factory-workers-sick.html#ixzz1XLnyCV4u


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