Top image take from: http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/library/kheel/images/campaign_librarykheel1.jpg. Above images (left to right) taken from: http://www.amrc.org.hk/5201.htm, "We Spend Our Days Working in Pain" report, photo by Barbara Burgel; http://historymatters.gmu.edu/mpimages/mp265.jpg, http://www.lotusorganics.com/articles/ElMonteSweatShop.gif

"By the time the graceful dresses and tasteful blouses are pressed and hung on mannequins in glistening windows, all the stains of suffering have been erased." (Shipler, page 77)

If the word SWEATSHOP conjures up images of child labor in China, or seamstresses in late nineteenth century garment factories, you may be surprised to learn that there are roughly 170,000 sweatshop workers in the United States garment industry today. In cities like New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco— known for their flashy, high end fashion districts— those producing the clothes work under far less glamorous conditions.

The effect of Global Capitalism, often called the "race to the bottom," is that those who end up paying the highest price for our clothes are the garment workers, who earn almost nothing. The apparel industry is organized in a hierarchical system, with those at the top making great profits at the expense of those below. At the bottom of this pyramid of wealth and power lie the garment workers, who are exploited, oppressed, and degraded by those above them.

This website will explore what it means to live the low wage life of a sweatshop seamstress. The focus here is on female, immigrant garment workers in the Bay Area, a region once known for leading the struggles for civil rights, gender equality, and human dignity for all. The stories of these women provide insight into some of the issues that America must face: increasing class polarization, anti-immigrant hatred, and gender and race discrimination.