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From the Mailbag: Is Aeropostale ‘Charity-Washing’ for Haiti?
In the spirit of our February commenting contest, we want to draw attention to one of the many thoughtful messages we have received from E.S. readers over the past year and a half. (Yes, this week marks our 1.5 year anniversary!)
This one comes from Roe at YesHoneyChyle.com in response to our post about Aeropostale’s denim drive for Haiti:
Do you think Aeropostale is really doing something ethical or that they might be “charity-washing” themselves to gain more buyers and creating marketing ties in a country they didn’t have before (Haiti)? And if Aeropostale uses cheap sweat-shop labor to make their products and ships that product to a country without jeans, is it still considered benevolence?
It’s a great question.
In 2002, Abercrombie & Fitch, Aeropostale’s parent corporation, admitted it used sweatshop labor in its manufacturing and settled in a landmark $22-million class action lawsuit on behalf of factory workers in Saipan. Since then, allegations of unethical labor policies have quieted down, but it’s worth noting that Abercrombie’s history (and, by extension, Aeropostale’s) isn’t so squeaky clean.
We can certainly see the contradiction in a company sending relief supplies to one impoverished country while employing cheap labor in another. How about you? Do you think Aeropostale is sincere in its campaign to help Haitians?
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The best thing Abercrombie could do for Haiti would be to open a factory there – offering jobs, even low wage jobs, to impoverished Hatians would do far more than a token contribution to relief efforts. Ask the Hatians whether they would rather have a small donation or establish an industry creating garments for export. What Haiti needs now more than ever is a stable political infrastructure that attracts foreign investment, and efforts to prevent foreign companies from operating in Haiti because the wages aren’t as high as American standards is doing a huge disservice to the Hatian people.
Comment by Stella — February 1, 2010 @ 4:21 pm
Thank you for featuring my question!
It is interesting when you think more deeply about it. Also, Congrats on finding the lawsuit information! I scoured and scoured for it and couldn’t turn up with anything either.
I think that many people think the same way as the comment above and it definitely supports a modernist model of International Development; the formula should do what it’s supposed to do: poor country + foreign investment = increased living standards and Gross Domestic Product–
but for many countries it hasn’t worked that way; particularly with countries who lack the infrastructure these factories need to produce en masse. The money spent on leaping retail hurdles for these factories fail to get into the hands of the employees.
Meaningful work -is- so important (charity -can- be so crippling) but without the enforcement of Working Standards which Haiti probably won’t do without new governance, what would make a position on the new Aeropostale factory line any different than in Cambodia, Bangladesh, Mexico, or places in East Africa? We’ve been waiting for these countries to recover since it’s injection of corporation factories and are still left waiting for that higher-living-standard-thing to kick in.
Maybe there’s a better option for Haiti…more than jeans, more than foreign factories. Maybe there’s just more thinking that’s needed to be done.
Comment by roe — February 4, 2010 @ 3:03 pm
Absolutely not. Former Labor-exploiter-in-Chief Bill Clinton intends for Haiti to become one big sweatshop! His idea of “helping Haiti” is to make it an “enterprise zone” for the making of clothing and chochkes. First step, reduce the population via a 7.0 earthquake, halting emergency aid, installing a military police state and causing additional 1000s of Haitians to die of starvation and gangrene. Then when the population is reduced, create a dictatorship to enforce mass manufacturing.
It would not surprise me in the least if several clothing companies know of — or are involved in — this plan. Check out the article on the Clintons and Haiti on my blog
Comment by chinarose — February 9, 2010 @ 2:48 pm
just so everyone is clear. Abercrombie and Fitch and Aeropostale have no connection what so ever. Abercrombie is no parent company to aeropostale.and whatever dirty business that abercrombie is into having to do with sweat shops by no means does that mean that aeropostale is as well.
Comment by meredith otto — February 26, 2010 @ 12:43 am