Patagonia Ethical Issues

544 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Social responsibility of business

Social responsibility is largely impacting today’s businesses, so this would lead one to believe that ethical issues in the supply chain of companies are no longer prevalent. This, however, is not the case. Even within the last five years, there are still social responsibility issues being reported. One recent example involves Patagonia, the outdoor, clothing and gear store and their supplier, VT Garment. In June of 2015, it was disclosed that Patagonia’s suppliers were involved in “erogenous employment practices, such as debt bondage” about three years ago (O’Connor, July 2015). The Taiwanese mills that supply the textile fabric to the sewing factories for Patagonia are being operated through forced labor. Debt bondage occurs when “brokers

Show More
Related

  • the trounle with sweatshops

    795 Words  | 2 Pages

    The controversial issue of sweatshops is one often over looked by The United States. In the Social Issues Encyclopedia, entry # 167, Matt Zwolinski tackles the issues of sweatshops. In this article Matt raises a question I have not been able to get out of my head since I have begun researching this topic, “ are companies who contract with sweatshops doing anything wrong?” this article goes on to argue that the people who work in the sweatshops willingly choose to work there, despite the poor environment. Many people in third world countries depend on the sweatshops to earn what they can to have any hopes of surviving. If the sweatshops were to shut down many people would lose their jobs, and therefore have no source of income. This may lead people to steal and prostitution as well. this article is suggesting that sweatshops will better the economy by giving people a better job than what they may have had. Due to this the companies contracting with sweatshops are not acting wrong in any way. This was a deductive article it had a lot of good examples to show how sweatshops are beneficial to third world countries. Radly Balko seemed to have the same view point as Matt Zwolinski. Many people believe the richer countries should not support the sweatshops Balko believes if people stopped buying products made in sweatshops the companies will have to shut down and relocate, firing all of the present workers. Rasing the fact that again the worker will have no source of income, the workers need the sweatshop to survive. Balko also uses the argument that the workers willingly work in the current environments.

    Read More

  • Issues Of Sweatshops

    1297 Words  | 3 Pages

    Mayer, Robert. "Sweatshops, Exploitation, and Moral Responsibility." Journal of Social Philosophy, vol. 38, no. 4, Winter2007, pp. 605-619. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1111/j.1467-9833.2007.00401.x.

    Read More

  • Sweatshops In The 1800s

    907 Words  | 2 Pages

    Look down at the clothes you're wearing right now, chances are almost every single thing you are currently wearing was made in a sweatshop. It is estimated that between 50-75% of all garments are made under sweatshop like conditions. Designers and companies get 2nd party contractors to hire people to work in these factories, this is a tool to make them not responsible for the horrendous conditions. They get away with it by saying they are providing jobs for people in 3rd world countries so its okay, but in reality they are making their lives even worse. These companies and designers only care about their bank accounts so if they can exploit poor, young people from poverty stricken countries they surely will, and they do. A sweatshop is a factory

    Read More

  • Swot Analysis of Patagonia

    2422 Words  | 5 Pages

    Abstract Patagonia's mission statement is, to use business to inspire and implement solutions to environmental crisis? Patagonia is a clothing company that focus is on selling environmentally safe outdoor apparel. This papers focus is on the history of Patagonia their environmental marketing strategies and their competition. There has also been some outside research done to see what the public perception of Patagonia is. Introduction Patagonia's History In 1957 a young climber named Yvon Chouinard could not find pitons (a form of climbing protection) that he liked.

    Read More

  • Nike Sweatshops Research Paper

    695 Words  | 2 Pages

    Sweatshops are similar to factory or workshop where workers work for long hours at very low wages and are forced to work in a poor working condition. Sweatshops have also been known widely in the world for its ethical issues. Although it seems to be lucrative by paying low wages to the workers, it still violates the fundamental requirements of the workers’ welfare and working condition. From the perspective of the businesses, paying low wages means reducing the cost of production and increasing in the profits.

    Read More

  • Sweatshop Abuse and MIT’s Prospective Actions in Pursuit of International Labor Justice

    2800 Words  | 6 Pages

    Rosen, Sonia A., Jaffe, Maurren, & Perez-Lopez, Jorge. (1997). The Apparel Industry and Codes of Conduct: A Solution to the International Child Labor Problems. Upland, PA: Diane.

