THE VALUE OF A SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE AMERICAN APPAREL INDUSTRY
Tiara C. Hudson
The social responsibility of the American apparel industry covers responsible practices related to human rights, labor standards, and environmental sustainability. Some of the advantages of being socially responsible is higher revenue, customer loyalty, safe and happy laborers, and an overall healthy environment. Research conducted by Price Waterhouse Coopers found out after researching 1,000 retail companies 79 percent said that corporate social responsibility (CSR) was vital to the profitability and value of their company. Throughout the paper there will be a discussion of the advantages of being a socially responsible company. As well as the importance of
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Emphasis on elimination of waste and improvement of quality through continuous process improvement. American retailers that conduct normal practice in global supply chain use contract manufacturers in other countries that offer the lowest price while meeting minimal quality and delivery standards. There is frequent switching of suppliers to take advantage of lower cost opportunities. However there is no loyalty to the supplier or by the supplier to the customer. Many of these suppliers have sweatshop conditions including child labor, low wages, unhealthy and unsafe working conditions. In addition, retailers abstain from taking responsibility for the action of the suppliers they use that have poor quality working conditions.
In 1948 the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was approved by the United Nations and an international minimum standard for protection of individual basic rights and freedoms. It covers four major categories: equality, life and security, personal freedom, and economic, social and cultural
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In the 1990s, Nike took a defensive position when confronted with the various labor, environmental, and occupation health problems found at their suppliers. Workers at these factories were not Nike employees, and thus Nike felt no responsibility toward them. In 1992, Nike formulated their Code of Conduct for is suppliers that required them to observe some basic labor, environmental, and health and safety standards. Nike required their footwear suppliers to adopt the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards for indoor air quality. They also conducted training sessions with its suppliers as well as assembling a compliance staff that is based in 21 countries to monitor their
Primark, an Irish clothing retailer company was set up and headquartered in Dublin in 1969. Nowadays, there are over 250 stores across the United Kingdom, Ireland, Europe and the United States. Moreover, Primark operates with about 700 suppliers in China, India, Bangladesh, Turkey and Eastern Europe. Primark takes corporate social responsibility for the shareholders, owners, customers, suppliers as well as employees. Corporate social responsibility is that a company not only creates profits for the shareholders, but also undertakes the social responsibility for customers, employees and environment, including complying with business ethics, rights of workers and the rules of environmental protection. In order to develop continuously, corporate social responsibility plays an significant role in a company, which drives stakeholders have reliance on the company. This essay focuses on the ways in which Primark taking its duty to society and the ways in which the company should have done better.
In 1948 the United Nations formally adopted The Universal Declaration of Human Rights also known as the
Today sexualizing woman is the norm especially in the fashion industry, but that will not exclude the other industries. Empowering and sexualizing two different terms that are not in necessary have any connections between each other, but unfortunately young women nowadays getting them mixed. The media creates a relationship between them where sexualizing lead to empowering, then put this thought in people’s minds. Big companies who usually set up all the fashion trends are using woman to sell their products even the ones that made for men. They are creating the sexual image to surround their models. And they are hiding behind some terms that would sell to young ladies, who might not have the enough knowledge to draw the line between what is
What truly are our, "Basic Human Rights". As a result in December 10, 1948 the Universal Declaration
American Apparel, is an American multi-national clothing manufacturer, distributor and retailer since 1988based in Los Angeles, California. Dov Charney, a Canadian business man was a founder and former CEO of the company. He was involved in nearly every part of the business process from design and manufacturing to marketing. The Ernst & Young named Charney Entrepreneur of the Year in 2004. He was also termed "Man of the Year" by various fashion
From the public outcry of unethical sweatshops in the 90s to the Rana Plaza collapse of 2013, the issue of whether corporations should engage in corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been a topic of debate. When determining whether branded apparel corporations should engage in CSR or not, there are many factors to consider, like questions of economics, legality, and philosophical outlook. From the factors mentioned, philosophical outlooks are extremely subjective and hard to solidify into legitimate reasons, so I will not explore into such domain. In terms of legality, corporations are not obligated by law to engage in CSR. CSR is the idea by which corporations voluntarily choose
The United Nation’s Declaration of Human Rights was commissioned in December 1948 by the UN General Assembly in an attempt to create a standard which is common to all people regardless of “race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion or any other status”. It is the United Nations responsibility to ensure that the participating countries follow these articles set forth by the assembly and to ensure that these rights are not being desecrated. The term "Human Rights" is best described by the United Nations as "Human rights are the rights to be born free, the right to life, the right to equality, the right to freedom, the right to assembly and the right to own property which is inherent to all human beings”. However, this statute by the
In December of 1948, the United Nations presented the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Nations approved of and followed the declaration to prevent people from suffering across the globe from human rights issues such as civil rights, abuse, human trafficking, political and religious freedom, and child labor. Eleanor Roosevelt was the main support behind the declaration. The rights belonging to humans through God or nature is a founding idea and belief in the U.S. Constitution
Many American businesses, companies and retailers continue to keep manufacturing of products overseas, because they can employ less expensive labor with fewer regulations to comply with. In the end the retailer can sell their products manufactured overseas to the consumer in America at a lower price. Such as furniture, natural resources are more accessible overseas and this is an advantage for the furniture retail business. When the U.S. and other nations allowed China to join the World Trade Organization in 2001 over 2.7 million jobs were sent overseas. This was a benefit for the overseas market and beneficial to their economy. The cost of complying with the regulations in the U.S. and managing the risks can be quite substantial so it is
The textile and apparel industry is one of the oldest and largest industries. The textile and apparel industry plays an important role in the United States manufacturing system. “Displaced textile and apparel workers, like employed textile and apparel workers, were more likely to be female than all displaced U.S. workers, and also were less likely to have a high school diploma and less likely to be a U.S. citizen” (USDA, 2014). There is one dependent variable to exemplify in this project, which is the U.S. textile employment rate and three independent variables related to the U.S. textile employment rate, including workforce gender, labor cost (wages), and ethnicity.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is the unique and an important document which is translated into different languages all over world. It is based upon idea of promoting freedom, justice and peace for all the people and societies across world. It provides a set of uniform standards that were adopted by the United Nations General Assembly with the support of forty-eight countries to establish a world with justice and equality.
The Universal Declaration of Human rights was adopted in the UN general assembly by the 10th December 1948. This is the first time that the world recognized that everyone had the right to enjoy freedom of speech, freedom of religion and freedom from fear and want, and many other rights. International human rights come along way; before there was no rights. The idea of having rights that led to the development of international human rights takes time. There are benchmarks developments in international human rights that pre-date the UDHR. The UDHR benchmark includes the following topic :The Magna Carta, Treaty of Westphalia (1648) , French and US revolution(18th century), and lastly, the World War I and World War II. Each of the benchmarks contributed on shaping our current conception of international human rights.
The tribunals held after World War II to prosecute the Nazis for crimes against humanity led to the beginning of any formal recognition of human rights. In 1948 the UN general assembly unanimously adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). This declaration still provides one of the most sweeping guarantees of human rights worldwide, it begins with the recognition that “ the inherent dignity and
The declaration was voted in on December 10, 1948, which is now celebrated each year as Human Rights Day. The Declaration says that “all human beings are born free and equal” and establishes basic rights for all people and rules for the actions of governments in many areas
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in December 1948, provides in Article 10 that: everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.