China, Day 2 or 3 or something like that
ok, somehow we averted another theme part nightmare and did not go to the mini amazon rain forest or learn about ancient mayan culture. whew! our tour guide was like "it appears you may not be interested in the itinerary, so why don't you tell me what you want to see?" we were all like .... uh, we just want to see real china and maybe do some shopping. where are the markets? he totally was not into that idea for some reason so he made us think of something else. dr. sy was like "well, we are here to see the real china, so why don't you take us somewhere real ... like ... uh ... a garment factory?"
the guy was like "really? you want to see factory?" we were all like "YEA!!!!!" so somehow he arranged a visit and that is what we saw. we had to swear to no photos, though, so you'll just have to go on my colorful play-by-play and descriptions. the clothing factory was for "a-joy fashions" which makes women's clothes for the 20-35 year old hip chinese woman. the designer is also the head of the company, so he oversees everything! all creative and all business make for a very busy guy!
we drove about 40 minutes outside of town to a very blue collar area in a blue collar land ... they don't see many tourists in these parts i reckon, based on the amount of staring and leering received. the factory is located on the second floor and as we enter the building, there's a strange sort of yellow-brownish liquid bubbling up from a manhole cover in front of the building, creating a little pool of stankiness. we walk around it and head into the dreary building, which has wet floors and no lighting.
upon arrival to the second floor there is a bright showroom where local buyers are placing their Fall/Winter 2005 retail orders, and samples hang on four racks. the primary garment colors are green, orange, gold, purple, red and magenta/pinkish. almost all of the garments contain some embroidery .... and almost all of the garments are totally cool! i would totally wear these clothes! well, i mean i would have in the fifth grade, when they would have fit me. but still, i am impressed! these are clothes that would appear in fancy little boutiques ... not Wet Seal or Forever 21.
the owner greets us and we ask him questions via "jason" and johnny, who serve as translators. we head over to the sweatshop, i mean "assembly room", and there they all are. there's about 100 sewers working frantically on the fall and winter items we just saw. the room is divided into four sections, with each section working on a specific item. there's the red skirt section, purple skirt section, green shirt section and brown coat section. there's about 25 workers in a section, working right next to each other -- packed like a city bus at rush hour with each person sewing on his/her own machine. they can reach their arms out and touch about 8 other co-workers without getting up from their seats.
yes, there are boys here sewing! i would say half of the workers are male. they all looked about 18-26, and none of them seemed very happy. not one smile was returned. :( they make about $200 a month (US) and work six days a week, 10 hour days with a 1-hour lunch break. and that's the offseason. then during the busy seasons they work more ... often well into the night/morning. the live in dorms nearby and all of their meals and living accomodations are taken care of.
they are also given one job to do, so there's not job rotation/job sharing. so for example, if you are assigned to the red skirt team, then you are assigned to be "zipper girl" or "hem boy" for the duration of that skirt order's life. so it's not like you do zipper one day, then hem the next ... once you are zipper girl on something, you stay zipper girl! then when that order is done and there is a new garment to make, you may be assigned a new area of responsibility.
afterward, we went to the owner's office and asked him more questions and generally had a very interesting conversation. i think he liked us too because he offered to take us all to lunch. i sorta wanted him to take his crew to lunch, or at least buy them ice cream or lip gloss or something instead, but we headed off to lunch after some haggling ..... the professors wanted to take him out to lunch instead .... but ultimately the garment maker won out and we were treated to a lunch at a nearby restaurant. it was an interesting afternoon and sure beat the amazon theme park!
the guy was like "really? you want to see factory?" we were all like "YEA!!!!!" so somehow he arranged a visit and that is what we saw. we had to swear to no photos, though, so you'll just have to go on my colorful play-by-play and descriptions. the clothing factory was for "a-joy fashions" which makes women's clothes for the 20-35 year old hip chinese woman. the designer is also the head of the company, so he oversees everything! all creative and all business make for a very busy guy!
we drove about 40 minutes outside of town to a very blue collar area in a blue collar land ... they don't see many tourists in these parts i reckon, based on the amount of staring and leering received. the factory is located on the second floor and as we enter the building, there's a strange sort of yellow-brownish liquid bubbling up from a manhole cover in front of the building, creating a little pool of stankiness. we walk around it and head into the dreary building, which has wet floors and no lighting.
upon arrival to the second floor there is a bright showroom where local buyers are placing their Fall/Winter 2005 retail orders, and samples hang on four racks. the primary garment colors are green, orange, gold, purple, red and magenta/pinkish. almost all of the garments contain some embroidery .... and almost all of the garments are totally cool! i would totally wear these clothes! well, i mean i would have in the fifth grade, when they would have fit me. but still, i am impressed! these are clothes that would appear in fancy little boutiques ... not Wet Seal or Forever 21.
the owner greets us and we ask him questions via "jason" and johnny, who serve as translators. we head over to the sweatshop, i mean "assembly room", and there they all are. there's about 100 sewers working frantically on the fall and winter items we just saw. the room is divided into four sections, with each section working on a specific item. there's the red skirt section, purple skirt section, green shirt section and brown coat section. there's about 25 workers in a section, working right next to each other -- packed like a city bus at rush hour with each person sewing on his/her own machine. they can reach their arms out and touch about 8 other co-workers without getting up from their seats.
yes, there are boys here sewing! i would say half of the workers are male. they all looked about 18-26, and none of them seemed very happy. not one smile was returned. :( they make about $200 a month (US) and work six days a week, 10 hour days with a 1-hour lunch break. and that's the offseason. then during the busy seasons they work more ... often well into the night/morning. the live in dorms nearby and all of their meals and living accomodations are taken care of.
they are also given one job to do, so there's not job rotation/job sharing. so for example, if you are assigned to the red skirt team, then you are assigned to be "zipper girl" or "hem boy" for the duration of that skirt order's life. so it's not like you do zipper one day, then hem the next ... once you are zipper girl on something, you stay zipper girl! then when that order is done and there is a new garment to make, you may be assigned a new area of responsibility.
afterward, we went to the owner's office and asked him more questions and generally had a very interesting conversation. i think he liked us too because he offered to take us all to lunch. i sorta wanted him to take his crew to lunch, or at least buy them ice cream or lip gloss or something instead, but we headed off to lunch after some haggling ..... the professors wanted to take him out to lunch instead .... but ultimately the garment maker won out and we were treated to a lunch at a nearby restaurant. it was an interesting afternoon and sure beat the amazon theme park!
posted by christine at 7:06 PM
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