    Read More

  • Sweat, Fire and Ethics by Bob Jeffcott

    729 Words  | 2 Pages

    It is often said that products made in sweatshops are cheap and that is why people buy those products, but why is it behind the clothes or shoes that we wear that make sweatshops bad? In the article Sweat, Fire and Ethics by Bob Jeffcott is trying to persuade the people and tell them how sweatshops are bad. Bob Jeffcott supports the effort of workers of the global supply chains in order to win improved wages and good working conditions and a better quality of life of those who work on sweatshops. He mentions and describes in detail how the conditions of the sweatshops are and how the people working in them are forced to long working hours for little money. He makes the question, “we think we can end sweatshops abuses by just changing our individual buying habits?” referring to we can’t end the abuses that those women have by just stopping of buying their products because those women still have to work those long hours because other people are buying their product for less pay or less money.

    Read More

  • Lululemon

    516 Words  | 2 Pages

    Firstly, is the Is the organization’s economic responsibility met? Under the circumstances, I would consider this criterion met.To enumerate that point the company is valued at over $200 million, strong financial results have been achieved in less than 10 years. With the company's plans to increase the number of operations to 200 new stores, this will continually be met. By offering a product that is desirable for people living an active lifestyle Lululemon will continue to thrive. Legal responsibility is public addressed by the belief that “every person we hire, garment we create, store we open, customer, we educate and yoga class we attend contributes to building a legacy in our communities”. Lululemon works with different outlets to try and achieve a healthier and more informed community as to how the business is conducted. By introducing the new organic fiber line they demonstrate ethical responsibility. As a leader in the industry, Lululemon has set the bar high for community initiatives. Their discretionary responsibility is perceived by focusing charitable giving programs to the specific areas Lulu is located they have further connected themselves with the community. Not only is the money guaranteed to go back to the community, the citizens also have the opportunity to dictate which charity the funds should be applied too. An example of one of the activities is the Active Kids Movement program. Lululemon is a perfect example of social performance by meeting all the criteria.

    Read More

  • Summary Of Sweatshops Choice And Exploitation By Zwolinski

    982 Words  | 2 Pages

    In his article “Sweatshops, Choice, and Exploitation” Matt Zwolinski attempts to tackle the problem of the morality of sweatshops, and whether or not third parties or even the actors who create the conditions, should attempt to intervene on behalf of the workers. Zwolinski’s argument is that it is not right for people to take away the option of working in a sweatshop, and that in doing so they are impeding on an individual’s free choice, and maybe even harming them. The main distinction that Zwolinski makes is that choice is something that is sacred, and should not be impeded upon by outside actors. This is showcased Zwolinski writes, “Nevertheless, the fact that they choose to work in sweatshops is morally significant. Taken seriously, workers' consent to the conditions of their labor should lead us to abandon certain moral objections to sweatshops, and perhaps even to view them as, on net, a good thing.” (Zwolinski, 689). He supports his argument of the importance of free choice by using a number of different tactics including hypothetical thought exercises and various quotes from other articles which spoke about the effects of regulation business. Throughout the article there were multiple points which helped illuminate Zwolinski’s argument as well as multiple points which muddle the argument a bit.

    Read More

  • Negative Effects Of NAFTA

    1300 Words  | 3 Pages

    Sweatshops are factories that violate two or more human rights. Sweatshops are known in the media and politically as dangerous places for workers to work in and are infamous for paying minimum wages for long hours of labour. The first source is a quote that states that Nike has helped improve Vietnamese’s’ workers lives by helping them be able to afford luxuries they did not have access to before such as scooters, bicycles and even cars. The source is showing sweatshops in a positive light stating how before sweatshops were established in developing countries, Vietnamese citizens were very poor and underprivileged. The source continues to say that the moment when sweatshops came to Vietnam, workers started to get more profit and their lives eventually went uphill from their due to being able to afford more necessities and luxuries; one of them being a vehicle, which makes their commute to work much faster which in turn increases their quality of life. The source demonstrates this point by mentioning that this is all due to globalization. Because of globalization, multinationals are able to make investments in developing countries which in turn offers the sweatshops and the employees better technology, better working skills and an improvement in their education which overall helps raise the sweatshops’ productivity which results in an increase

