Review: Where Am I Wearing?


TITLE: Where Am I Wearing? A Global Tour to The Countries, Factories and People That Make Our Clothes
AUTHOR: Kelsey Timmerman
PUB DATE: Nov 2008
ISBN:978-0-470-37654-6

Thank You to John Wiley & Sons Inc for sending me this book to read and review.

Before reading this book I have to admit I never really thought about where my clothes came from. I just went to the stores and bought them. I only looked at the labels to see how the items were to be washed. After reading Where Am I Wearing, I became more interested. I guess we take things for granted when we buy things that we don’t realize what goes into the making of them and who makes them.

Did you know that in Teva flip flops there is five people making a flip flop? The cutter, a sewer, a gluer, a buffer and a boxer. Teva makes in one day 2,000 to 3,000 pairs.

The book is a first hand account of Kelsey’s travels around the world to various countries to find out where is clothes were made. In the first part he mentions going to Honduras to see where is tshirt was made. He talks about the fact that the workers only get paid $50/month.

Its not until he gets to Bangladesh in search of the workers who made his boxers that the book starts to pick up. He starts to learn about the workers who work in the factories. Its there that he visits his first factory.

He goes to Cambodia in search of the Levi’s factory and then China for his Teva flip flops. Its in China that he manages to get into trouble with the VIP of Global Sourcing of Decker Outfitters. He claims that Kelsey has been using his name saying they are friends to get info. Its in China that he visits a Walmart. A Walmart that is much different from the ones here. Its the 10 largest retailer there and there is about 100 Walmarts in China.

I guess as a buyer of items we never think about the product or what goes into the product. Kelsey tells us that these workers work for next to nothing, live far from their families and perhaps even leaving kids with family so that they can work. They work long hours and do overtime and not get paid for it.

This book was an eye opener for me and it made me realize that these items aren’t mass produced at times and that actual people are making them and working for next to nothing.

Ann from Booklorn mentioned my review in her’s so I thought I would return the favor. Thanks Ann. You can see her review HERE

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
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