    Read More

  • The Gap Inc.: Corporate Social Responsibility

    1439 Words  | 3 Pages

    The business world has always been a very risky business. There is a lot to worry about no matter what position a person fulfills; everyone has some level of responsibility. The Gap Incorporated is a multinational specialty retail company (Gap Inc. 2014). The company was created by a Doris and Don Fisher (Joslin et. al. 2010). Don Fisher and his wife was a very wealthy couple, Don was a real estate developer (Joslin et. al. 2010). They decided to open up a clothing store when Don realized how popular jeans were becoming in the fashion industry. Another reason that Don Fisher wanted to open a clothing store is because he has an extremely difficult time finding jeans that fit him properly in department stores (Joslin et. al. 2010). So in the year of 1969 the Fishers opened the very first Gap store in San Francisco, California (Gap Inc. 2014). In this paper I will explore The Gap Incorporated and discuss the company’s ethical culture and behavior past and present. Based on preliminary information, I hypothesize that The Gap Incorporated is an ethical company.

    Read More

  • Sweatshops And Globalization Essay

    872 Words  | 2 Pages

    Americans do not realize the amount of clothing we wear on a daily basis is actually made in Cambodia, such as Adidas and even the Gap. The women that work for these sweatshops in Cambodia sew for 50 cents an hour, which is what allows stores in America, such as H&M to sell inexpensive clothing (Winn, 2015). The conditions these Cambodian workers face are a noisy, loud, and extremely hot environment where people are known for having huge fainting attacks. When workers were on strike a year ago, authorities actually shot multiple people just because they were trying to raise their pay. There is plenty of evidence of abuse captured through many interviews of workers from different factories, and is not just a rarity these places see often or hear of. Factories hire children, fire pregnant women because they are slow and use the bathroom to much, scream at regular workers if they use the toilet more than two times a day, scam hard working employees with not paying them their money they worked for and more, and workers are sent home and replaced if 2,000 shirts are not stitched in one day. Expectations are unrealistic and not suitable for employees to be working each day for more than ten

    Read More

  • Cargill Case Study

    1881 Words  | 4 Pages

    For instance, Cargill’s labor standards for its workers in the developing nations of West Africa have been questioned. In recent months, Cargill has taken steps to ensure that it’s harvesting and production of cocoa does not fuel the need for child labor and/or promote deforestation. According to a recent article published in the Minneapolis Star Tribune newspaper, “As a supply chain leader, Cargill is often scrutinized for its role in either helping or hurting environmental and social concerns associated with the harvesting of cocoa beans” (Painter 2017). These beans are mainly gathered by small, family-operated farms and are eventually purchased by Cargill from cooperatives made up of the supply of many

    Read More

  • Consumerism In The 19th Century

    1389 Words  | 3 Pages

    In a 1996 congressional testimony, National Labor Committee executive, Charles Kernaghan, led an expose on Kathie Lee Gifford when he revealed “that child laborers in Honduras were making the Gifford clothing line sold at Wal-Mart” (Duke). This realization caused Gifford to dissolve into tears and, over time, use her brand in the fight against corporate practices. For a while, these protestors were able to make a difference as many corporations were began to specify which companies were making their clothes, adopted codes of conduct, and “relied on monitors who visited factories once every three months and conducted random inspections” (Colliver). However, these socially conscious changes aren’t structured “to make factories take better care of their workers. They’re designed to make factories look like they are” (Hobbes). In reality, the factory inspections and audits are essentially, as Hobbes describes it, a “paperwork exercise”, as inspectors usually spend two days maximum at each factory, mostly checking time sheets for shift lengths, birth certificates for child labor, and pay stubs for wages. In addition to this, most manufacturers, particularly those in China and Southeast Asia, are experts in bypassing regulations “by keeping multiple sets of books, hiding cramped

    Read More

  • The Impacts of Globalization on Developing Countries

    1374 Words  | 3 Pages

    Mayer, Robert. "Sweatshops, Exploitation, and Moral Responsibility." Journal of Social Philosophy 38.4 (2007): 605-619.Wiley Online Library. Web. 4 Jan. 2012.

    Read More

More about Patagonia Ethical Issues

Open Document